By Diana Meso and School of Graduate Studies, Research & Extension (SGSRE)

In line with their mandate to provide a one stop shop for all graduate students, expand revenue resources, as well as support research activities that lead to a more diverse and inclusive scholarly community, in Fall 2021, the SGRSE in collaboration with various department, divisions and schools, won several grants, conducted various trainings and webinars, carried out various consultancies among other things.

Through the School, USIU-Africa was accredited by the National Commission for Science Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI) to conduct ethical reviews of research in social science. The university was audited by NACOSTI and received an “expansion of scope” to conduct ethics review of research protocols to include Social, Environmental and Biomedical research.

Additionally, the university was awarded two research grants worth USD 2,742,160. The grants include: USAID Empowered Youth Project, where USIU-Africa will collaborate with Michigan State University, Egerton University and NCBA CLUSA to increase youth economic prospects, build Kenyan Higher Education Institution’s and strengthen Youth-Serving systems, Demand Driven Research Initiative (DDRI) aimed to champion, and conduct applied and policy research through the Network of Impact Evaluation Researchers in Africa (NIERA).

A total of 35 publications were done by faculty, where 5 were book chapters and 29 were articles appearing in peer reviewed journals. Chandaria School of Business had the highest number of publications (13) followed by School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences with 12, School of Science and Technology with 7, School of Humanities and Social Sciences with 2 and School of Communication, Cinematics and Creative Arts with 1.

The school further organized various workshops and trainings on proposal and grant writing, data analysis, “Publishing in High Impact journals”, Basics of Research for undergraduate students and “the Role and Responsibility of Graduate Students” for graduate and post graduate students.

Moreover, SGSRE hosted two webinars, the first webinar was on “The role of Evidence in COVID-19 vaccine distribution” held in November which was attended by participants from Kenya, Cameroon, United Kingdom, Ethiopia, Zambia, Burkina Faso, and Ghana. The webinar featured speakers from Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR), Amref Health Africa, USIU-Africa and IDinsight, Lexlink Consulting.

The second webinar held in December was on “Equity and Justice in Tax Administration in the context of Social Development” and featured speakers from Tax Justice Network Africa, International Centre for Tax and Development, IDinsight, Lexlink Consulting and USIU-Africa. Six countries from across Africa including Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Botswana, Nigeria and Senegal were present in the webinar.

Furthermore, the School won three consultancies where they partnered with the Kenya Youth Employment and Opportunities Project (KYEOP) in Nyandarua County to conduct life skills training program, engaged with NCBA Bank to develop online content (blogs, personal videos, animated videos lecturettes, self-test exercises and Do IT Yourself kits) for use by the youth aged 18-29 years to improve financial literacy, build entrepreneurship skills and help them prepare for the job market and worked with United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to assess the potential for growth, profitability and employment of local economic sectors that enhance sustainable livelihoods for refugees living in Nairobi and surrounding counties.

SGSRE under the leadership of the Dean, Prof. Amos Njuguna has interesting activities, conferences and webinars planned out for this year as they carry our high-impact research flag higher. They will also continue offering their short courses: Lean Launch Pad and ACCA.