Annual Research Dissemination Conference (ARDC), Is “Collaborative Transformational Research for Sustainable Community Development”
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Annual Research Dissemination 15th Conference 22nd November 2019 Igongo Cultural Centre, Mbarara Book of Abstracts WELCOME REMARKS FROM THE CHAIR, CONFERENCE ORGANISING COMMITTEE The Chief Guest, Vice Chancellor, Keynote Speaker, Guest Speakers, Members of University Council and Senate, Officers of the University and Top Management, Civic and Religious leaders present, University Collaborators, Members of the Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) community, Distinguished participants, Ladies and Gentlemen. On behalf of the Organizing committee, it is a pleasure to welcome you to this important event, as we once again congregate to share a full year research harvest at MUST and beyond. The theme for the 15th MUST Annual Research Dissemination Conference (ARDC), is “Collaborative Transformational Research for Sustainable Community Development”. We have received high quality abstracts and the majority submitted by MUST staff, which is a testimony of a thriving academic community. We also recognise and welcome participants and presenters from other institutions. I can confidently promise you an enriching academic menu at this conference. Preceding this conference, there have been a number of events. The other day, we had a cleaning exercise and repainting of Zebra crossings, and a visit to a Special Needs School in Mbarara town, to demonstrate our social responsibility to the Community. Allow me to thank management of Mbarara Municipal Council and Uganda National Roads Authority for partnering with us. Yesterday we held the now Annual PhD symposium where PhD candidates presented their research progress. We thank the Honourable Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Hon. Dr. Elioda Tumwesigye, for accepting to be our Chief Guest. MUST continues to benefit a lot from the unwavering support the Minister has given this University. We are further joined today by our esteemed Key Note Speaker Professor Charles Kwesiga, the Executive Director of Uganda Industrial Research Institute, which is a lead Agency for research, innovation and industrialization in Uganda. We are also honored by the presence of a Special Needs and Rehabilitation Expert Dr. Lawrence Eron, as we launch the MUST Special Needs and Disability Policy alongside the proceedings of this conference. I would like to use this opportunity to thank the University Council, the Vice Chancellor Professor Celestino Obua, Management, and MUST Staff in general for their continued support to enable this conference to be held on an annual basis for the last 15 years in a row. Additionally, co-sponsorship from MGH Global Health, Epicenter, UCSF (DIPT and ADEPTT), MUST Special Needs Project through ADB, PHARMBIOTRAC, HCU, Mbarara Municipal Council, among others is hereby appreciated. I express gratitude to the Director and Members of the Board of DRGT for hosting this conference. I congratulate the Board for hosting this conference for the second time, and in fulfilling the mandate assigned to us by the University Management, to organize and the coordinate the MUST ARDC conference. As a Board we are committed to ensure that research at MUST is well coordinated, and that research inputs and outputs are efficiently managed and utilized for mentorship, capacity building, community service and other expected outcomes. Special gratitude to the Organizing Committee for their tireless efforts to make this conference successful. I appreciate your expertise, professionalism, commitment and patriotism to this important event. Our service providers; Igongo Cultural Centre, media houses present, and exhibitors, I thank you. Once again I warmly welcome you all today and look forward to an engaging participation at this ARDC, 2019. SUCCEED WE MUST Professor Amon G. Agaba MBChB, PhD Chair 15th MUST ARDC 2019 Chair DRGT Board SPEECH BY THE DIRECTOR, DIRECTORATE OF RESEARCH AND GRADUATE STUDIES, AT THE 15th MUST ARDC 2019. The Chief Guest and Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Hon. Dr. ElIoda Tumwesigye; the Keynote Speaker, the Guest Speaker, Council & Senate Members here present, the Vice Chancellor; Deputy Vice Chancellors; Members of the DRGT Board; our partners here present; Fellow Academicians, Presenters, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen. I want to welcome you to this 15th MUST Annual Research Dissemination Conference. Allow me to first commend the Organizing Committee that is also the Board of the Directorate of Research and Graduate Training together with the Procurement Unit of the University and stakeholders for organizing this great Conference in this beautiful venue of Igongo Cultural Center. Thank you very much. This is the second time in a row for the