phd research grants in kenya

• info@tukenya.ac.ke
• Tel: +254(020) 2219929, 3343672
• P.O. Box 52428 - 00200, Haile Selassie Avenue, Nairobi, Kenya

The Directorate of Research and Knowledge Exchange | The Technical University of Kenya

• External Funding Opportunities
• Foundations & Donors
• Government & Internal
• External Training Opportunities
• Grants & Proposal Writing
• Internal Training Opportunities
• Reference Documents
• Conference Home
• Funded Conferences & Seminars
• Internal Seminars Workshops & Symposia
• International Conferences & Workshops
• National/Regional Conferences & Workshops
• Books & Book Chapters
• Call for Publications and Reviews
• Publications (2010 – 2012)
• Publications (2013 – 2024)
• Workshops & Seminars

Kindly access more opportunities at  Research Professional Africa

Developed by DICTS

• Engage in Capacity Building

PhD Scholarships- Fourth Call for applications

Grants & scholarships.

• PhD Scholarships
• Research Grants
• Innovation Grants

Status: Closed

Description

The Partnership for skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology (PASET) is an African-led initiative with the goal of strengthening skills in the Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology to further socio-economic transformation in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund (RSIF) is the flagship program of PASET. RSIF focuses on transformative technologies that have a far-reaching positive impact on society. It is funded by African governments, the European Commission, the World Bank and the Government of Korea and facilitated by the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology ( icipe ) in Nairobi, Kenya.

RSIF aims to train quality PhD students and post-doctoral researchers at selected African universities (‘African Host Universities’) to address the human resource gap of highly qualified specialists in the fields of applied sciences, engineering, and technology (ASET) and to contribute to improving research and innovation capacities in those fields in SSA. RSIF supports training, research and innovation in five PASET Priority Thematic Areas: (1) ICT including big data and artificial intelligence, (2) Food security and agri-business, (3) Minerals, mining and materials engineering, (4) Energy including renewables and (5) Climate change.

Eligibility ( Further information and application guidelines available on the RSIF website ).

To be eligible for a RSIF PhD Scholarship, applicants must:

• Have a relevant master’s degree in one of the fields of study.
• Meet the specific admission requirements of the RSIF African Host University where they would like to pursue a PhD (see Link to the AHU PhD programs)
• Be a citizen of a sub-Saharan Africa country.
• Preference will be given to applicants who are 35 years of age and below.
• Be willing to enroll full-time in a PhD program at an RSIF African Host University in the 2021-2022 academic year.
• Should not be holding another PhD scholarship, or currently be enrolled in any PhD Program when applying to the RSIF PhD scholarship.
• Be willing to spend 6-24 months in a ‘sandwich’ research placement at an international partner institute.
• Demonstrate that their research goals are well aligned to the Priority Thematic Areas and contribute to Africa’s development.

Benefits: The RSIF PhD Scholarship covers university tuition and related fees, competitive stipend to cover living expenses, travel, medical insurance, and research costs. Graduates will have access to RSIF competitive research grants upon completion of their PhD.

Applications: Applications are accepted through this online application platform : Applications submitted by email or in hardcopy will not be accepted.

Deadline for submission has been extended to 7th October 2021 at 5:00 pm (East Africa Time; UTC+3)

Please address any questions to : [email protected]

For more information on RSIF please visit: www.rsif-paset.org

See the call in French | Portuguese   | English

Reference Documents

Rsif fourth call phd scholarships 2021:.

ENGLISH RSIF Fourth Call Guidelines

FRENCH RSIF Fourth Call Guidelines

PORTUGUESE RSIF Fourth Call Guidelines

Application Link

• Main MKU website
• Staff Email
• MKU Website

College of Graduate Studies & Research

Students attends clean energy innovation bootcamp.

Startup|Energy a joint initiative of Stiftung Solarenergie (Germany) and the University of Freiburg  recently held a clean energy boot camp in Nairobi. Mount Kenya University sponsored three students namely Bettinah Read More

Research and innovation bulletin 2023

Mount Kenya University recognizes the role played by research and innovation in transforming communities, national development, and sustainable use of natural resources. The university also recognizes that ground breaking research Read More

Linkages to enhance graduate employability

Twelve (12) Kenyan Universities and over 10 companies in financial, manufacturing, transport sectors, participated in a forum at Mount Kenya University to exchange ideas on how academia and industries can Read More

College Overview

Research & innovation, graduate studies, grants & development.

Vision & Mission

Vision A global centre of excellence in graduate training, research and innovation Mission To provide leadership and enabling environment for quality graduate training, research and innovation for socio-economic development Motto Read More

Research and innovation Hub

Latest news, news sub title.

Postgraduate Forms

MKU hosts 8iiiUC Research Conference

Varsity Conducts a Workshop on Intellectual Property Rights

We have 3 kenya PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships

All disciplines

All locations

Institution

All Institutions

All PhD Types

All Funding

kenya PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships

Fully funded - the epidemiological underpinnings of viral spillover risk from bats, phd research project.

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)

This research project has funding attached. It is only available to UK citizens or those who have been resident in the UK for a period of 3 years or more. Some projects, which are funded by charities or by the universities themselves may have more stringent restrictions.

Entrepreneurship Ecosystem for a sustainable community in developing economies

Self-funded phd students only.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Mathematical modelling of transmission and worldwide distribution of neglected zoonotic diseases

FindAPhD. Copyright 2005-2024 All rights reserved.

Unknown    ( change )

Have you got time to answer some quick questions about PhD study?

Select your nearest city

You haven’t completed your profile yet. To get the most out of FindAPhD, finish your profile and receive these benefits:

• Monthly chance to win one of ten £10 Amazon vouchers ; winners will be notified every month.*
• The latest PhD projects delivered straight to your inbox
• Access to our £6,000 scholarship competition
• Weekly newsletter with funding opportunities, research proposal tips and much more
• Early access to our physical and virtual postgraduate study fairs

Or begin browsing FindAPhD.com

or begin browsing FindAPhD.com

*Offer only available for the duration of your active subscription, and subject to change. You MUST claim your prize within 72 hours, if not we will redraw.

Do you want hassle-free information and advice?

Create your FindAPhD account and sign up to our newsletter:

• Find out about funding opportunities and application tips
• Receive weekly advice, student stories and the latest PhD news
• Hear about our upcoming study fairs
• Save your favourite projects, track enquiries and get personalised subject updates

Create your account

Looking to list your PhD opportunities? Log in here .

Filtering Results

RESEARCH FUNDING AVAILABLE FOR PHD STUDENTS ALREADY ENROLLED IN THE UNIVERSITY

The African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) Centre of Excellence for Non-Communicable Diseases(ACE-NCD) hosted by the  University of Nairobi (Kenya)  is a partnership of five African Universities including the  University of Ghana (Ghana) ,  University of Ibadan (Nigeria),   Makerere University (Uganda) , and  University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa).  The ACE-NCD provides a platform for creation of a long-term strategic network of researchers in African Universities with a focus on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) research. The ACE-NCD builds on the strengths of the core members through a hub and spoke model to strengthen intra-African collaboration, and collaboration between the network and the rest of the world.

The ACE-NCD has received a grant from the  Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF)  through the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to support and strengthen research capacity among the ACE-NCD universities and their partners in Africa. Part of the grant is available to support PhD students’ research.

ACE-NCD PhD Support Programme

The ACE-NCD PhD programme shall support two PhD students who are about to embark on the research phase of their studies.

Scope of Support

This call targets students currently enrolled in PhD studies in any of the five ACE-NCD member universities. Students must have had their research proposals approved and are near completion of their PhD studies. Funding is available up to £10,000 per project and will be tenable for one year in order to support the students to complete their studies.  All work must be completed by September 31, 2021. 

Strategic Priorities and Criteria

The proposed PhD research must focus on any one of the ACE-NCD thematic areas outlined below:

• Prevention  – Much of the increase in NCDs in SSA is due to rapid unplanned urbanization, deteriorating environments, population ageing, and lifestyle changes such as decreasing physical activity, obesity, tobacco use, and increasing consumption of alcohol and unhealthy foods. Our approach to prevention of NCDs is modelled after the WHO three-pronged approach that includes epidemiological surveillance, primary prevention, and secondary prevention targeted at preventing complications and improving the quality of life through medical, psychosocial and/or economic interventions. Interdisciplinary research shall interrogate the root causes and propose innovative interventions that make efficient use of existing resources.
• Multi-morbidity  – There is a high prevalence of NCDs multi- morbidity, ‘the coexistence of more than one chronic non-communicable disease in an individual at any one point’. However its aetiology, mechanisms and pathophysiology is poorly understood, with little data available. NCD health seeking behaviour is symptom driven, thus asymptomatic disease conditions receive very little attention, both at individual level and amongst health systems planners because the need is masked. There is a need to conduct research to understand the social determinants, the magnitude of the problem, characterize it, define pathways of progression of the disease conditions, detect coexistence of and interactions between NCDs and infectious diseases.
• Mechanics of Disease  – In order to manage and prevent NCD multi-morbidity in a rational manner, it is necessary to understand the natural history of the contributing diseases and to define the mechanistic underpinnings of how these diseases interact in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Potential mechanistic studies include identification of the key interactions exacerbating the multi-morbid state, mapping of pathways and development of multi-morbid disease models. Epidemiological data can then be used to test these models. Bio-banking/biomarkers – Africa has, hitherto, been under-represented in the bio-banking revolution with the few available biobanks serving mainly as conduits of samples to the developed countries.
• Models of Care  – There has been inadequate efforts in development of prevention, management and control of NCD care models acceptable to the community and policymakers specific to SSA. Management of chronic conditions is a challenge for healthcare delivery systems globally but especially so in low resource settings. Possible projects could include data mining of existing data sets, DHIS2, hospital data and women who have attended ANC (>90%), and/or key informant interviews with government (implementing arm such as county/district health authorities), community and industry to identify possible models of care.
• Big Data  – There is inadequate data and trend analysis for the risk factors in nearly all African countries, especially among the target population of adolescents and youth. Developing effective risk-factor interventions for the target population requires current information on both the drivers and the trends particularly of sub-age groups. Even where the data is available, there are substantial variations in how the indicators were collected, and samples drawn across populations. This makes comparison across and learning between different communities and countries very difficult. Large data sets shall form the basis of data-driven research that facilitates evidence-based decision and policy making. Example projects could include investigating avenues for building consensus, at least across ARUA countries on the selection, definition and measurement of a core set of cross-culturally, comparable and appropriate indicators.

Eligibility

• Applicants must be registered for relevant PhD studies in any of the five ACE-NCD Universities (see details of partners below).
• Awards will be made to one (1) female and one (1) male applicant. Female applicants are therefore encouraged to apply.
• Priority will be accorded to applicants aged 35 years or younger.  A higher age (up to 38 years) could be considered for female applicants if there are compelling reasons to do so.

What the PhD Support Programme will cover

The ACE-NCD PhD support programme will cover costs directly related to the students research work. This will include travel and fieldwork, lab work, research assistants, and data analysis costs. The funds could also be used to purchase small equipment of not more than UK Pounds 5,000. The funding will not cover tuition costs, living expenses or taxes.

For more details visit the ACE-NCD PhD programme webpage at https://uonresearch.org/acencd-phd/

• African Research Universities Alliance Centre of Excellence for Non-Communicable Diseases
• African Universities Researchers
• Non-Communicable Diseases
• PhD students’ research
• Log in to post comments

Social Media Share

© University of Nairobi 2024.  All rights Reserved.

Fieldwork support

NO CALL CURRENTLY (until September 2025)

IFRA-Nairobi invites applications for fieldwork grants aimed to support Masters, PhD and postdoc students who conduct research in the social sciences and humanities in East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, and Eastern Congo). IFRA prioritizes support to the following research themes:

• Elections, Governance in East Africa
• Workers, Labour and Employment
• Refugees and the Humanitarian Governance
• Music, Art, Culture, and Heritage
• Decolonizing African Studies: Thinkers, Practitioners and Practices
• Gender and LGBT in Words and in Practice
• African Socialism, Pan-Africanism, and (Sub-)National Imaginaries
• The African City: Urban Inequality, Social (In-)Justice, and Slum Politics

Beyond these priority research themes, grants may be given to non-priority project proposals when considered academically relevant. There is no condition of nationality. Kindly send your application to [email protected]. Applications can be submitted in English or French and include the following documents:

• A cover letter (in PDF) of about 2 pages including a summary of the project in 15-20 lines and explaining your profile, why you need financial support, and if you already have support from other institutions and for how much;
• A detailed curriculum vitae (in PDF), including relevant publications ;
• A research project proposal (in PDF) of maximum 5 pages that includes information about the methodology that will be used and details about the fieldwork location and research planning.

Additional information:

• About the grant : Grants offered usually range from 400 to 1,200 euros. They are not subject to taxes, and do not open rights to social security. They are awarded as contributions towards actual research costs and do not include stipends for applicants;
• Conditions of support : It is mandatory to be registered and/or attached to a university or research unit as well as to mention other sources of funding;
• Deliverables : Beneficiaries will be requested to provide a working paper or an academic article that might be published through IFRA after peer-review. They might also be offered the opportunity to present the results of their work in a seminar or conference;
• Advice to applicants : IFRA’s research funding is competitive as we receive more applications than what we can fund. Your application must state in a clear and compelling way its relevance and interest for research in East Africa and its possible contribution to IFRA’s mission.

PRÉSENTATION

The French Institute for Research in Africa (IFRA) has been active in East Africa since 1977; its offices are in Nairobi, Kenya.

Research covers Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and eastern DRC.

IFRA promotes research in all the disciplines of the social sciences and humanities, mainly geography, political science, anthropology and history. Archaeology missions are also supported.

IFRA works under the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) and the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS).

It is part of the ‘French Research Centers Abroad’ network, called UMIFRE.

• IFAS – Recherche
• IFRA-Nigeria
• GIS Etudes africaines
• Newsletter IFRA

Latest Africae

Welcome to Mitchell’s Plain : Filming a ‘Model Township’ during Apartheid

Latest Cahiers

• 59 | 2024 – Varia
• 58 | 2023 – Literature, Art and Cosmopolitism in East Africa / Land Policies and Practices in Kenya
• 57 | 2022 – COVID-19 in Kenya / Varia

Latest Mambo!

