Congratulations! 110 researchers awarded to respond to the Coronavirus pandemic

 Makerere University has continued to uphold Uganda’s precautionary approaches towards responding to the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. These approaches include extensive social distancing, locking of public spaces and public transport, allowing only essential services and now the private cars (with only three people in each car also upholding guidelines provided by the Government of the Republic of Uganda and Ministry of Heath) to continue. 

With the urgent need for a domestic understanding of how this pandemic plays out in Uganda’s unique settings, Mak-RIF with funding from the Government of the Republic of Uganda has awarded grants to 110 short-term research and innovation proposals. The call for proposals attracted 301 high quality and competitive proposals, additional indication of the potential within Makerere University to carry out research and develop innovative approaches to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.  The decision to award these projects was arrived at after a rigorous scientific review and selection process engaging external multidisciplinary reviewers. 

The projects awarded include research studies that will address public health issues in relation to the coronavirus pandemic, assess the social-economic impact of COVID-19 in Uganda as well as highlight methods for the prevention, treatment and management of COVID-19 among others. We anticipate that results from the implementation of these projects will be impactful therefore contributing to the COVID-19 response and other related pandemic threats. These awards were effective May 26th, 2020 and will run for a period of up to 6 Months. 

See list of awarded projects here.  

Once again, the Makerere University management and fraternity appreciated the Government of the Republic of Uganda for allocating resources to support research and innovations through Makerere University Research and Innovations Fund (RIF). 

Congratulations to all the awardees and all the best through-out the implementation and reporting process.

‘We Build for the Future’