Directorate to be in the lead of organizing this conference. Special thanks go to the Chief Guest, Hon. Dr. Elioda Tumwesigye the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovations again for honouring our invitation. The Keynote Speaker today, Prof. Charles Kwesiga from Uganda Industrial Research Institute, the Guest Speaker Dr. Eron Lawrence from Kyambogo University and to the co-sponsors, you are very special to us and I thank you very much. To the researchers, thank you for submitting your work and accepting to be here today. Special thanks to the University Council for approving the first ever Research Policy as developed and presented by the Directorate in this great institution. As we shared on MUST mail, the Research Policy was approved this year 2019 by the 74th Meeting of the University Council. I am indebted to the Board, Top Management and Senate for your guidance in developing and finalizing the Research Policy. The academic staff as research supervisors have continued to guide the graduate students in conducting outstanding research. Just last month of October 26th we witnessed 11 Doctoral students, 178 Masters Students and 3 Postgraduate Diploma graduands walking away with their new qualifications. As you saw last month, the Directorate again produced the Graduate Abstracts Books, a trend we started last year. We pledge to maintain the momentum of producing these Abstracts Books at graduation annually, while adding in new flavour including programs offered as well as the fees structure for potential applicants to ably make informed decisions. I have noted that even today, some graduates are here to present their research. I want to continue encouraging you supervisors to proceed with publishing the research together with first author being the student. As a strategy of improving the quality of research for both Faculty and students, we are in the process of acquiring Turnitin Antiplagiarism software License this Financial Year. This is the first time for this institution to own Antiplagiarism software License. I also thank you researchers for the trust you have in MUST Grants Office (MGO) to manage your projects. However, I appeal to you to engage MGO as soon as you start writing your proposals because Research Administration is very critical. At MGO, projects are allocated to individual staff for reporting purposes. In view of this, the MGO staff reporting for the project should be considered among the Direct costs more especially where MUST is the prime recipient. Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I am hopeful that at the end of this conference whose theme is “Collaborative Transformational Research for Sustainable Community Development” will have captured our current issues and suggesting answers or identifying gaps for future research. Once again, I welcome you all and thank each one of those that have supported us in preparing to host this conference. May this conference be a seed to further education, networking and building stronger collaborations that enable us to leverage the benefits of research so that this day may remain memorable to everyone attending this 15th Annual Research Dissemination Conference at MUST. Our goal is to strengthen research and innovation uptake to make a significant contribution in transformational and sustainable community development. Succeed we MUST Assoc. Prof. Batwala Vincent MBChB, MPH, PhD Director, Directorate of Research and Graduate Training (DRGT) PROFESSOR CELESTINO OBUA, VICE CHANCELLOR MBARARA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Prof. Celestino Obua MD, MSc, PhD; is the Vice Chancellor of Mbarara University of Science and Technology and a Professor of Pharmacology and Therapeutics. He holds a PhD in Pharmacology and a Fellow of the Uganda National Academy of Sciences (FUNAS). He is the Program Director of the Mbarara University Research Training Initiative (MURTI), a program that has trained to date four cohorts of junior faculty at MUST in conducting research in HIV/AIDs and related morbidities. He is also the Program Director of two other programs at MUST i) The Mbarara University Alzheimer’s and Related Dementia Research Initiative (MADRI), a program that has built capacity of 12 junior faculty to conduct research in dementia ii) HEPI-TUITAH program that is spearheading skilling of undergraduate health professional students at Mbarara, Lira and Bishop Stuart Universities. He was an investigator in the MEPI-MESAU consortium project that involved five medical schools in Uganda, during which he oversaw the implementation of the trans-disciplinary mentored research across the consortium institutions. He has mentored and provided leadership in several research projects on drug use studies at community levels and in the health facilities, pharmacodynamics and ARVs, health systems and higher education, with over 60 publications, having supervised