• The Role of Rites of Passage in Women’s Market Based Land Access: The Case of Two Villages in the Rufiji District, Rural Tanzania Rose George Mbezi
• L’or de Kakamega : étude du renouveau de l’activité minière artisanale dans l’Ouest du Kenya Joseph Bohbot
• Street Vendors Associations in Kenya: Political or Economic Resource? Nathan Kariuki

Calenda Afrique

• Approches territoriales et santé publique : concepts, méthodes et applications
• De la grammaire normative à la description des langues : entre perspectives didactiques et recherche scientifique
• Genre et citoyenneté entrepreunariale en Afrique centrale

You will be redirected to OpenEdition Search

Study and Research Opportunities in Kenya

Long and short term academic programs are available in Kenya across many universities and educational centers. International students and researchers may apply to BA, MA, PhD and postdoctoral research programs in Kenya. Moreover summer schools and conferences are another excellent academic activities that makes Kenya an attractive destination for scholars and scientists. Many programs also come with fully funded scholarships and fellowships as well as travel grants and financial aid, thus every students, researcher and professor can always find a suitable program in Kenya and apply.

• Staff Portal

020-4403386

[email protected]

• off Waiyaki Way, Upper Kabete

NACOSTI Plaza, 3rd Floor, Upper Kabete

P.O. Box 26036 – 00100, Nairobi, Kenya

QUICK LINKS

Ministry of Education

National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation

Kenya National Innovation Agency

East African Science and Technology Commission

Technical University of Kenya

ERP Web Client

• Opportunities
• Get In Touch
• Mid-Career Postdoctorals
• Early Career Postdoctorals
• Postgraduate Diploma
• Undergraduate Attachments
• School Leavers Attachments
• Other Capacity Strengthening Activities

Postdoctoral researchers are the main drivers of research in all major research institutions globally. As such KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme through the Initiative to Develop African Research Leaders (IDeAL) and other grants awarded to researchers in the Programme is keen to provide support for postdoctoral training for African researchers particularly those in the early stages of their careers. We have therefore defined a career path beginning from early postdocs through mid and senior research fellows to principal research fellows. Early postdoc are generally employed within a year or two of finishing their PhD training on funding from a more senior researchers. Towards the end of their training some of the postdocs may consider applying for independent funding. Such postdoc will supported and mentored to help them developing competitive grant proposal that will enable them progress up the ladder toward becoming a senior or principle research fellows. Mid, Senior and Principal research fellows are general researchers who hold progressively larger grants and run progressively larger research programmes and groups. Progression to this position is therefore largely determined by a researcher’s scientific output and ability to win research grants.​ Click h ere for more information. ​​

Dr. Sophie Uyoga

Prof. Imelda Bates

Affiliation(s):

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK

Imelda’s current research activities focus on anaemia and blood transfusion systems in LMICs particularly on evidence to improve the supply and use of blood for transfusion. She has also established an expanding and vibrant Capacity Research Unit which is at the forefront of research into how to design, measure and evaluate programmes to strengthen research capacity and laboratory systems in LMICs.

Imelda is a member of LSTM’s Learning and Teaching Committee. She is Course Director for the innovative and highly successful Diploma in Project Design and Management which was established in Ghana in 2003 to increase multi-disciplinary institutional research capacity. She also teaches on many of LSTM’s on-site courses including Diploma and Masters programmes and the Consultancy course. She has supervised many successful PhD and Masters students.

Prof. Kathryn Maitland, FMedSc

Professor of Paediatric Tropical Infectious Diseases at the Faculty of Medicine and Director of the ICCARE Centre at the Global Centre of Health Innovation, Imperial College, London and an Honorary Fellow at MRC Clinical Trials Unit, University College, London. Over the last 17 years she has been based full-time at the East Africa, where she leads a research group whose major research portfolio includes severe malaria, bacterial sepsis and severe malnutrition in children and clinical trials in emergency care. Her team conducted the largest trial in critically children ever undertaken in Africa (FEAST trial) examining fluid resuscitation strategies in children with severe febrile illness, showing that fluid boluses increased mortality compared to no-bolus (control) (Maitland et al, NEJM 2011). Her team is currently running two other large clinical trials investigating transfusion and other treatment strategies in 3950 African children with severe life-threatening anaemia (TRACT; Mpoya et al Trials 2016) and the optimum oxygen saturation threshold for which oxygen should be targeted and how best to administer oxygen in 4800 children (COAST: Children Oxygenation Administration Strategies Trial).

Prof. Tom Williams

Affiliations:

KEMRI – Wellcome Trust, Kenya

Imperial College London, UK 

Tom is Professor of Haemoglobinopathy Research at Imperial College, London. Tom has worked in Kilifi since May 2000, where he now directs a programme of human genetic research with a focus on polymorphisms of the red blood cell. He obtained his medical degree at Westminster Medical School in the University of London in 1985 and subsequently trained in Paediatrics and Tropical Medicine at a range of London hospitals including Westminster Children’s Hospital, University College, the Hospital for Tropical Diseases and Imperial College. He obtained his PhD on the genetics of malaria resistance in children, from the University of London in 1999. He has published extensively on the burden and clinical consequences of red cell genetic disorders and their relationship with malaria protection, questions which he studies using both laboratory-based and epidemiological approaches.

Sophie Uyoga has worked at the KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme since 2004. In 2008, Sophie received a PhD fellowship from the EU Marie-Curie-Action InterMal Training Programme under the mentorship of Prof. Paolo Arese (University of Torino) and Prof. Thomas Williams. In 2012, Sophie completed her PhD at the University of Heidelberg on mechanisms of removal of red blood cells during the development of severe malaria anaemia and protection afforded by red blood cell polymorphisms. In 2016, Sophie was awarded a Mid Career Research Fellowship by IDEAL and she will be investigating the mechanisms behind the development and treatment of severe anaemia with focus on the role of red blood cell genetics and quality of donor blood on recovery and survival post-transfusion

Dr. Eunice Nduati

Prof. Thumbi Ndung’u

Thumbi Ndung’u is both the SANTHE Programme Director and the Director of the HIV Pathogenesis Programme (HPP). He also heads a laboratory at AHRI (the African Health Research Institute) – previously known as K-RITH (the KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV), which is based at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa. Ndung’u is interested in understanding antiviral immune mechanisms and viral adaptation in HIV-1 subtype C infection as a pathway to vaccine development. The development of a safe, affordable and efficacious HIV-1 vaccine is perhaps the defining scientific challenge of our time. Rational vaccine design will require a better understanding of immune correlates of HIV-1 protection or control. His laboratory focuses on individuals who remain HIV negative despite possible repeated exposure to the virus and those infected who achieve durable viral control without the help of antiretroviral therapies. These individuals may hold the key to vaccine development or novel therapies.

Prof. Shane Crotty

La Jolla Institute, San Diego, CA, USA

Shane Crotty, Ph.D., and his team study immunity against infectious diseases. They investigate how the immune system remembers infections and vaccines. By remembering infections and vaccines, the body is protected from becoming infected in the future. Vaccines are one of the most cost-effective medical treatments in modern civilization and are responsible for saving millions of lives. Yet, good vaccines are very difficult to design, and very few new vaccines have been made in the past 10 years. A better understanding of immune memory will facilitate the ability to make new vaccines.

Most vaccines work because they generate antibodies. Dr. Crotty recently made a seminal finding in how this process occurs (Science 2009). Dr. Crotty said it has been well established that antibody production is a multi-step process that involves interactions between several cellular players, key among them CD4 “helper” T cells, which are disease-fighting white blood cells that tell other cells to produce antibodies in response to infections. “There were different flavors of these CD4 helper T cells and, for many years, we, in the scientific community, thought that one variety of CD4 helper cells (known as Th2 cells) triggered the antibody process. But about 10 years ago, scientists realized this was incorrect and that there must exist a new variety of CD4 helper T cell that initiated antibody production. It was named Tfh.”

Dr. Crotty’s team set out to understand the inner workings of the Tfh pathway. “We discovered that the BCL6 gene was like an on and off switch, or master regulator, in this process. In a series of experiments, we showed that if you turn on this gene, you get more CD4 T helper cells (the Tfh type) and it’s those cells that are telling the B cells to produce antibodies,” he said. The laboratory is now internationally recognized as a leader in Tfh cell biology, having identified the central role of BCL6 in Tfh cells, and elucidated critical aspects of Tfh cellular and molecular biology in animals and humans.

The field of Tfh cell biology has grown rapidly since the seminal publications in 2009, and work from many labs has shown that Tfh cells are important regulators of autoimmune diseases and allergies, in addition to their critical roles in immunity to viruses and bacteria.

Dr. Crotty has a major focus studying human immune responses to vaccines. His lab is hard at work on candidate HIV vaccines with the CHAVI-ID consortium.

I joined the KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP) in Nairobi working on antimalarial drug resistance. In 2005 I transferred to Kilifi to pursue my interest in the immunology of infectious diseases under the Biology and Pathology of the Malaria Parasite (BiolMalPar) Ph.D. training programme. This was a collaborative programme with time spent between the UK and Kenya. My thesis was on understanding host immune responses, specifically B-cell regulation in malaria. On returning to Kenya, I was awarded 6 months funding by BIOMALPAR/European Molecular Biology Laboratories (EMBL) a European Union Initiative to understand the role of soluble factors, such as the B cell activating factor (BAFF) on B-cell differentiation and function. I then successfully obtained a Wellcome Trust Training Fellowship, which supported my work on B-cell regulation in HIV infection and exposure. The aim of this work was to understand whether exposure to HIV virus or antigens, antiretroviral drugs and/or an altered placental cytokine milieu, in utero, affects the developing immune system in infants born to HIV infected mothers but are themselves not infected. In HIV infection, I have been involved in understanding B cell phenotypic and functional changes in HIV infected children. Currently I hold a mid-career fellowship with the IDeAL program at KWTRP and working within the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI)-Vaccine Immunology Science and Technology for Africa (IAVI-VISTA) consortium, which has established longitudinal HIV cohorts. My work involves understanding adaptive immune responses, specifically T cell and B cell functions in early HIV infection and how this may impact on subsequent disease outcomes.

Dr. Charles Agoti

Prof. James Nokes

James Nokes is Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick. Since 2001 he has been based full time at the Wellcome Trust Major Overseas Programme, Kilifi coastal Kenya. James trained in Zoology (BSc) followed by a PhD in virus epidemiology. His principle interests are the transmission dynamics and control of human viral pathogens, including respiratory syncytial virus and rotavirus. The focus of his WT Senior Investigator Award is the integration of epidemiological and genomic data to infer transmission pathways at different scales of interest from the household to countrywide. His research group is inter-disciplinary using molecular, phylogenetic, immunological, mathematical, statistical and field approaches to address key questions relating to respiratory and enteric virus persistence, transmission, and intervention.

Charles Agoti is a Mid Career Research Fellow (MCRF) under the IDeAL Programme. Prior receiving the fellowship Charles was working as Postdoctoral Bioinformacian with the Virus Epidemiology and Control (VEC) group within the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Kilifi Programme. For more than 10 years,

Charles’ primary focus was generating and analyzing respiratory virus genomes to improve understanding on the underlying transmission and evolutionary patterns that allow persistence of these pathogens in host populations. Charles has made significant contributions into the understanding of the nature and variant composition of local seasonal respiratory syncytial virus (RSV, a leading cause of childhood pneumonia) epidemics and the role of genetic variation in RSV repeat infections.

The IDeAL MCRF supports Charles to extend this transmission genomics work to medically important enteric viruses. Specifically, Charles will be investigating viral diarrhea genomics pre and post-rotavirus vaccination in Kenya to understand virus source, transmission patterns and vaccine impact.

Postdoctoral researchers are the main drivers of research in all major research institutions globally. As such KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme through the Initiative to Develop African Research Leaders (IDeAL) and other grants awarded to researchers in the Programme is keen to provide support for postdoctoral training for African researchers particularly those in the early stages of their careers. We have therefore defined a career path beginning from early postdocs through mid and senior research fellows to principal research fellows. Early postdoc are generally employed within a year or two of finishing their PhD training on funding from a more senior researchers. Towards the end of their training some of the postdocs may consider applying for independent funding. Such postdoc will supported and mentored to help them developing competitive grant proposal that will enable them progress up the ladder toward becoming a senior or principle research fellows. Mid, Senior and Principal research fellows are general researchers who hold progressively larger grants and run progressively larger research programmes and groups. Progression to this position is therefore largely determined by a researcher’s scientific output and ability to win research grants.​ Click here for more information .​​

Dr. Julie Jemutai

Prof. Jay Berkley

KEMRI – Wellcome Trust

Nuffield Department of Medicine, Oxford University

Jay is a consultant paediatrician and sub-specialist in paediatric infectious diseases and immunology based at the KEMRI Centre for Geographic Medicine Research – Coast and Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya. Jay leads a research group focusing on infection and inflammation in childhood malnutrition, and on perinatal health. Jay joined the KEMRI/Wellcome Trust Collaborative Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya in 1997. He undertook a Wellcome Trust Research Training Fellowship on invasive bacterial infections and their relationships with malaria, HIV and malnutrition. After completing specialist training in paediatrics and sub-specialist training in paediatric clinical immunology and infectious diseases in the UK, Jay returned to Kilifi. His current Wellcome Trust Intermediate Clinical Research Fellowship is on tackling infection and inflammation to prevent mortality in malnourished children. Jay is involved in the Kenyan national training programme on integrated management of severe acute malnutrition and is an expert adviser to the Ministries of Health and the World Health Organisation.

Julie is an IDeAL Early Career Postdoctoral Researcher with interests in applying and developing econometric and mathematical models. Her PhD research assessed technical efficiency and the effect of ownership in public and faith-based hospitals in Kenya. Her current focus is in economic evaluation of treatments for severely acute malnourished children as part of the FLACSAM (First Line Antimicrobials in Children with Complicated Severe Acute Malnutrition) Trial. She is particularly interested in assessing cost effectiveness of antibiotics administered to severely acute malnourished children. Her research work also aims to investigate the economic burden of antimicrobial resistance among children with severe acute malnutrition.

Dr. George Githinji

I am an IDeAL early career postdoctoral fellow at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme. I utilise bioinformatics approaches to study virus evolution and transmission patterns during outbreaks. My current project investigates the role of minority variants in virus evolution and in reconstructing virus transmission chains.

I hold a bachelors degree in Biomedical Science and Technology from Egerton University and a PhD from the Open University (UK) advised by Dr Peter Bull (University of Cambridge), Prof Kevin Marsh (Oxford University) and Dr Britta Urban (University of Liverpool). My PhD thesis explored the extent of sequence and epitope diversity within a short region of the PfEMP1 molecule that is associated with characteristic expression patterns in severe and non-servere malaria cases.

Before joining the programme, I trained under Dr Patrick Duffy as a visiting student at the MoMs malaria project in Tanzania and SBRI (now Center for Infectious Disease Research) and attended bioinformatics courses at the University of Washington.

