Kampala 30th, November 2020 The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), a consortium of 129 Universities in 38 African Countries, is pleased to announce the recipients of the two year Graduate Research Grants (GRGs) funded by the Governments of New Zealand and the Netherlands, in support of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA; https://globalresearchalliance.org/). The grants are aimed at building the capability of graduate and post-graduate level students in Africa to conduct applied research on agricultural greenhouse gases. The call for the grants attracted 72 applicants from 21 African countries from which eight final awardees were selected following evaluation by external reviewers and compliance to RUFORUM grant award requirement which requires that beneficiary universities have cleared their membership dues and have no overdue accountabilities
The GRA is 64 country alliance which brings countries together to find ways to grow more food without growing greenhouse gas emissions.
These Graduate Research Grants support participatory action research and training on topics related to the measurement and management of greenhouse gas emissions and removals in pastoral and agro-pastoral ruminant livestock farming systems in Africa.
According to Prof Adipala Ekwamu, RUFORUM Executive Secretary
“The RUFORUM Graduate Research Grants provide opportunity for quality research on topical issues while training the next generation of scientists for Africa. It puts graduate students at the center of the research process and provides for consumables and basic laboratory equipment, student tuition and stipend. Each grant supports training of at least 2 M.Sc. students; at least one of whom should be a female”
RUFORUM thanks the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases for providing funding and congratulates the eight Graduate Research Grant recipients.
Hayden Montgomery, Special Representative of the GRA, said “providing opportunities like these to students in Africa enables the development of African expertise to shape Africa’s future. These students are the future scientists and policy makers who will ensure future food production is climate friendly”.
Table 1: Graduate Research Grant Awardees of 2020
| No. | Applicant Name | Gender | University | Country | Proposal Title |
| 1. | Angelinus Franke | Male | University of the Free State | South Africa | Can pastoral grazing systems contribute to climate change mitigation? Gathering evidence and exploring future scenario’s in the Grassland Biome of South Africa |
| 2. | Frank Masese | Male | University of Eldoret | Kenya | Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Soil Carbon Stocks and Livestock Watering Points in Agropastoral Rangelands of Taita Taveta Hills, Kenya (GRESOL) |
| 3. | Dossa Luc Hippolyte | Male | University of Abomey Calavi | Benin | Relationship between cattle voluntary feed intake on pasture and enteric methane emission in the Sudanian zone of West Africa |
| 4. | Mwanjalolo J.G. Majaliwa | Male | Makerere University | Uganda | Effects of changes in Land Use/Cover and Climate on Carbon Stocks in selected Agro-Ecological Zones of Uganda |
| 5. | Constantine Katongole | Male | Makerere University | Uganda | Developing equations for predicting feed intake by pastoral/agro-pastoral livestock: tackling uncertainty in Uganda’s national enteric methane emissions inventory |
| 6. | Isa Kabenge | Male | Makerere University | Uganda | Machine learning for estimating sources and sinks: Developing cloud computing-based, artificially intelligent algorithms to quantify livestock and biomass for management of GHG emissions |
| 7. | Ciza Azine | Female | Evangelical University in Africa | DR-Congo | Amélioration de la productivité animale par la valorisation des ressources alimentaires locales au Sud Kivu, Est de la République Démocratique du Congo. |
| 8. | Caroline Wambui | Female | Maseno University | Kenya | Capacity building for mitigation of GHG emissions and improved ruminant productivity through efficient feeding and manure management strategies in agro-pastoral systems |
For more information regarding this Graduate Research Grant, please contact cgs@ruforum.org, with copy to s.nghituwamhata@ruforum.org and r.rukarwa@ruforum.org
Notes to Editors:
The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), is a consortium of 129 African universities operating in 38 countries on the continent with a mission to ‘strengthen the capacities of Universities to foster innovations responsive to demands of smallholder farmers through the training of high quality researchers, the output of impact oriented research and the maintenance of collaborative working relations among researchers, farmers, national agricultural research institutions’. RUFORUM was established by Vice Chancellors in 2004 with a Secretariat hosted at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. In 2014 RUFORUM signed an MoU with the African Union Commission to support implementation of the Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA 2024) Priority One on reducing poverty and ensuring food and nutrition security. RUFORUM has supported the training of 1919 MSc and 525 PhD graduates, of whom 94% work in their countries or region, the generation of over 300 agricultural technologies and mobilized over US$208 million for strengthening postgraduate education in Africa. Please visit www.ruforum.org for more information.
The GRA was launched in 2009 and now has more than 60 member countries from all regions of the world. The GRA partners with key international and regional organisations responsible for disseminating evidence-based knowledge to policy makers, the science community, and farming leaders. Members and partners of the GRA aim to deepen and broaden mitigation research efforts across the agricultural sub-sectors of paddy rice, cropping and livestock, and to coordinate cross-cutting activities across these areas. This includes promoting synergies between adaptation and mitigation efforts. The GRA’s objectives are outlined in its Charter and more information on the GRA’s current membership is available here.
For additional information, photos and interviews, contact Ms Maureen Agena, Corporate Communications, & Advocacy officer below.
| Name: Maureen Agena | Corporate Communications, & Advocacy officer | Email: communications@ruforum.org |
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