Kyambogo University vice-chancellor Prof. Elly Katunguka has advised researchers to always identify with stakeholders before they carry out research in order to influence policy.

Katunguka told participants from different universities to identify the problem that they want to interrogate with the stakeholders before embarking on research findings.

“It depends on how you identify the problem that you want to interrogate with the stakeholders before you embark on research findings,” he said during a training in research-policy interaction skills within Agriculture for Food Security-2030 (AgriFoSe) 2030.

He urged them to start thinking about the type of research they carry out arguing that not every research will end up into policy.

“Identifying a good problem and do research is always difficult. So, you have to read widely, get stakeholders involved so that you get information from them and address the problems,” he said.

Lecturers from various universities pose for a photo with Kyambogo University Vice-Chancellor Prof Elly Katunguka. (Photo by Juliet Waiswa)

During a three-day training, which started on Monday at the Royal Suites in Kampala, Anders Ekbon from the University of Gothenburg School of Economics, Business and Law and course leader of AgriFoSe, said If researchers know more about policies and planning processes and have better networks into politics, then they can remove constrains involved in policy making and research.

“At the moment, there are gaps between policymaking and research, policymakers and researchers as actors,” Ekbon said.

He added that researchers need to know more about policy and planning to have more networks into the political space.

“Politicians need to appreciate research more to prove that they are knowledge-based so that they make decisions before they adopt policies," Ekbon said. 

He added that it goes back to skills of individual researchers to tailor their messages in ways that work with policy and planning

He urged universities to have incentives for researchers and research groups to reach out to more stakeholders.

Communicating research findings

One of the organisers of the training, Dr Judith Nagasha from Kyambogo University, said the training intended to equip researchers in universities with skills of how to communicate their research findings to stakeholders involved in policy making.

She said the training had attracted lecturers from the universities of Kyambogo, Makerere, Dar es Salaam, Nairobi, Embu, Nelson Mandela, Gondar, Institute of Environment and Research Burkina Faso, Mekelle, Ethiopia and other research agencies.

This is the second of its kind, the first training having taken place last year in March.

Nagasha said research is imperative because new problems occur every day, hence the need for implementable solutions and suggestions to tackle the new problems that arise and inform policy.

“There is demand for including African universities to carry out relevant and impactful research which many are doing, while universities engage in impactful research," she added.

Nagasha said the major challenge has been how to translate their research findings into policy and practice. 

The practice has been designing and conducting quality research that is disseminated through peer-reviewed conference presentations and publications yet most times policy-makers and practitioners hardly attend these conferences and may never read the published findings.

At the end of the day, research findings are not translated into policy and practice. It is this gap that this training seeks to bridge.

The translation of research into policy and practice is a daunting task globally, especially in Africa.

This requires equipping researchers with appropriate skills to be able to obtain buy-in from leaders, practitioners and community stakeholders and successfully engage in translational research into policy and practice.