Dr. Daniel Kiboi

Prof. Faith Osier

UniversitatsKilinikum Heildeberg

Faith trained as a clinician at the University of Nairobi, Kenya and obtained her MBChB degree in 1996. She immediately took up her Medical Internship at Coast General Provincial Hospital, in Kenya where she also worked as a Medical Officer in the department of Medicine until March 1998. Thereafter she took up a post as a Medical Officer/Research Officer at KEMRI-Kilifi, working in the Paediatrics Department of Kilifi District Hospital. It was here that she began to develop a career in research, engaging in clinical research studies and actively taking part in institutional academic meetings including weekly journal clubs and seminars. She subsequently specialized in Paediatrics, training both in Kenya and the United Kingdom, becoming a member of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health UK in 2003 and a Consultant Paediatrician in Kenya in 2009. In 2004 she undertook a Masters in Human Immunity at the University of Liverpool, UK where she graduated with distinction, and was awarded a prize for being the best student of the year in the Department of Immunology. She has a PhD from the Open University, UK and currently works as a Clinical Research Fellow and Group Leader at the KEMRI-CGMR-C in Kilifi. She holds an Intermediate Fellowship in Public Health and Tropical Medicine from the Wellcome Trust, UK, and the prestigious MRC/DfID African Research Leader Award. In 2014 she was awarded the Young African Scientist Award by EVIMalaR, won the Merle A Sande Health Leadership Award and the Royal Society Pfizer Award. She is actively involved in capacity building for African Scientists and is building up a dynamic research group in Kilifi. Faith has been recently appointed Visiting Professor at the University of Oxford

Dr. Gordon Awandare

Dr. Awandare’s research focuses on the pathogenesis of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in children. There are two main branches of investigations, namely the role of the host immune response on one hand, and the mechanisms used by the parasite to propagate itself and cause disease. From the perspective of the host, we have been investigating the production of inflammatory mediators and the relationship between genetic variation in innate immune response genes and susceptibility to severe malaria in children. Our research on the Plasmodium parasite is aimed at gaining a better understanding of the mechanisms used for invasion of red blood cells. Therefore, a substantial aspect of our research efforts focus on characterizing the sialic acid-independent pathways of invasion and identifying novel receptors and ligands involved.

Daniel studied Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at JKUAT, Kenya. His postgraduate research focused on selecting and identifying molecular markers associated with antimalarial drugs piperaquine and lumefantrine resistance in rodent malaria parasites Plasmodium berghei. His study mapped promising mutations in proteins that are highly plausible candidates for mediators of drug action/resistance. During his PhD training, he visited Drs Oliver and Julian lab at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. He trained on transfection work using gene knockout and epitope tagging, PlasmoGEM vectors for P. berghei and their application in validating resistance markers/drug transporters/targets. He later established and continued with the P. berghei transfection in KEMRI, Nairobi. Daniel joined the KEMRI-WTRP, Kilifi in 2016 as PostDoc under the WACCBIP Programme. His expanded focus is validating Plasmodium proteins associated not only with drug resistance but also to genes of interest in malaria immunity using both PlasmoGEM resources and CRISPR/Cas9 system.

Dr. Mainga Hamaluba

Dr. Patricia Njuguna

Affiliated Institution:

KEMRI – Wellcome Trust, Kenya 

Patricia is Paediatrician based in Kilifi, Kenya. She graduated with a Masters in Medicine (Paediatrics and Child Health) (University of Nairobi) in 2006. She has worked in the area of neurology (Neurodiability in the community) under Prof Charles Newton from 2001-2003. Her Master’s thesis was an audit of management of coma in the national referral hospital. From 2006 she has been involved with the Clinical Trials Facility working in the area of malaria vaccines. This includes the GSK candidate vaccine – RTS,S. Her other interests include mechanisms that governments and other agencies use to determine the uptake of various vaccines in different parts of the world. She is a member of the Brighton collaboration, the Kenya Medical Association and the Kenya Paediatric Association. Patricia is author or co-author of 8 publications in malaria and neurology.

Prof. Charles Newton

Charles Newton qualified from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, with postgraduate training in Paediatrics in Manchester and London, United Kingdom. As a lecturer at University of Oxford, he went to Kilifi Kenya in 1989, to help set up a unit to study severe malaria in African children. Thereafter he spent 2 years as a Post-doctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins, USA; studying mechanisms of brain damage in central nervous system infections. He completed his training in Paediatric Neurology at Great Ormond Street Hospital, UK. In 1998 he was awarded a Wellcome Trust Senior Clinical Fellowship at University College London, to return to Kilifi, to study CNS infections in children. He conducts research on CNS infections in children; epidemiological studies of epilepsy and neurological impairment; tetanus, jaundice and sepsis in neonates. He is particularly interested in behavioural comorbidity of neurological conditions in children.  In 2011 he took up a professorship in Psychiatry at the University of Oxford to conduct studies of Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Epilepsy in Africa and Autism in the United Kingdom and Lithuania

I am a clinician trained in Paediatrics in Oxford, UK. During my clinical training, I worked at the Oxford Vaccine Group. The work contributing to my thesis looked at the population biology of Streptococcus pneumoniae in pre-school children in Oxfordshire and Kathmandu, Nepal. We also conducted a vaccine trial in infants which led to the introduction and informed the schedule of the 10-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in Nepalese infants.

My current interests focus on identifying key indicators of poor early and late neonatal outcomes in Kenya, and testing novel and established interventions for improved neonatal survival and neurodevelopment.

Dr. Ambrose Agweyu

Prof. Mike English

Mike worked in Kilifi from 1992 on malaria, in the early years of the ‘Kilifi’ programme, and returned to the UK in 1996 to complete specialist training as a General Paediatrician in 1998. He returned to Kilifi in 1999 to rejoin the programme and work on neonatal illnesses as part of a Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellowship while also working as a paediatrician in Kilifi District Hospital. In 2004 after some work at more national level on quality of paediatric care he moved to Nairobi where he continues to work with the programme as a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow. He was made Professor of International Child Health in Oxford in 2010. His work has included developing national, evidence-based guidelines for care of severely ill children and newborns, at first in 2005 and then updated in 2010 andArray 2013. To complement these Mike and colleagues developed the ETAT+ course, adapting WHO’s ETAT course and expanding its scope to include evidence-based case management of serious illness in the child and newborn periods. The ETAT+ course is now provided with the help of multiple colleagues and the Kenya Paediatric Association with training conducted across Kenya and for Kenyan medical students. Others have taken the course to Rwanda, Uganda and Somaliland. More information on this course and the approach to developing national guidelines can be found at www.idoc-africa.org. The Health Services Unit he leads has undertaken long-term studies by a multidisciplinary team on initiating and establishing ‘best-practices’ within rural government hospitals. This has resulted in a Kenyan team working with the support of international collaborators on hospital performance measurement, cost-effectiveness, motivation, task-shifting, and barriers to implementation. More recently work has started on governance, leadership, human resources for health and knowledge translation. The group are well known for their work on measuring and testing interventions to improve paediatric and neonatal quality of care. Mike and the group work closely with the Kenyan Ministry of Health and he provides technical advice to WHO on a range of issues related to child and newborn survival.

Ambrose is a Kenyan paediatrician and epidemiologist, based at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Nairobi. Working closely with the Kenya Ministry of Health in 2009, his early research involved conducting systematic reviews for a national exercise to adapt the World Health Organization pneumonia clinical practice guidelines using the GRADE methodology. Following this, Ambrose was invited to support similar exercises in Uganda and Rwanda. More recently, he was the principal investigator on a large pragmatic clinical trial comparing antibiotic treatments for childhood pneumonia. The findings of this study contributed towards a recent major revision in the Kenyan guidelines, and are likely to eventually influence practice in the region.

For his postdoctoral fellowship under the IDeAL Programme, Ambrose is analysing routine inpatient data collected from an existing clinical information network of 14 Kenyan hospitals to identify high risk groups of children with pneumonia as potential target populations for future interventional studies.

As a member of the core team brought together by the Government of Kenya to drive the Kenya Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Pneumonia (KAPP), Ambrose is also actively involved in advocacy on how best to implement prevention and care for childhood pneumonia and campaigning for greater attention to be paid to this major childhood killer.

Dr. Agnes Gwela

Dr. Nelson Kibinge

Nelson Kibinge is a postdoctoral researcher in the virus epidemiology and control (VEC) laboratory at KEMRI-Wellcome Trust since April 2016. He holds a BSc (Biology) degree from the University of Nairobi and an MSc and PhD (Computational Biology) from the Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST), Japan. Although originally a biologist, he has recently focused on bioinformatics research involving development of computational tools for sequence analysis, phylogenetics and transcriptomics. His current research project focuses on designing optimum sampling strategies for RSV surveillance. He also has a significant interest in spatial epidemiology and computational ecology.

Dr. Kui Muraya

Prof. Sassy Molyneux

Sassy Molyneux, is an Associate Professor employed by Oxford University, UK, based at the Kenya Medical Research Institute-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya. She is a behavioural scientist, with a background in human geography. Her current main research interests include health system finance and governance, responsiveness of health systems to user and population priorities and concerns, and research ethics. A cross-cutting area of interest is producing new thinking, evidence and recommendations around initiatives aimed at strengthening accountability processes in biomedical research and health delivery in sub-Saharan Africa.

Kui Muraya is a Post-Doctoral Social Scientist at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kenya with a particular interest in gender & health and social science research more broadly. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree (majoring in Psychology & Anthropology) from the University of Adelaide, Australia, and an Honours Degree in Health Sciences (General Practice) from the same institution. For her Honours Degree she undertook research work on the experiences of intimate partner violence amongst African refugee women who had been resettled in Australia. She obtained her PhD in Public Health and Social Care from the Open University, UK in 2014. Her PhD focused on exploring the interaction between household gender relations and community-based child nutrition interventions; with a focus on the implementation and use of such interventions. More recently she was a co-principal investigator in a multi-country study exploring gender and leadership within health systems in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. She currently plays a leading role as a social scientist in one study site (Nairobi) of a multi-country study exploring (socioeconomic, cultural and household) factors that contribute to post-hospital discharge mortality in acutely ill undernourished and well-nourished children; with a goal to develop targeted actionable interventions to lower mortality. Her other research interests include qualitative research methods, health systems research, research uptake and communicating research evidence, and translation of research evidence into policy.

Dr. Linda Murungi

Prof. Sam Kinyanjui

Prof. Sam Kinyanjui is the Head of Training and Capacity Building at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Programme in Kenya and the Director for the Initiative to Develop African Research Leaders (IDeAL). Prior to the current position, he spent 16 years doing research on the immunology and molecular biology of malaria parasites. During this period he developed a strong interest in capacity building for health research in Africa. As the Head of Training and Capacity Building at the KWTRP in Kenya, he provides scientific and strategic guidance for academic training towards research leadership. His key achievement has been the development and implementation of a comprehensive research career framework for attracting, training and retaining African research leaders. Through the framework, Prof. Kinyanjui has overseen the training of over 200 graduate interns, the majority of who have taken up a research career after the internship. This scheme has now been developed into a nationally accredited Postgraduate Diploma in Health Research Methods. He has also overseen over 100 Masters and over 70 PhD training since 2008. In 2015 Prof. Kinyanjui was awarded a further 8 million pounds by the Wellcome Trust/DIFD to build on this work through the Initiative to Develop African Research Leaders (IDeAL) Regionally, Prof. Kinyanjui is involved in advocacy for increased commitment to building research capacity in Africa by both African governments and funding agencies. In 2006 he worked at the African Union Headquarter promoting health research agenda within the Union. He also sits on the advisory boards of several African capacity building initiatives including MUIIplus, SSACAB, SANTHE and the TDR Global Community Adhoc Workgroup.

Linda holds a BSc. (Hons) in Biomedical Science and Technology, Maseno University, an MSc. in Immunology of Infectious Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, on a Wellcome Trust MSc fellowship and a PhD in Life and Biomolecular sciences, Open University, UK awarded in 2014 and sponsored by KWTRP in collaboration with the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford, UK. In 2015, she joined Centre for Biotechnology and Bioinformatics (UoN) as a visiting Postdoctoral Fellow teaching pathogen biology, immunology and molecular biology, assisting with MSc and PhD research projects and providing training in proposal writing and statistical analysis. She is currently an Early Career Postdoctoral Researcher at KWTRP in collaboration with University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Her research project focuses on understanding mechanisms and targets of immunity to malaria using monoclonal antibodies. Her research interest is in immunology of infectious diseases and pathogen biology. She has 12 publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Sam Aketch

Sam Akech is paediatrician with Dphil in Clinical Medicine from the University of Oxford, UK. He was initially based at the Kilifi site where he did studies leading to his PhD. He investigated haemodynamic status of children with severe febrile illnesses and conducted a number of clinical trials comparing different fluid regimes for treatment of shock in that population of children. He is currently a post-doctoral research fellow investigating risk factors for mortality and morbidity of common childhood conditions, guidance compliance and outcomes spanning hospitals (clusters) within Clinical Information Network. He aims inform case management of these conditions with high mortality, including triage, and identify outstanding questions that require pragmatic trials.

Dr. Silvia Kariuki

Dr. Julian Rayner

Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, UK

My research seeks to understand the interactions between Plasmodium parasites and human cells, in order to identify and prioritise new drug and vaccine targets. I focus on the stage of the parasite life cycle that infects human red blood cells, as it is this stage that causes all the symptoms and pathology of malaria.

I am broadly interested in the genetic architecture of complex traits, and specifically identifying genetic factors associated with disease susceptibility. My doctoral thesis work at the University of Chicago involved endophenotype mapping to identify novel genetic polymorphisms associated with complex traits such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and vitamin D response in the immune system. My current project at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Program involves functional validation of several genetic polymorphisms that have been previously reported to confer substantial protection against severe malaria. I am interested in uncovering the molecular mechanisms through which these polymorphisms confer their protective effect, through application of several experimental techniques such as preference invasion assays, rosetting and cytoadhesion assays. A better understanding of the protective mechanisms afforded by these genetic polymorphisms could inform the development of new methods for the control and treatment of malaria.

Dr. Peter Olupot

Dr. Peter Olupot-Olupot has 18 years of experience in clinical practice and 10 years in clinical research.  His leading research is in mainly in the areas of malaria and Blackwater Fever with a focus on epidemiology, pathophysiology and treatment. His postdoctoral research project is on Acute Kidney Injury in Severe Malaria in Uganda (AKIM).  

He is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Public Health, Busitema University Faculty of Health Sciences, Mbale Campus. He also has international affiliations as Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer with Imperial College London, UK and Honorary Research Associate at University of Liverpool, UK.  

Professionally Olupot-Olupot is registered with the Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners Council (UMDPC). He is also a member of the Uganda Medical Association (UMA).

