Makerere University

Background of our partnership

The University of Edinburgh (UoE) and Makerere University (Makerere) have long established ties, across several academic disciplines, and programmatically, through the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program.

The University of Edinburgh signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Makerere in October 2018, during a joint visit to the Mastercard Foundation Principal’s gathering in Accra, Ghana, which sought to formalise our partnership.

The MoU focuses specifically on developing ties between the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, and specifically the Roslin Institute (UoE) and the College of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Resources and Biosecurity (MAK-COVAB) (Makerere).

Both parties intend to promote cooperation in teaching, research, and service to the veterinary and research community, by working together on projects where there is alignment of strategy and objectives. Specific areas of skills and expertise at Makerere are referenced as: zoonoses, parasitology and food safety, and epidemiological research.

Makerere University is the top-ranking university in Uganda, and one of the top teaching universities on the continent, listed as 601-800 in the Times Higher World Rankings 2020 and joint 11th in Africa (Times Higher Best Universities in Africa 2020).

Makerere University

Funding

We are currently in year two of a three-year Scottish Funding Council (SFC) Global Challenge Research Fund (GCRF) Capacity Building project where we have plans to engage further with Makerere as part of this Fund. Through these funds in particular, we are supporting and looking to develop links across a wide range of academic disciplines.

Since 2018, the University of Edinburgh has submitted eight proposals for the Global Challenges Research Fund in partnership with Makerere and have co-authored 23 publications. On top of this, six internally funded projects awarded by Edinburgh Research Office have been with Makerere.

The Global Health Academy is part of an innovative partnership between Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States working with Yale University and Makerere University to improve patient care. This partnership is working to further build up palliative care at Makerere University and its associated hospital, Mulago Hospital.

Makerere-Edinburgh-Yale Palliative Care Collaboration

Globally more than 100 million people and their families worldwide need palliative care and support each year. But only seven per cent actually receive such care.

Alongside the heavy burden of HIV and other infectious diseases, non communicable diseases such as cancers, heart failure and COPD account for 60% of the world’s deaths.

The burden of these diseases is rising steadily in low income and transitional economies.

The overall vision of the Makerere Edinburgh Yale Palliative Care Collaboration is to support, develop, deliver and evaluate palliative care in a hospital setting and ensure its integration into the community.

The Collaboration has relevance across several geographic areas.

• Uganda: Providing the clinical evidence base to shape a new approach to integrated palliative care.
• Sub Saharan Africa: Providing a unique model. As one of the few hospital based Palliative Care Units in Africa, the Unit has the potential to function as a centre of excellence in bridge building across hospital services, and between hospital and community.
• South-North sharing: Providing novel learning on palliative public health approaches.

Makerere-Edinburgh-Yale Palliative Care Collaboration

Future work

In 2019, Google announced Makerere’s AirQo Prototype among the best 20 Artificial Intelligence projects that will share $25 million in grants from Google. AirQo is an air monitoring project that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and low-cost technologies to generate and quantify air pollution data in Uganda's designated areas. 

Professor Fiona Mackay (Politics and International Relations) has been developing resources to ensure development research projects consider gender equality. The projects has been primarily desk-based thus far, but we're keen to start developing partnerships with LMIC institutions and the Makerere School of Women and Gender Studies is a potentially valuable partner.

Dr Ewan MacLeod (Animal Health) has been part of a consortium including several African HEIs, to develop a Partnership for Transformative Education Pedagogy in Africa. This pedagogy places a need on HEIs to deeply involve industry and other key stakeholders in curricula design, development and implementation; internationalisation of study programmes; and mobility of faculty and students within HEIs to permit multiple perspectives.

Related links

Makerere-Edinburgh-Yale Palliative Care Collaboration