At the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Programme we are keen to build capacity for research in East Africa. We are aware that good PhD training is the foundation for a successful research career. As such, our PhD scheme is aimed at providing students with an opportunity to carry out their training in a high quality research environment. We have developed a quality-assured supervision system that includes a supervision teams of two or three senior researchers and student advisory committee that monitors the students’ progress and advise on academic, career and if necessary social issues that may affect the students’ progress. In addition, the students’ progress is monitored through six monthly reports and an upgrading mini viva at the end of the first year to determine their suitability to continue with the PhD training. Our supervision system is internationally recognised and we are now an Affiliated Research Centre of the Open University of the UK with authority to wholly supervise students registered with that University. More information and application process is available here .​

Dr. Ian Oyaro, BVM

Supervisors

Dr. Evelyn Gitau

Dr. Evelyn Gitau is the Director of Research Capacity Strengthening. Under her direction, the division will continue to grow its signature fellowship program, the Consortium for the Advancement of Research Training in Africa (CARTA), and expand opportunities across the continent for African scholars to become great research leaders.

Dr. Gitau’s most recent role was as a program manager at the African Academy of Sciences, where she stewarded the Grand Challenges Africa at the Academy under the Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa (AESA) program. Prior to that, she was part of the team at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Program in Kilifi, Kenya, conducting research on developing biomarkers of disease among seriously ill children.

Dr. Gitau earned her PhD in Life Sciences from the Open University/Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in the UK, investigating neurological infections in children living in malaria-endemic areas. She has more than 15 years of experience in medical research.

Among her awards and accomplishments include a 2015 appointment as a fellow of the Next Einstein Forum, where she is the ambassador for the development of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in Africa.

Dr. Gitau’s vast networks have brought her positions on numerous advisory boards for organizations advancing the agenda of research and evidence generation in Africa. These include the Independent Scientific Advisory Board (ISAB), Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme College of Medicine, Blantyre, Malawi, University of Oxford (MSc International Health and Tropical Medicine) and and the Investment Committee Grand Challenges Canada. She will remain a member of the Steering Committee for Grand Challenges Africa.

Prof. Ifedayo Adetifa

KEMRI – Wellcome – Trust, Kenya 

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK

Ifedayo is a consultant pediatrician and infectious diseases epidemiologist. Prior to his arrival at the programme, he worked for a decade at the United Kingdom’s Medical Research Council Unit, The Gambia where he led clinical and field activities for the Tuberculosis (TB) epidemiology research including the TB case contact platform. His research interests there were delivery of TB diagnostics and care, assessment of novel diagnostics for TB infection and disease including biomarkers for disease and protection, and systematic reviews. In his last MRC role, he was the principal investigator on a £2.6million TB Epidemiology projects portfolio that included a nationwide TB prevalence survey and a community randomised trial to assess the impact of an enhanced TB case finding strategy on TB notification. He works full time at the Kilifi KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme on the Pneumococcal Vaccine Impact Study (PCVIS), and the Kilifi Vaccine Assessment Platform. He is also with the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. His current research interests are vaccine effectiveness studies, vaccine monitoring including issues of coverage, timeliness, and equity.

Dr. Yaw Bediako

The Francis Crick Institute, UK

Ian Oyaro has worked on sequencing and proteomic based techniques in a quest to improve diagnosis of febrile coma at the Kenyan coast. Additionally, he has also been involved in protocol optimisation studies for disease proteomics. Oyaro is interested in the evaluation of the role of early HIV-specific T and B cell interactions in predetermining downstream antibody function, in a quest to inform vaccine development. While clinical trials have shown favourable efficacies of several HIV/AIDS intervention techniques such as medical male circumcision, it is of great importance to develop a vaccine, as the currently existing methods require either behaviour change or expensive medical interventions. Determination of early immunological correlates that influence the development of broadly neutralising antibodies may suggest coherent approaches for successful vaccine development and identify useful biomarkers for assessing candidate vaccine immunogens. These biomarkers may hold the key to the development of antibody-based HIV vaccines.

David Collins

Dr Charles Agoti is a Mid Career Research Fellow (MCRF) under the IDeAL Programme. Prior receiving the fellowship Charles was working as Postdoctoral Bioinformacian with the Virus Epidemiology and Control (VEC) group within the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Kilifi Programme. For more than 10 years,

Dr. Sandra Chaves

Currently Dr. Chaves is the Influenza Program Director at the CDC Kenya office. Dr. Chaves completed her medical degree in Brazil followed by several years of clinical practice in tropical countries, working with a broad spectrum of infectious diseases. In 1997, Dr. Chaves completed a Master of Science in Communicable Disease Epidemiology degree program from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, working as a medical epidemiologist in various settings afterwards, including Bolivia, Brazil, East Timor and The Netherlands, both at local and national levels, through which she has acquired extensive practical experience in public health.

In 2002, Dr. Chaves joined the CDC, and has since worked with viral vaccine preventable diseases (varicella and zoster viruses, viral hepatitis and more recently influenza), investigating issues related to long-term vaccine-induced immunity and disease severity. Dr. Chaves joined the Influenza Division, in the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, in 2009 and moved to Kenya in 2015. As the Influenza Program Director in Kenya, she oversees a large research portfolio as well as programmatic activities implemented in collaboration with the Kenyan Ministry of Health. She has been the author or co-author of more than 80 papers and book chapters.

Prof. Gilbert Kokwaro

Dr. Etienne de Villers

Etienne de Villiers is a Principal Investigator in Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford and has been employed since 2012 to establish a Bioinformatics and Genomics platform at KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya. He graduated from Stellenbosch University in South Africa with a M.Sc. in Biochemistry, and was appointed Researcher and later, Senior Researcher at the Agricultural Research Council – Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute in South Africa in 1992. He received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Utrecht University, The Netherlands in 2001. He is a molecular biologist by training that developed an interest in computing and ventured into the area of bioinformatics and has an interest in the application of bioinformatics to develop vaccines and diagnostics for orphan diseases of both livestock and now humans. At Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute he was part of the team that sequenced the first bacterial genome in Africa (Ehrlichia ruminantium) and in 2002 he accepted a Postdoctoral Scientist position at the International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya to establish a bioinformatics unit to support the Theileria parva genome-sequencing project in collaboration with The Institute of Genomic Research (TIGR) to develop a vaccine against East Coast Fever. In 2003 he was appointed as scientist and Bioinformatics Group Leader at the ILRI-BecA platform. He is actively involved in capacity building in bioinformatics in East and central Africa and has introduced several hundred students to the subject. He currently has an appointment as Adjunct Associate Professor at Pwani University, Department of Public Health and is executive board member of EMBnet, The Global Bioinformatics Network.

Prof. Eduard Sanders

Eduard Sanders is an Associate Professor of Tropical Medicine and Global Health at the University of Oxford, and is based in Kilifi, Kenya. He is the principal investigator of several observational studies involving mostly men who have sex with men (MSM) and female sex workers (FSW) in Kilifi, and co-recipient of the SANTHE grant. His interest in diagnosing acute HIV infections was inspired by the many MSM who sought health care prior to seroconversion in coastal Kenya, and the opportunity this presents for reducing onward HIV-1 transmission. He currently leads ongoing studies on the utility of clinical algorithms to identify and diagnose young adults with acute HIV infection at various health facilities in Kenya, enabling early treatment, counselling interventions, and assisted partner notification.

Collins is a molecular virologist interested in the applications of molecular techniques and bioinformatics in investigating infectious diseases. He holds a Bachelor’s in Biomedical Technology from the University of Nairobi (First Class Honours) and a Master’s in Molecular Genetics and Diagnostics from the University of Nottingham. He is currently an IDeAL PhD student under the Virus Epidemiology and Control Group . His PhD seeks to understand the introduction, evolution, and transmission of the 2009/2010 pandemic influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus in Kenya He has previously worked as a research scientist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-Kenya; a current collaborating institution for his PhD project.

John Muthii Muriuki

Dr. Sara Atkinson

I am a Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Infectious Disease in the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Oxford and at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP) in Kilifi, Kenya. I received my medical degree from Guy’s and St Thomas’ Medical School in London and completed clinical training in London, Newcastle and Oxford. My PhD was based at LSHTM and MRC, The Gambia. I first came to KWTRP as a Clinical Research Fellow in 2004 before being appointed as a Clinical Lecturer in Paediatrics at the University of Oxford in 2007. I have been based at KWTRP since 2013.

Both infectious diseases and micronutrient deficiencies are widespread among children living in sub-Saharan Africa. My research questions concern the impact that infections and nutrient deficiencies have on each other. For example: could malaria and other infections be a causal factor in the widespread prevalence of iron deficiency in African children? We found that iron deficiency increases markedly over a malaria season. The hormone hepcidin, the master iron regulator, prevents iron absorption and recycling leading to low iron levels. We found that even asymptomatic malaria infection strongly induces hepcidin in Kenyan children. We are using genetic and epidemiological methods to investigate the impact of malaria on iron deficiency. It is possible that elimination of malaria may also prevent an important cause of iron deficiency for children living in sub-Saharan Africa.

The safety of iron supplementation is an important concern as studies suggest that iron deficiency protects children from malaria and other infections. I am using a Mendelian randomization (MR) approach to address the question of whether a child’s iron status is causally related to their risk of severe malaria and/or bacteraemia. MR is an approach that utilizes the random allocation of genetic variants at conception to investigate causality between an intermediate trait (iron status) and disease (severe infection). In order to identify genetic variants for use in MR, I am conducting the first GWAS study of iron status (including hepcidin) in African populations. Validated genetic variants will be taken forward to large MR case-control studies of severe malaria and bacteraemia using stored samples from the Kilifi Biobank and the MalariaGEN Consortium.

Prof. Alison Elliot

Alison Elliott is a Professor of Tropical Medicine and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, head of the Co-infection Studies research programme at the MRC/Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) Unit and director of the Makerere University – UVRI Centre of Excellence for Infection and Immunity Research and Training. She became interested in parasitology and research in Africa as an undergraduate and this interest was encouraged further by an elective in The Gambia. After completing medical training she joined the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and, during the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, undertook studies on the interaction between tuberculosis and HIV infection in Zambia. An infectious diseases fellowship in Denver, Colorado, followed, providing an opportunity to learn about management of drug resistant tuberculosis and about laboratory immunology. This enabled her to plan and conduct subsequent clinical-immuno-epidemiological studies. Since 1997 she has been based in Uganda at the Uganda Virus Research Institute. Current interests focus on interactions between co-infections, and on the effects of helminth infection on immune responses to vaccines and on infectious and allergic disease incidence in children in Uganda; and on research capacity building in Africa.

Tom Williams is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Medicine at Imperial College, London with more than 25 years of experience in research. He has lived and worked in the tropics for the majority of this time, where he has conducted a programme of work investigating the genetics of host resistance to infectious diseases, with a particular focus on the inherited defects of red blood cells. Tom has been based at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya, for more than 17 years from where he has developed a wide network of research collaborations with partners in multiple countries within the region. His work spans from clinical epidemiology to genetic, functional and immunological laboratory-based approaches. He is a clinically active accredited specialist in Paediatrics with extensive experience in clinical surveillance. In collaboration with Anthony Scott he established, and has managed from its inception in 2001, the Kilifi Health and Demographic Surveillance System (KHDSS) – the largest HDSS in sub-Saharan Africa.

Dr. Isabella Oyier

Isabella completed her PhD in 2006 at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene on a Gates Malaria Partnership scholarship, in molecular and cell biology of Plasmodium falciparum. The project focused on the molecular characterization of the endocytic marker Rab5 in the parasite. She then joined the KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP) on a 3 year postdoctoral research position working on studies of natural selection in Plasmodium falciparum merozoite antigen genes, with Prof Kevin Marsh and Dr David Conway. During this project she was involved in establishing the capillary sequencing facility at the unit and began to develop her career in the molecular epidemiology of malaria. She was awarded a 2 year re-entry grant from the Malaria Capacity Development Consortium (MCDC) in 2009 to conduct a longitudinal study on the genetic diversity of merozoite antigens. In 2012 she extended her interest to the genetic diversity of known human erythrocyte receptors involved in the invasion of the merozoite and conducted this work under an 18 month MCDC Initiative award. She is also carried out research on the temporal variation in malaria drug resistance markers in collaboration with Dr. Colin Sutherland at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She is based at the Centre of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics (CEBIB), University of Nairobi (UON), since 2011. Isabella was awarded a Wellcome Trust Intermediate Research Fellowship in 2016 to investigate the impact of polymorphisms on Plasmodium falciparum merozoite invasion of erythrocytes and on immune evasion. She continues to conduct studies on antimalarial resistance.

Prof. Caroline Jones

Caroline Jones, a senior social scientist, joined the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in February 2010. With a background in medical anthropology her research over the past 15 years has focused on treatment seeking and preventive behaviors for malaria and the factors that influence provider practices in sub-Saharan Africa. More recently she has been looking at the implement ability and sustainability of public health interventions, focusing on issues relating to social relationships, organizational structure and management and leadership. Research capacity strengthening and the promotion of the appropriate use of high quality social science research in the development and implementation of public health policy are major concerns underpinning much of her work. A key role in her current position is to contribute to building Kenyan and regional expertise to develop and lead such research.

I’m an epidemiologist with experience in mathematical modelling and analysis of large datasets. I previously worked on modelling transmission dynamics of malaria in an irrigated setting and mapping of the drivers of poor nutritional outcomes in different ecological settings in Kenya. These studies sparked my current interest to research on the complex interactions between nutrition and infections. My PhD project entails investigating whether iron status is causally associated with the risks of malaria and bacterial infections in African children. I’m utilising Mendelian randomization to draw the causal inference. My study will also identify novel genetic variants that alter iron status in a genome-wide association study of African children. Currently, the safety of giving iron supplementation remains a long-standing conundrum among clinicians and policy makers. This study will therefore have an impact on public health policy for managing iron deficiency and the associated infections. In future, I hope to extend this concept to understand how nutritional deficiencies relate to other disease processes.

Publications:

• A comparison of malaria prevalence, control and management strategies in irrigated and non-irrigated areas in eastern Kenya.   Muriuki J.M. , Kitala P., Muchemi G., Njeru I., Karanja J., Bett B. | Malaria Journal, 2016 15:402 DOI: 10.1186/s12936-016-1458-4
• Muriuki John Muthii, Alexander Mentzer, Gavin Band, James Gilchrist, Tommy Carstensen, Swaib Lule, Morgan Goheen, et al. (2019). “The Ferroportin Q248H Mutation Protects from Anemia, but Not Malaria or Bacteremia.” Science Advances 5 (9): eaaw0109. https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/9/eaaw0109
• Muriuki John Muthii, Alexander J Mentzer, Emily L Webb, Alireza Morovat, Wandia Kimita, Francis M Ndungu, Alex W Macharia, et al. (2019). “Malaria Is Causally Associated with Iron Deficiency in African Children.” AAS Open Research. https://aasopenresearch.org/documents/2-141
• Muriuki John Muthii, Alexander J Mentzer, Wandia Kimita, Francis M Ndungu, Alex W Macharia, Emily L Webb, Swaib A Lule, et al. (2018). “Iron Status and Associated Malaria Risk Among African Children.” Clinical Infectious Diseases. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30219845
• Muriuki John Muthii, and Sarah Atkinson. (2018). “How Eliminating Malaria May Also Prevent Iron Deficiency in African Children.” Pharmaceuticals 11 (4): 96. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30275421 .
• Muriuki John Muthii, Philip Kitala, Gerald Muchemi, Ian Njeru, Joan Karanja, and Bernard Bett. (2016). “A Comparison of Malaria Prevalence, Control and Management Strategies in Irrigated and Non-Irrigated Areas in Eastern Kenya.” Malaria Journal 15 (1): 402. https://malariajournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12936-016-1458-4

Dr. Makobu Kimani, MBChB

Prof. Olubayi Olubayi

Prof. O. Olubayi was born and raised in Kenya and educated at Rutgers University in the USA. Prior to joining Maarifa Education, he was the Vice Chancellor/President of the International University of East Africa (IUEA) in Uganda. He is a scientist and an expert on bacteria, education, learning, leadership and social-entrepreneurship.

As a scientist and eclectic scholar, Olubayi earned his Ph.D. on bacteria-and-plant cell interactions at Rutgers University, holds a research patent on the flocculation of bacteria and has published several scholarly articles in microbiology, biotechnology and social science.

As an educator he taught at Middlesex College and at Rutgers University for 16 years, and has taught critical thinking in the IUEA MBA program. He has been an advisor and consultant to government officials in Kenya and South Africa, and UNDP on matters of literacy, education, biotechnology, sustainable development and global citizenship.

As a social entrepreneur, Olubayi co-founded the non-profit Kiwimbi International and the widely respected American non-profit Global Literacy Project which sets up libraries worldwide and provides global service learning opportunities.

As a thinker, he is the author of the book “Education for a Better World,” and he is currently working on a book on “The Role of a Teacher.”

Makobu Kimani is a Medical Doctor, with Post Graduate training in Public Health (Epidemiology and Biostatistics). Over the last eight years he has worked with populations that are at a disproportionally higher risk of acquisition of HIV/AIDS in Nairobi, Kenya. Kimani has also been a clinical safety advisor for an RCT inducing immune-quiescence in female sex workers. He has been part of a team that defined the minimal care package for services to female sex workers and MSM/MSW. This is currently being implemented by the Ministry of health in Kenya.

Peter Nguhiu

Dr. Jane Chuma

Jane completed a PhD in health economics in 2005 from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Her research interests include evaluating different health financing mechanisms for universal coverage including health insurance and tax funding; equity in access to health care services and health related interventions and; the relationship between ill health and poverty. Her training fellowship- funded by the Wellcome Trust – explores the feasibility of using health insurance mechanisms to address existing inequities in the Kenyan health system. Jane works closely with the ministries of health to ensure that results from this work inform the development of the Kenyan health financing strategy and the design of a national health insurance scheme. Beyond research, Jane has a keen interest in capacity building for Health Economics in Africa and is one of the founder members of the Masters in Health Economics programme at the University of Nairobi.

Prof. Edwine Barasa

Edwine is the director of the Nairobi Programme of the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme and also heads the Programme’s Health Economics Research Unit (HERU). Edwine is also a Visiting Professor of Health Economics at the University of Oxford. He has a PhD in health economics (University of Cape Town), a masters degree in health economics (University of Cape Town), and a bachelors degree in Pharmacy (University of Nairobi). Edwine’s research interests include health financing; equity and efficiency analysis in healthcare; economic evaluation of healthcare interventions; measuring health systems’ performance; and health system governance. Edwine has several years of experience of practice, advisory, and conducting health economics and financing research in Kenya and in the broader Sub-Saharan African region. He provides health financing advisory to the Kenya Ministry of Health with his latest roles including appointments by the Minister of Health to the taskforce for the reform of the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) and Kenya Health Benefits Advisory Panel. At the regional level, his latest appointments include as a member of the advisory board of the Africa CDC’s Health Economic Unit, and as co-chair of the Africa Universal Health Coverage Commission. He also provides health financing technical advisory support to several international development organizations, including the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), focusing on the broader Sub-Saharan African region including Kenya, Ghana, Somalia, Malawi, Madagascar, Uganda, Rwanda, Sudan, South Sudan, Mozambique, and Egypt.

Prof. John Ataguba

School of Public Health & Family Medicine, University of Capetown

Prof. James Kahindi

Dr. Emelda Okiro

Emelda has over 15 years of professional experience in Epidemiology and Public health and heads the Population health unit. She has worked for the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, Philips Research Africa and also worked with several partners including PMI and ICF Macro.

Emelda returned to the KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme in October 2016 from a Senior Health Scientist position at Philips Research Africa. She is leading the Population Health unit and Research theme within the Programme which aims to understand changing epidemiology of malaria, understand the determinants of health transitions and vulnerabilities at fine scales a major component of which is malnutrition in Kenya and across Africa, and to embed the use of data for decision-making by national ministries.

Her current work focuses on exploring the spatial heterogeneity of child survival across Kenya using multiple survey data to map and explore the Spatial, Social and Environmental determinants of childhood mortality. Emelda has previously worked on the measurements of trends of P. falciparum burden across sites of varying malaria endemicities in Africa and on evaluating the impact of scaled malaria control interventions and supporting regional Ministries of Health in Uganda, Malawi and Kenya. At the Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), University of Washington, Seattle Emelda worked on identifying determinants of cost-effective anti-retroviral treatment programs in Kenya, Uganda and Zambia.

During her academic research career, she has been awarded two internationally competitive Wellcome Trust Research Fellowships. Emelda is widely published and has a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and Biochemistry from Egerton University, Kenya and a PhD in Epidemiology through the Open University – UK in collaboration with Warwick University, UK.

Initiative to Develop African Research Leaders, KEMRI – Wellcome Trust, Kenya

Peter is a pharmacist and a health economist 10 years of work experience in clinical and public health system strengthening. He is currently examining the methods for measuring the level, distribution, and determinants of effective coverage with quality health services, using Kenya as a case study to assess country progress towards universal health coverage.

Beatrice Amboko

Prof. Dejan Zurovac

KEMRI – Wellcome – Trust, Kenya

Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford

Dejan is an epidemiologist and lead scientist of Malaria Case Management and Drug Evaluation Group within the Department of Public Health Research of the KEMRI/Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Nairobi, Kenya. Since 1997 he has worked in several African countries as a medical doctor, health programme manager and public health researcher within the field of malaria control and the quality of health service delivery. He is translational scientist working in close collaboration with Ministry of Health’s National Malaria Control Programmes. Dejan is affiliated to the University of Oxford, UK and Boston University, USA and is member of several national and international advisory and technical working groups on malaria case management, surveillance, monitoring and evaluation, and operational research.

Prof. Bob Snow

Bob has worked in Africa for over 32 years. He is Professor of Malaria Epidemiology at the University of Oxford and Principal Scientist in the programme based in Nairobi. His work began with the first clinical trials of insecticide-treated bed nets (ITN) in The Gambia (1984-1988) and he has since developed a large programme of work from Kenya on the phenotype of malaria disease, its relationship to parasite exposure and its wider public health burden. His work has influenced international strategies for pro-poor access to ITN, how sub-regional, evidence-based platforms can effectively change malaria treatment policies and how inequities in international donor assistance for malaria control can be changed with appropriate data on risk and national economic capacities at global scales. He has published over 400 articles on malaria, he is the longest serving Oxford scientist of the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust collaboration in Kenya (since 1989), he established the MARA pan-African collaboration (1996), was the founding Director of the Malaria Atlas Project (MAP) (2005-2010), is a technical advisor to the Kenyan Government, sits on a number of international malaria advisory panels and is the Senior Advisor to the UK-DFID funded INFORM Project. Bob’s work continues to provide the bridge between basic malaria epidemiology and malaria control policy in the region. From 2015, his work extended to provide support to WHO countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. Bob was made a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences in 2008 and an honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 2015. He is supported by the Wellcome Trust (UK) as a Principal Fellow

Prof. Philip Bejon

I first came to Kilifi in 2002 to conduct Phase I and IIb clinical trials of a candidate malaria vaccine based on viral vectors. I returned to the University of Oxford in 2006 to complete specialist clinical training as a clinical lecturer, and then was appointed as a senior fellow in the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre. These posts allowed me to remain active in malaria research, leading further trials of GSK’s candidate malaria vaccine “RTS,S”, and as a member of the Malaria Vectored Vaccine Consortium funded to test viral vectored malaria vaccines in several sites in Africa including Kilifi. An MRC Clinician-Scientist Fellowship, allowed me to return to be resident full-time in Kilifi in 2013, and I became Executive Director of the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in September 2014.

Dr. Philip Ayieko

Phillip has undertaken evidence synthesis, economic evaluations and led the analysis of a previous cluster randomised trial. He is currently leading a team of 8 analysts and data managers who support the 14 clinical information network hospitals and generate its 2 monthly reports. He is leading the analysis of a new cluster randomised trial of CIN hospitals to test alternative forms of feedback.

Beatrice has a background in Nursing and a Masters in Medical Statistics both from the University of Nairobi. She has been working on quality of care given to patients with malaria in Kenyan hospitals. She is interested in looking at the quality of health workers’ performance and the determinants in providing care in health facilities.

Her PhD project is on the determinants of the quality of outpatient malaria case management in Kenyan public health facilities. The results from this project will help refine/ define interventions geared towards improving health workers’ performance.

Alice Kamau

Alice Kamau is a statistician who has worked at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme since 2011. In 2014 she was awarded a Wellcome Trust Fellowship to study Msc Medical Statistics at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and to undertake an 18 months project on the variation of the effectiveness of insecticide treated nets (ITNs) in Kilifi, which aimed at understanding the epidemiological and ecological characteristics of residual malaria transmission and the biological implications of long-term and widespread use of ITNs.

Her PhD work is aimed at examining potential utility of an array of routinely gathered metrics in predicting variation in malaria transmission. The resultant of this work will not only be used to identify the most promising metrics that can serve as a replacement of more expensive community-based prevalence surveys but also to assess the impact of interventions and react to changes in malaria prevalence by identifying the affected population and adjust malaria control to this group as well as inform policies and decision making.

Prof. Vicki Marsh

Vicki Marsh is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health (CTMGH), Nuffield Department of Medicine , Oxford University, UK and the KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP) in Kenya. At the KWTRP, her research within the Health Systems and Research Ethics department focuses on empirical ethics approaches to strengthening policy and practice in international research, including for community engagement, informed consent, disclosure of genetic findings, benefits and payments, and data sharing and on vulnerability and resilience in research. She has teaching, mentorship and science and ethics governance roles at KWTRP. At CTMGH, she coordinates, teaches and examines on ethics and public engagement in research and public health for an MSc course in Tropical Medicine and International Health. Between 2013 and 2015, she was a member of a UK Nuffield Council on Bioethics working group on ethical issues for research involving children and young people. Vicki’s DPhil thesis focused on ethical issues in research on Sickle Cell Disease in Kenya, including feedback of genetic findings; this work was supervised by Prof Michael Parker, director of Ethox. Originally trained in medicine and general practice in the UK, Vicki has lived in Kenya for more than 25 years, initially as part of the team that established KWTRP in 1990. During this early period, her research on Malaria Home Care was internationally recognised, and informed policy in the Kenya National Malaria Control Programme and the WHO/TDR Roll Back Malaria strategy in the World Health Organization.

Dr. Abdirahman Abdi

Abdi is molecular biologist with special interest in malaria. Abdi worked with the Programme between 2005-2006 as an intern, then research assistant investigating antimalarial drug resistance. He was then awarded a Ph.D. studentship by the AntiMal International Ph.D. Programme where he joined Prof Christian Doerig’s laboratory at the University of Glasgow working on P. falciparum protein Kinases. He rejoined the Programme in 2010 as Post Doc to work with Dr Peter Bull on PfEMP1 and it is role in the pathogenesis of severe malaria. In 2014 he was awarded a Wellcome Trust Training Fellowship to study the secretome of malaria parasites.

Dr. Dorcas Kamuya

Affilliation(s):

Dorcas is a post-doctoral Researcher in Ethics and Community Engagement on the Global Bioethics Network at the Ethox Centre, University of Oxford . She is primarily based at the KEMRI Wellcome Trust (KWTRP), Kenya and works across the UK and the five Wellcome Trust’s Major Overseas Programmes (MOPs) in Kenya, Thailand, Malawi, Vietnam, and South Africa. Her roles include facilitating the strategic development of community engagement activities at KWTRP; coordinating Global Bioethics Network activities aimed at sharing of expertise in community engagement across the MOPs; and developing and leading a research programme around the evaluation of community engagement. Her research interests include ethical implications of community engagement processes in international collaborative research in developing countries; exploring drivers of CE in health research; and ethical and practical challenges and dilemmas for interface research staff. Dorcas’s previous role, as the Community Liaison Manager, included setting-up mechanisms for engaging with over 260,000 residents often involved in health research, strengthening collaborative partnerships between KWTRP and key health stakeholders, providing support to research interface staff (especially fieldworkers), and carrying our action research around these activities. Dorcas has a PhD from the Open University, UK; a Masters in Public Health (health promotion) from London School of Hygiene and Tropical, and a BSc. in Agricultural Economics from Egerton University, Kenya.

Alex Hinga holds an MSc in Public Health from UWE Bristol and a BSc in Medical Laboratory Science from Kenyatta University. After his undergraduate studies, he was awarded a national research internship by CNHR Kenya which he successfully completed in 2011. This internship enhanced his research skills and strengthened his resolve to pursue a career in research for health. In 2012, Hinga won an international scholarship to study public health. While working on his MSc thesis at Public Health England, he developed a strong interest in multidisciplinary public health research.

Hinga is currently investigating ethical issues for health and demographic surveillance systems (HDSS) in sub-Saharan Africa. His PhD study has the potential to deepen our understanding and influence policy on data sharing, community engagement and consent in HDSS and other population-based surveillance systems. Overall, Hinga has research interests in critical bioethics, public policy analysis and evaluation of complex social interventions

Dr. Clara Agutu, MBChB

Dr. Susan Graham

Susan Graham is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Global Health, and an Adjunct Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Washington in Seattle and a Visiting Scientist at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Programme in Kilifi, Kenya. Her major research interests are in two areas: HIV treatment and prevention, with a focus on marginalised populations; and HIV pathogenesis and disease progression. Her work on HIV treatment and prevention in Kenya has focused on female sex workers at the Ganjoni Clinic in Mombasa and on men who have sex with men (MSM) at the KEMRI clinics on the coast and at the Anza Mapema programme in Kisumu. Her work has also focused on genital HIV-1 shedding and its impact on HIV transmission and on the identification of novel biomarkers of increased cardiovascular risk in HIV-infected patients.

Clara Agutu is a medical doctor with a Masters in public health. She has a keen interest in infectious diseases particularly HIV, TB, Malaria and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and has worked as a research medical officer at KEMRI. She worked as the lead clinician and study co-ordinator for a multi-centre HIV clinical trial, REALITY (Reduction of Early Mortality in HIV-infected Adults and Children starting Anti-retroviral Therapy), looking to investigate interventions aimed at reducing early mortality during the first three months of starting anti-retroviral therapy, when mortality is the highest in the severely immune-suppressed. She is currently a WHO/TDR clinical research and development fellow at GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, Belgium working on the malaria vaccine, RTS, S, particularly on phase 2 and 3 trials aimed at improving the vaccines efficacy and subsequent implementation in sub-Saharan Africa. Her SANTHE PhD studentship is in the field of acute HIV screening, for early HIV infection detection and reduction of HIV transmission as she continues the global fight towards the elimination of HIV.

Kevin Wamae

Kevin has a background in bioinformatics and his interests are in malaria elimination.

Malaria is a leading cause of child mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. When one is infected with the malaria-causing parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, they may develop symptoms of malaria or carry the parasite without presenting with any symptoms. These individuals who do not present with symptoms of malaria are said to be asymptomatic. The major problem associated with asymptomatic malaria infections is they become a constant source of parasites that sustain malaria transmission.

Kevin’s is looking to employ molecular and bioinformatics tools to further our understanding of asymptomatic malaria infections. A deeper understanding of these infections will help tackle them with a goal of eliminating malaria.

Dorcas Magai

Prof. Hans Koot

Hans M. Koot, PhD, is Professor of Developmental Psychology and Developmental Psychopathology at the Department of Clinical, Neuro- and Developmental Psychology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands. His research interests regard emotional and behavioural development of children and adolescents, developmental psychopathology, prevention in mental health care, quality of life, chronic paediatric conditions, learning disabilities and autism. After his psychology studies in 1983 he became a junior researcher at Radboud University Nijmegen, while from 1988 to 2002 he worked as a senior researcher, associate professor and professor at the Erasmus MC Rotterdam Child and Adolescent Psychiatry department. From 2002 he works at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam where he was Chair of the Department of Developmental Psychology, director of the Amsterdam Public Health Mental Health program, and dean of the Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences. Since 2016 he is a visiting fellow at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Department of Clinical-, Neuro- and Developmental Psychology. Koot published about 350 papers in peer reviewed national and international journals, and about 80 books and book chapters, and was advisor of 45 PhD students.

Prof. Amina Abubakar

Amina is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Public Health at Pwani University, Kenya and a Research Fellow at the Kenya Medical Research Institute/Wellcome Trust Research Programme. She co-leads the Neuroscience research group at KEMRI-WTRP. She is also an honorary fellow at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, UK. She holds the prestigious MRC/DfiD African Research Leaders award. In 2016, she was awarded the Royal Society Pfizer Award. Her main interests are in the study of developmental delays and impairments among children exposed to various health problems such as HIV, malnutrition and malaria. A focus in her work is the development of culturally appropriate strategies for identifying, monitoring and rehabilitating at-risk children. Prof Abubakar has been instrumental in developing various culturally appropriate measures of child development that have been used in many African countries. In addition, she is also interested in examining the prevalence of and risk factors for neurodevelopmental disorders, specifically ASD, within the African context. Prof. Abubakar has given guest lectures, and workshops largely focusing on cross-cultural research methods in various countries, including Cameroon, Germany, Indonesia, Kenya, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, and Spain. She has (co)-authored more than 80 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. She has served on technical working groups, and forums for various international organizations including the World Health Organization, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (USA), Save the Children, and Autism Speaks. She is actively involved in capacity building for African Scientists; she has supervised Postgraduate Diploma, Masters and PhD students in Kenya. She has also supervised PhD students from South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia.

Dr. Martha Mwangome

Affiliation(s)

Martha is currently working at KEMRI/Wellcome Trust Research Programme in a Post-Doctoral research position in the Nutrition assessment and Intervention research group led by Dr. James Berkley. She has a Master’s degree in Global Health Sciences from University of Oxford, UK and a PhD degree in nutrition epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), UK. Her thesis focused on anthropometric assessment of infants under 6 months, evaluating the potential of using the mid-upper arm circumferences (MUAC) in diagnosing acute malnutrition within this age group. Altogether she has 10 years working experience in public health nutrition research in Africa. Her work has largely focused on studying undernutrition in African children aged below 6 months old and has employed both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analysis. Her interests are in identifying and testing novel and cost-effective approaches to assessment, prevention and treatment of acute malnutrition in infants and young children in Africa. Emerging interests in nutrition in emergency settings and the double burden of malnutrition among the urban poor.

Dr. Patricia Kitsao-Wekulo

African Population & Health Research Centre, Kenya

Patricia obtained a PhD in Psychology from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, and Master’s (M.Ed. – Home Economics) and Bachelor’s Degrees (B.Ed. – Home Economics) from Kenyatta University, Kenya.  While engaged as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Aga Khan University’s Institute for Human Development (AKU/IHD), she was the Lead Research Consultant on a project which sought to provide for a living model of best practice in Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres, develop understanding of factors that contribute to resilience in children growing up in adversity, and provide the framework for a longitudinal study of the influences of ECD programmes on human capital formation.

As a child development researcher, Patricia is interested in the investigation of the relationship between antecedent context characteristics and child developmental outcomes.  This mainly concerns the influence of factors such as the child’s immediate environment on cognition, motor development, language and psychosocial behavior.  Such research has important implications for the development of sustainable and efficacious interventions.

Dr. Melissa Gladstone

University of Liverpool, UK

My focus is in creating tools to assess children with developmental disorders and disabilities as well as in improving low cost interventions and outcomes for children with neurodevelopmental disorders in low income settings. I am driven to change the focus in international child health from child survival to child thrival and child and family well being for all children and families. My research aims to understand what interventions can make a difference to children with neurodevelopmental disorders and how we can measure these changes effectively using culturally appropriate and relevant measures in low income settings.

My educational background includes a Masters in Clinical and Developmental Psychopathology from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, in The Netherlands and a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Kenyatta University, Kenya.

One in four people globally will be affected by mental health and neuorological disorders at some point in their lives, placing mental disorders among the major causes of disease and disability globally.  My great interest is understanding the etiology, diagnostics and intervention of psychopathology in children and adolescents. My focus is to determine the development of psychopathology; establishing personal, social, and biological factors that contribute to this development; the use of scientific knowledge to improve detection and diagnostics of psychopathology; and how we can influence children and adolescents’ psychopathology through preventive and clinical interventions.

My PhD project is on the long-term consequences of severe ill-health during the first 28 days of life on thinking and learning abilities, and mental health of school aged children. Specifically, I’m interested in neonatal conditions such as yellow coloring of the skin (neonatal jaundice) and inadequate oxygen flow in the brain (hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy), which are likely to injure the child’s brain and affect their development.

By examining the adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes of neonatal insults, we hope to contribute to identifying salient points of intervention to enhance the quality of life of children who experienced these neonatal insults.

Dr. Michuki Maina, MBChB

Susan Gachau

Elizabeth Wahome

Elizabeth Wahome has been working at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Programme in Kilifi, Kenya, which is supported by the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative as a Data Manager. She attained her MSc in Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) in 2015. Over the years, she has been conducting statistical analysis and data management of an ongoing prospective, open cohort and observational feasibility study to assess recruitment and retention and estimate HIV incidence for an HIV vaccine efficacy trial.

She has also been actively contributing towards scientific manuscript writing and recently through the ITAPS scholarship, managed to write and publish her second paper on hepatitis B virus incidence and risk factors for acquisition in HIV-1 negative MSM who were in follow up in the open cohort since 2005. She’s interested in developing an empiric risk score that can guide PrEP uptake and assess the impact and effectiveness of PrEP on HIV-1 and STI incidence trends among HIV-1 negative MSM in the Coastal Kenya.

Publications

Diana Nyabundi

Dr. Francis Ndung’u

Francis did his earlier education in Nairobi, Kenya, before proceeding to the National Institute for Medical Research, London, UK, where he did his PHD in immunology with Dr Jean Langhorne and Prof Kevin Marsh. He was awarded the PHD in 2005, after which he took up a post-doctoral training position at the same institute, and was successful at implementing a new programme of research in quantifying antigen-specific memory B cells in a mouse model of malaria. He moved back to Kenya in 2008 as post-doctoral researcher, with the aim of obtaining own funding to start and build a research group. His main areas of interest are: (i) immunological memory to malaria in historically infected individuals, and, (ii) hosts factors responsible for increased susceptibility to P falciparum malaria in a small proportion of children that experience excessively more malaria than expected.

Derrick Ssewanyana

Prof. Anneloes van Baar

Universiteit Utrecht, Netherlands

Derrick is Public Health enthusiast who is currently pursuing his PhD studies in Adolescent Health at Utrecht University, Netherlands. He previously graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Health Science from Makerere University in Uganda and a M.Sc. Public Health from University of Southern Denmark.

His current PhD research is focused on defining the forms, patterns and underlying factors for health risk behavior of adolescents in low resource settings at the Kenyan Coast. His special focus is to examine these forms of behavior among adolescents infected or affected by HIV/AIDS at the Kenyan coast. His research will help to adapt culturally appropriate tools for measuring health risk behavior among adolescents. It will also fill important knowledge gaps for example on the impact of HIV associated executive functioning deficits and other potential determinants of risky behavior among HIV infected and affected adolescents. This shall benefit interventions and policy in the field of HIV care and management and adolescent health in general.

Derrick has previously worked on projects in water and sanitation, humanitarian healthcare, sexual health and substance abuse management programs in East Africa and Europe. Derrick enjoys sports, nature, charity drives and music.

• Perspectives on underlying factors for unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle of adolescents at a Kenyan coastal setting . Ssewanyana, D ., Abubakar, A., Van Baar, A., Mwangala, P. N., & Newton, C. R. (2018). Frontiers in Public Health , 6,11 doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2018.00011
• Health Risk Behaviour among Adolescents Living with HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Ssewanyana, D ., Mwangala, P. N., van Baar, A., Newton, C. R., & Abubakar, A. (2018).  BioMed Research International.
• Health risk behavior among chronically ill adolescents: a systematic review of assessment tools . Ssewanyana, D ., Nyongesa, M. K., Baar, A., Newton, C. R., & Abubakar, A. (2017).  Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health , 11 (1), 32.
• Young people’s and stakeholders’ perspectives of adolescent sexual risk behavior in Kilifi County, Kenya: A qualitative study. Ssewanyana, D ., Mwangala, P. N., Marsh, V., Jao, I., van Baar, A., Newton, C. R., & Abubakar, A. (2017).  Journal of Health Psychology , 23(2):188-205. doi: 1359105317736783.

Dr. Esther Muthumbi, MBChB

Prof. Sam Kariuki

Centre for Microbiology Research at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)

Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, UK 

Sam Kariuki is Director of the Centre for Microbiology Research at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) and co-ordinator of the postgraduate Medical Microbiology Course hosted by the Institute in Nairobi.

Sam graduated with a Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Nairobi in 1989 and then obtained a MSc in Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Nairobi in 1991. He obtained his PhD (Tropical Medicine) from the University of Liverpool in 1997.

As a postdoctoral fellow funded by the Wellcome Trust, Sam researched on the epidemiology and molecular characterisation of invasive non-typhoidal salmonellosis (NTS), which is endemic in sub-Saharan Africa. NTS is common in the region in HIV-positive adults and in children where the infection causes high morbidity and mortality. Utilising basic molecular tools, Sam hypothesised that person-to-person rather than zoonotic transmission was playing a significant role in the epidemiology of community-acquired NTS. Despite scepticism from some scientists this has proven to be correct, a conclusion reached through joint genome analysis linked to field epidemiology carried out with the Sanger Institute.

Sam also works in the area of improving food hygiene through surveillance of other enteric pathogens including cholera, dysentery, typhoid and  E. coli  contamination through the food chain, funded by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Because antibiotic resistance is a major problem in the region, Sam is also involved in routine surveillance and monitoring of resistance and chairs the national and regional working groups on antimicrobial resistance. He is now an internationally recognised authority in his field and mentors local African scientists through the postgraduate training courses hosted by KEMRI. Importantly, his laboratory is embedded in a government research institute and is largely independent of core Western funding. However, his laboratory is closely linked to the Wellcome Trust Clinical Unit in Kilifi headed by Kevin Marsh.

Prof. Anthony Scott

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Anthony Scott trained in clinical infectious diseases and in epidemiology before coming to work in Kilifi in 1993 as a Wellcome Trust Training Fellow. He started studying the aetiology and risk factors of pneumonia in adults and subsequently investigated natural immunity, diagnostics, host-susceptibility and transmission epidemiology of pneumococcal disease in children. In 2000, he set up the Kilifi Health and Demographic Surveillance System with Tom Williams. In 2004, Anthony initiated a regional network of surveillance for pneumococcal disease (netSPEAR) with Mike English. Currently, he is a Wellcome Trust Senior Fellow and Professor of Vaccine Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Dr. Osman Abdullahi

Pwani University

Dr. Patrick Munywoki

I am a post-doctoral research scientist at KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP) , in Kilifi, Kenya. I joined the programme as a project assistant in November 2005 after completion of a BSc (Nursing Sciences) Degree in Moi University. My main roles were to support inpatient surveillance of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Since then I have been involved in a broad range of research activities, including the development of new research protocols and expansion of the inpatient surveillance to include other respiratory pathogens.

In 2008, I was awarded a Commonwealth MSc training scholarship, and completed the MSc in Public Health in Developing Countries at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom in October 2009, passing with a distinction. Upon my return, I initiated epidemiological studies to investigate the transmission patterns of a range of respiratory viruses in the community settings.

These studies formed part of my Ph.D training under the supervision of Professors D. James Nokes (affiliated to KWTRP, Kilifi, Kenya and University of Warwick, UK) and Graham F. Medley (University of Warwick, UK). I successfully defended my thesis ‘Transmission of Respiratory Syncytial Virus in Households: Who Acquires Infection from Whom’ at the Open University, UK in August 2013.

I am currently interested in unravelling transmission dynamics of a range of respiratory viruses in Kenya and identify potential control strategies.

Esther is a Medical Doctor and Epidemiologist at the Epidemiology and Demography Department, KEMRI – Wellcome Trust. She is interested in infectious disease epidemiology and mathematical modeling. She has worked on several projects at KWTRP including an analysis of risk factors for pneumonia in adults, invasive salmonellosis in Kilifi and has coordinated research activities for the adult bacterial diseases study and SHINDA 2 study. Her current research work is focused on understanding the transmission of non-typhoidal Salmonella (NTS) in the community.

• Muthumbi EM , Gordon NC, Mochamah G, Nyongesa S, Odipo E, Mwarumba S, et al. Population-Based Estimate of Melioidosis, Kenya. Emerg Infect Dis. 2019;25(5):984-987. https://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid2505.180545
• Gilchrist JJ, Rautanen A, Fairfax BP, Mills TC, Naranbhai V, Trochet H, Pirinen M,  Muthumbi E , et al., Risk of nontyphoidal Salmonella bacteraemia in African children is modified by STAT4. Nat Commun, 2018. 9 (1), pp. 1014.
• Muthumbi E , Lowe BS, Muyodi C, Getambu E, Gleeson F, Scott JAG. Risk factors for community-acquired pneumonia among adults in Kenya: a case–control study. Pneumonia. 2017;9:17. doi:10.1186/s41479-017-0041-2.
• Blood Pressure and Arterial Stiffness in Kenyan Adolescents With α + Thalassemia.   Etyang AO, Khayeka-Wandabwa C, Kapesa S, Muthumbi E , Odipo E, Wamukoya M, Ngomi N, Haregu T, Kyobutungi C, Tendwa M, Makale J, Macharia A, Cruickshank JK, Smeeth L, Scott JA, Williams TN. | J Am Heart Assoc. 2017 Apr 5;6(4). pii: e005613. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.117.005613. PMID: 28381468
• The Health Care Sector Response to Intimate Partner Violence in Kenya: Exploring Health Care Providers’ Perceptions of Care for Victims.   Nguyen QP, Flynn N, Kitua M, Muthumbi EM , Mutonga DM, Rajab J, Miller E. | Violence Vict. 2016;31(5):888-900. Epub 2016 Aug 12. PMID: 27523028
• Invasive Salmonellosis in Kilifi, Kenya.   Muthumbi E , Morpeth SC, Ooko M, Mwanzu A, Mwarumba S, Mturi N, Etyang AO, Berkley JA, Williams TN, Kariuki S, Scott JA. | Clin Infect Dis. 2015 Nov 1;61 Suppl 4:S290-301. doi: 10.1093/cid/civ737. PMID: 26449944.

Jacqueline Waeni

Dr. Charles Sande

I’m interested in applying modern systems tools to identify biomarkers of life-threatening infections in infants. Our studies are underpinned by a well-established demographic and health surveillance system that integrates comprehensive clinical, laboratory and demographic data for all infants who are admitted to hospital with severe infections as well as those with relatively mild infections. Using samples (nasal secretions, PBMC, serum and whole blood tempus RNA samples) collected from infants presenting with a broad spectrum of disease severity – ranging from life-threatening to mild infections – we employ a broad range of systems biology approaches – including proteomics, transcriptomics, metagenomics and systems serology – to identify biomarkers of life-threatening severe disease in infants.

Dr. Aishatu Adamu, MBChB

Jacqueline Mutai

Rowland Osii

Emma Khaemba

Prof. Sam Kinyanjui is the Head of Training and Capacity Building at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Programme in Kenya (KWTRP) and the Director for the Initiative to Develop African Research Leaders (IDeAL). Prior to the current position, he spent 16 years doing research on the immunology and molecular biology of malaria parasites. During this period he developed a strong interest in capacity building for health research in Africa. As the Head of Training and Capacity Building at the KWTRP in Kenya, he provides scientific and strategic guidance for academic training towards research leadership. His key achievement has been the development and implementation of a comprehensive research career framework for attracting, training and retaining African research leaders. Through the framework, Prof. Kinyanjui has overseen the training of over 200 graduate interns, the majority of who have taken up a research career after the internship. This scheme has now been developed into a nationally accredited Postgraduate Diploma in Health Research Methods. He has also overseen over 100 Masters and over 70 PhD training since 2008. In 2015 Prof. Kinyanjui was awarded a further 8 million pounds by the Wellcome Trust/DIFD to build on this work through the Initiative to Develop African Research Leaders (IDeAL) Regionally, Prof. Kinyanjui is involved in advocacy for increased commitment to building research capacity in Africa by both African governments and funding agencies. In 2006 he worked at the African Union Headquarter promoting health research agenda within the Union. He also sits on the advisory boards of several African capacity building initiatives including MUIIplus, SSACAB, SANTHE and the TDR Global Community Adhoc Workgroup.

Dr. Melissa Kapulu

Melissa attended the University of Zambia (199-2004) where she undertook a BSc in Molecular biology and genetics. Upon receipt of a Commonwealth Scholarship, Melissa moved to London where she read for an MSc in Immunology of Infectious Diseases (2006-2007), at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. In 2007, she moved back to Zambia and worked at the University of Zambia (Biological Sciences Department and School of Medicine) and in addition, worked in Paul Kelly’s lab, looking at oral immune responses to vaccination (Tropical Gastroenterology & Nutrition Group) (2007-2009). In 2009, she received further Commonwealth Scholarship funding for DPhil research on malaria transmission-blocking vaccines in Adrian Hill’s lab, Jenner Institute, University of Oxford (2009-2014). In May of 2013, Melissa took up a post-doctoral position with Kevin Marsh at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi working on assessing the infectious reservoir of malaria. Her main interests are in understanding immunological aspects of malaria transmission with the aim of identifying and developing vaccine candidate targets.

Doris Nyamwaya

Prof. George Warimwe

KEMRI – Wellcome Trust 

The Jenner Institute, Oxford University

Anne Amulele

Karamoko Niare

Dr. Marc Baguelin

I am a mathematical modeller working at the Immunisation department at Public Health England and at the London of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine with Prof. John Edmunds on models of influenza transmission, immunisation and control.

After graduating from the Ecole Centrale de Lille with a MSc in Control engineering from the University of Lille in 2000, I completed a PhD in 2003 on modelling the co-evolution of populations of bacteria and phages. In 2004, I took a position as Research Associate to work in collaboration with the Animal Health Trust, Newmarket, analysing data from equine influenza. I first joined the department of zoology at the University of Cambridge and subsequently the Cambridge Infectious Diseases Consortium in the Department of Veterinary Medicine, following its creation in 2005. I developed a model of transmission of equine influenza including new techniques to infer parameter estimation from sparse data. The model helped to understand the role of compulsory vaccination in changing the dynamics of the equine influenza viruses following the introduction of compulsory vaccination for racehorses in 1981.

In January 2009, I joined the Health Protection Agency (now Public Health England), UK to work with Profs Miller and Edmunds on the modelling and economical evaluation of immunisation policies in the United Kingdom. During the outbreak of pandemic influenza virus in the United Kingdom, I was part of the team of scientists who provided early results to assess the transmission in the United Kingdom. In particular we developed algorithms to integrate epidemiological information with the temporal dynamics of the virus in order to improve estimation of the effective reproduction ratio of the disease. In order to inform vaccination policy decisions with the newly developed pandemic vaccine, I developed with colleagues a model to assess in real time the impact of vaccination strategies. This model incorporates a transmission model fitted to the epidemiological data with health care costs and savings applied to the disease burden. This model was developed and published in real time during the outbreak.

I am also an enthusiastic photographer. Some of my recent work can be seen on my personal website.

Prof. Graham Medley

I joined the Social and Mathematical Epidemiology group at LSHTM in April 2015, after 21 years at the University of Warwick, and 10 years at Imperial College before that. I moved to the faculty of Public Health and Policy and the Department of Global Health and Development because I have become fascinated by the interaction between infectious disease and the economic, social and political spheres.

My interest is the transmission dynamics of infectious disease, and I have published on many different pathogens and hosts – see [Google] or [ORCID] or [ResearcherID] for a full list. I am particularly interested in understanding how interventions are and should be designed to control infectious disease; and my definition of “interventions” includes both the biological (e.g. immune response) and societal action (e.g. immunisation).

I am on the Board of Reviewing Editors for Science, a handling editor for Mathematical Biosciences, and a Joint Editor for Epidemics.

Dr. Martin Rono

Dr. Benjamin Tsofa

Dr Tsofa is the Center Director for the KEMRI Centre for Geographic Medical Research – Coast. Tsofa trained in Dental Surgery at the University of Nairobi, and in Leadership and Management at KIA and MSH. He moved to Kilifi in 2004 as a clinical dentist, was appointed Deputy Hospital Superintendent in 2005, and then as District Medical Officer of Health for Kilifi District in 2006. As DMOH, working closely with Prof Marsh and Dr Peshu, he set up the KEMRI/MOH District Managers group and drafted the Programme’s MOH engagement policy guidelines. Tsofa took study leave from the Ministry and joined the Programme in April 2009 to coordinate the interactions of the Programme and the two ministries of health in Kenya.

Ivy is part of the Viral Epidemiology and Control (VEC) research group at KEMRI-Wellcome Trust. Her work involves modelling the transmission of infectious diseases. She has a Masters in Epidemiology from Imperial College London and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the University of Nairobi. Her PhD project is focused on trying to understand the spread of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), an important viral cause of pneumonia, within households. The project aims to find generalizable insights about the pattern of infection spread that can inform and help to optimize intervention strategies.

Dr. Jacquie Narosto Oliwa, MBChB

Dr. Anja van’t Hoog

University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

Anja obtained a medical degree from the University of Utrecht in 1993. After having worked as a resident medical officer in internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, and pediatrics in several Dutch hospitals, she completed the Dutch course in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene at the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam in 1996 and moved to western Kenya. She was a general medical officer in two rural hospitals near Kakamega and joined the KEMRI/CDC program in Kisumu in 2000. While working on programs to establish services in Kisumu for the prevention of maternal-child HIV transmission, HIV counseling and testing, and HIV care and treatment, she developed an interest in epidemiology. She completed an MSc in epidemiology through the external programme of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2005 and became involved in tuberculosis epidemiology. As the local co-principal investigator she coordinated all aspects of the tuberculosis prevalence survey and other studies described in this thesis. She also was the coordinator of a grant from the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership to conduct cohort studies and build site capacity in preparation for tuberculosis vaccine trials. She became the head of the TB research branch that was established at the KEMRI/CDC research and public health collaboration in Kisumu in 2007. In 2010 she relocated to the Netherlands to focus on the completion of this thesis at the department of Clinical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Informatics at the Academic Medical Centre, and joined the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development in July 2011 as a postdoctoral fellow / epidemiologist. She intends to continue her career in the field of global health, TB and HIV, and to work in Africa again in the future

Prof. Michaël Boele van Hensbroek

Michael Boele van Hensbroek, Professor of Global Child Health and paediatric infectious disease specialist, is a staff member of the Emma Children’s hospital, Academic Medical Centre of the University of Amsterdam. He previously worked in The Gambia (1991-1995), conducting randomized controlled trials on the treatment of severe malaria in children. The research was based at the MRC research laboratories and was part of collaboration between the University of Oxford and the University of Amsterdam. This was followed by a 5-year (1996-2000) training period in pediatrics. In 2000 he obtained a Wellcome Trust career development fellowship to study the aetiology, pathogenesis and outcome of severe anemia in Malawian children. During his fellowship he was based at the Wellcome Trust Research Laboratories in Blantyre, Malawi, conducting his research and working as a consultant in Pediatrics at Queens Elisabeth Central Hospital. In 2005 he (as P.I.) obtained a grand from the Dutch government to develop a Research Support Centre (RSC) at the University of Malawi and conduct a series of related intervention trials on severe anaemia prevention. In 2005 he returned to the Emma Children’s hospital to become the Head of the Global Child Health Group, pediatric advisor for Doctors Without Boarders (MSF) and to complete his training in Pediatric infectious diseases. In 2013 he was appointed Professor in Global Child Health at the University of Amsterdam. His is currently principle investigator of a € 2,8 million project of developing a network of RSC’s in Southern Africa in order to build local research capacity and of €1,0 million grant on studying the etiology of Nodding Syndrome in South Sudanese children. Finally he is co-principle investigator of a large program in Kwara state, Nigeria evaluating the impact of a health insurance system on maternal and child health. This program includes household surveys and randomized studies.

Dr. Georgina Murphy

Georgina is a Postdoctoral Researcher in health services epidemiology. Her research is currently focused on essential health services for sick newborns in Kenya and evaluating task-shifting as a means to improving service delivery. Georgina is a Research Associate at Green Templeton College and a consultant for the Naji Foundation. Her PhD at the University of Cambridge focused on the epidemiology of non-communicable diseases in rural Uganda.

Jacquie is a paediatrician and clinical epidemiologist, currently pursuing her PhD studies at the Academic Medical Centre of the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Her interests lie in health systems research, specifically use of implementation science theories to improve quality of care to sick children.  Her PhD work involves understanding and improving case detection of tuberculosis (TB) in children, including use of new and emerging diagnostic tests.

Her past research work involved being an investigator on a large multi-site clinical trial on treatment of severe pneumonia in children and an observational study on optimising diagnosis of TB in children-both contributed to policy change in Kenya. She was also the lead in a project implementing use of donated medical equipment and best clinical practice guidelines to improve quality of care in maternal, new-born and child health in several hospitals in rural Kenya.

She serves on the Paediatric TB Technical Working Group, advising the Kenya National TB Programme on matters pertaining to childhood TB. She was involved in updating the Paediatric TB guidelines, developing a training curriculum and delivering training to health care workers in Kenya. She is also a member of the Union of Lung Health and the WHO Child TB subgroup-involved in global child TB policies.

Dr. Juliet O. Awori, MBChB

Juliet is working on access to care for childhood pneumonia treatment. Her work will focus on the determinants of pneumonia outcomes in children who are treated in government outpatient facilities in two rural communities in Kenya. She will describe how pneumonia treatment is given at the clinics, the treatment outcomes of children who are treated for pneumonia in these clinics and the social and cultural contexts that determine why and when these parents seek treatment for their sick children.

She is a Medical Epidemiologist with six years experience working on childhood pneumonia field studies, including a large multicenter epidemiological study and a phase 1/2 vaccine clinical trial.

Nadia Tagoe

Dr. Justin Pulford

Justin completed a PhD in Behavioural Science at the University of Auckland, New Zealand in 2008. Prior to joining LSTM, Justin was a research fellow at the School of Population Health, University of Queensland, Australia on permanent secondment at the Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research (PNGIMR), Papua New Guinea (PNG).  While on secondment at the PNGIMR, Justin led the outcome and impact evaluation of the PNG National Malaria Control Program for the period 2010-2015 and was head of the PNGIMR’s Population Health and Demography Unit.

Justin’s current research activities focus on the design, measurement and evaluation of programmes designed to strengthen research capacity in low and middle income countries. In addition, he maintains a broad interest in implementation research designed to strengthen health systems, disease control programmes and community-based health improvement initiatives.

Current projects and grants

Developing Expertise in Leadership, Training and Science (DELTAS), Learning Research Programme. Wellcome Trust and DFID

Support surveillance capacity for antimicrobial resistance: An analysis of approaches to laboratory capacity strengthening for drug resistant infections in low and middle income countries. Fleming fund.

Support surveillance capacity for antimicrobial resistance: regional networks and educational resources. Fleming Fund.

Nadia is a Project Management Professional (PMP) with a background in development management. She has an interest in research capacity strengthening in Africa and has been involved in programme management and research management. Her work experience includes managing several research capacity building grants and developing research management systems at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana. She has a Master of Science degree in Management and Implementation of Development Projects from University of Manchester, UK; and a Bachelor of Science in Building Technology from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.

Nadia’s PhD is examining the processes used in managing health research capacity strengthening consortia and the interaction between consortium management and capacity development. Her study is embedded in the DELTAS Africa Learning Research Programme.

Dr. Obonyo Nchafatso, MBChB

Prof. John Fraser

Professor Fraser received his basic training in medicine at The Uni of Glasgow, where he also received fellowships in medicine and anaesthesia during his basic ICU training. He completed his ICU training on the Brisbane scheme and subsequently completed a PhD on burns and smoke inhalation injury through the University of Queensland, resulting in multiple publications and an international patent. Professor John Fraser is the Director of the Intensive Care Unit at St Andrew’s War Memorial Hospital and is a pre-eminent intensivist at The Prince Charles Hospital, where he founded and leads the multi-disciplinary Critical Care Research Group, the largest group of its kind in Australasia. This group has 7 purpose built labs, including molecular, medical engineering, ex vivo resuscitation of hearts and lungs and cell culture. Professor Fraser currently supervises over 20 PhD, MPhil and honours students in medicine, surgery, basic science, engineering and allied health fields. Since its inception in 2004, the group has earned more than $29M Australian in grants and industry funding. The group leads Australia in complex animal models of critical illness, including artificial heart and lung development; trauma and haemorrhage research, and has been awarded the Centre for Metabolomics for University of Queensland. In 2014 Professor Fraser and his group were awarded The Centre for Research Excellence (one of only of six clinical CRE’s) in Australia, looking at the development and utilisation of bionic hearts and lungs. Collaborations extend across Australia, Asia, Europe, the Americas and Africa, where the group’s collaboration with Imperial College has been awarded with a $4.3 million grant to investigate respiratory support in under-resourced environments. Professor Fraser has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers, and has 4 professorships in different universities. As a part of the work undertaken by Professor Fraser through both the Critical Care Research Group and the Centre for Research Excellence, he has collaborated extensively at a local, state, national and international level. These collaborations have included:

• Queensland Health Service Hospitals, • the Australian Red Cross Blood Service, • University of Queensland, • Queensland University of Technology, • Griffith University, • CSIRO, • Intensive Care Research Austin Hospital, Melbourne, • The O’Brien Institute, Melbourne • Royal Adelaide Hospital, • Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, • RMIT University, Melbourne, • University of New South Wales, • Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, • University of Western Australia, Perth, • The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, • The Children’s Hospital, Sydney, • Royal Perth Hospital, • University of Ontario, Canada, • Malmo University Hospital, Sweden, • National Cardiovascular Centre Research Institute, Osaka, Japan, • Rayne Institute, King’s College, London, United Kingdom, • Xian Hospital, Xian, China, • National Heart Hospital, Malaysia, • Ibaraki University, Japan, • PREVOR, France, • University of Alabama at Birmingham, • St Michael’s Hospital, Canda, • University of Colorado, USA, • Hemholtz Institute, RWTH Aachen University, Germany, • Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, New Zealand, • Aston University, United Kingdom, • University of Texas, Medical Branch, USA, and • Imperial College, London.

Overall track record (in the last 5 years): Professor Fraser has had over 270 published papers (156 in the last five years), as well as presented over 140 keynote lectures and presentations around the world. He holds appointments at Monash University, Bond University, University of Queensland, Griffith University and Queensland University of Technology, as well as one of the six national reviewers of all research projects for FCICM, Senior Examiner to College of ICU Medicine. He is the Editor of Intensive Care Medicine experimental (ICMx), and an Editorial Board Member for the journal Burns. He is the Protocols and Research Chair of the Asia-Pacific Chapter Extracorporeal Life Support Organisation (APELSO) and the Conference Chair for the Chapter’s October 2017 Conference (to be held in Australia for the first time). He is also a member of the Executive Board of ‘A Brighter Future’ – a Cerebral Palsy charity. In addition to the above, Professor Fraser continues his association with the Royal Children’s Hospital Burns Research Group which was initiated during his PhD including a continuation of smoke inhalation research.

Dr. Alison Talbert

Alison Talbert is a paediatrician with research interests in malnutrition, infection and infant and young child feeding. She moved to Kilifi in 2005 from Tanzania where she collaborated with Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine on tick-borne relapsing fever control using insecticide treated bed nets. In Kilifi she has worked on malnutrition studies led by Professor Kath Maitland and Dr. Jay Berkley. She has been an investigator on a study of endotoxinaemia in malnutrition and malaria, and on clinical trials of an outpatient treatment strategy of ready to use supplementary food in moderate malnutrition (Modmal) and omega-3 PUFA enriched ready to use therapeutic food in treatment of severe acute malnutrition (NjuguPlus). She is now leading a community based study of breastfeeding practices and advice given to first time mothers in Jaribuni Division.

Dr. Sam Akech

Obonyo attained his Medical Degree in 2009 from the University of Nairobi, before proceeding to Kijabe Mission Hospital for his internship programme in 2010. In 2011, Obonyo, joined the KEMRI – Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi as a Clinical Research and Training Fellow supervised by Professor Kathryn Maitland and Dr. Bernadette Brent. His main focus was on the study of heart function in severely malnourished children ( CAPMAL study ). In 2013 he was awarded the awarded the prestigious Global Health Research Fellowship at Imperial College London under the Wellcome Trust’s Institutional Strategic Support Fund for his work on management of shock in children ( MAPS study ). In 2014, he was a Research Medical Officer at KEMRI – Wellcome Trust in the study evaluating the efficacy of fluid resuscitation guidelines in severely malnourished children ( AFRIM study ). Since mid-2015, Obonyo has been based at the Critical Care Research Group in Brisbane, Australia as an Echocardiography Research Fellow which entails using high frequency sound waves (ultrasound) to scan the heart. His PhD, supervised by Professor Kathryn Maitland and Professor John Fraser, focusses on evaluating dysfunction of the heart during infection and the response to drip-fluid treatment.

Obonyo is interested in heart research because children with healthy hearts make the best footballers – they endure physical exercise and play with a ‘good heart’ (no yellow/red cards)! He has great interest in soccer.

Rodney Ogwang

Michelle Muthui

Dr. Andrew Blagborough

Imperial College London,  Department of Life Sciences

After obtaining his degree in Biochemistry and Applied Clinical Biochemistry from UMIST in 2001, Andrew completed a PhD in Molecular Parasitology from the University of Manchester, studying the folate biosynthetic pathway of the malaria parasite  Plasmodium falciparum . In 2006 he joined the Sinden lab at Imperial College, London, to study the sexual stages of  Plasmodium , with an emphasis on developing transmission-blocking interventions (TBIs) to target the parasite within the mosquito host, inhibiting or preventing the onward transmission of malaria.  He is currently a Principal Investigator in the DoLS, and his main interests focus on the identification of novel anti-malarial transmission blocking vaccine targets, vaccine delivery, the development of assays to examine TBI efficacy, and assessing the practical impact of introducing TBIs on populations of mosquitoes and vertebrate in both the laboratory and the field.

Prof. Chris Drakeley

My research focus lies in identifying malaria parasite targets on the forms of the parasite responsible for human to mosquito transmission which if blocked by antibodies or drugs would inhibit the development of the parasite within the mosquito. These targets can then be used to aid the design of transmission-blocking vaccines which unlike conventional vaccines that protect against disease, prevent the transmission of malaria. I have previously worked on assessing the relationship between a parasite variant surface antigen (PfEMP1) and the different clinical manifestations of malaria using molecular assays in a bid to identify a subset of these antigens with a role in severe malaria. My background training is in biochemistry and molecular genetics which has not only helped me in my chosen field of study but also inspired me to delve deeper into parasite genetics. Aside from research, I like to participate in student mentorship programmes.

• Serological conservation of parasite-infected erythrocytes predicts PfEMP1 antigen expression but not childhood malaria severity ,  Warimwe GM, Abdi AI, Muthui M , Fegan G, Musyoki JN, Marsh K, et al. | Infect Immun. 2016; doi:10.1128/IAI.00772-15.
• Global selection of Plasmodium falciparum virulence antigen expression by host antibodies . , Abdi AI, Warimwe GM, Muthui MK , Kivisi CA, Kiragu EW, Fegan GW, et al. | Sci Rep. 2016;6: 19882. doi:10.1038/srep19882.
• Differential Plasmodium falciparum surface antigen expression among children with Malarial Retinopathy ,  Abdi AI, Kariuki SM, Muthui MK , Kivisi C a., Fegan G, Gitau E, et al. | Sci Rep. Nature Publishing Group; 2015;5: 18034. doi:10.1038/srep18034.
• Evaluating controlled human malaria infection in Kenyan adults with varying degrees of prior exposure to Plasmodium falciparum using sporozoites administered by intramuscular injection ,  Hodgson SH, Juma E, Salim A, Magiri C, Kimani D, Njenga D, et al . | Front Microbiol. 2014;5: 1–10. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2014.00686.
• Measuring Soluble ICAM-1 in African Populations ,  Abdi AI, Muthui M , Kiragu E, Bull PC | PLoS One. 2014;9: e108956. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0108956.
• Plasmodium falciparum antigenic variation: relationships between widespread endothelial activation, parasite PfEMP1 expression and severe malaria .  Abdi AI, Fegan G, Muthui M , Kiragu E, Musyoki JN, Opiyo M, et al. | BMC Infect Dis. BMC Infectious Diseases; 2014;14: 170. doi:10.1186/1471-2334-14-170.

Patience Kiyuka

Prof. Meri Soppo

University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Central Hospital, Finland

Dr. John Waitumbi

Walter Reed Project, USAMRU-K/KEMRI

Patience trained as a Biochemist from Kenyatta University, completing her undergraduate studies in 2010. She was first introduced to research through an internship project at USA Medical Research Unit (USAMRU), in Nairobi. At USAMRU, she was attached to the Center for Virus Research where she joined other senior researcher in molecular studies of arboviruses in Kenya. Subsequently, she secured another internship opportunity at the KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP). After successful completion of the six months project, she was recruited as a Research Assistant with the Virus Epidemiology Group. Here, she was involved in various studies that sought to understand the transmission dynamics of respiratory viruses within the population and it during that period that she was competitively awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship. The scholarship enable her undertake a distance learning masters degree in Infectious Diseases from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, completing her studies in 2015. Towards the end of the same year, she was once again competitively awarded the grant from Initiative to Develop African Research Leaders (IDeAL) for her doctoral studies on immunity to Malaria. She is currently registered with Open University for the PhD study. Overall her research interests include: immunity to infectious diseases, molecular epidemiology and health policy.

Paul received training in Geomatic engineering and geospatial information systems from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya. He joined the KWTRP as an intern in 2015, in the spatial health metrics group with his project focusing on mapping malaria risk and defining access to health facilities in west Africa. He later joined the group as a research assistant, under the information for malaria project, where he worked on mapping access to health facilities, mapping malaria risk in Africa and quantifying interventions for malaria. His masters project was on developing spatial models of health facility utilization, as a function of many socio demographic characteristics. He is currently a PhD student under the IDeAL program, where his work focuses on understanding the variation in spatial access to emergency hospitals for acute conditions such as emergency obstetrics, severe newborn and childhood illnesses in Kenya. His work can be useful in providing important baseline information on where expansion for hospital and pre hospital care should be focused, at both national and sub-national level. In addition, Paul is an active member of the Geospatial Information management society of Kenya.

• Coverage of routine reporting on malaria parasitological testing in Kenya, 2015–2016 . Maina JK, Macharia PM, Ouma PO , Snow RW, Okiro EA (2017). Global health action . 10 :1413266
• Estimating the need for inpatient neonatal services: an iterative approach employing evidence and expert consensus to guide local policy in Kenya . Murphy GA, Waters D, Ouma PO , Gathara D, Shepperd S, Snow RW, English M (2017). BMJ global health. 2 : e000472
•   Univariate and multivariate spatial models of health facility utilization for childhood fevers in an area on the coast of Kenya . Ouma PO , Agutu NO, Snow RW, Noor AM (2017). International Journal of Health Geographics. 16 : 34
• Spatial accessibility to basic public health services in South Sudan . Macharia PM , Ouma PO, Gogo EG, Snow RW , Noor AM (2017). Geospatial Health, 12 : 510
•   The Nairobi Newborn Study: protocol for an observational study to estimate the gaps in provision and quality of inpatient newborn care in Nairobi City County, Kenya. Murphy GAV, Gathara D, Aluvaala J, Mwachiro J, Abuya N, Ouma PO , Snow RW, English M (2016). BMJ open.  6: e012448
• Access to emergency hospital care provided by the public sector in sub-Saharan Africa in 2015: a geocoded inventory and spatial analysis . Ouma PO, Maina JK, Thuranira PN, Macharia PM, Alegana VA, English M, Okiro EA, Snow RW (2018) . Lancet Global Health . 6. e342–e350.

Prof. Anna Färnert

Karolinska Institutet, Sweden

Dr. James Tuju

Akua has research interests in malaria vaccine development, molecular biology and immunology. She has had training in Biochemistry (MPhil. and BSc. Hons) and Botany (BSc. Hons) at the University of Ghana, and has worked as a molecular biologist at the Kintampo Health Research Centre (KHRC) in Ghana.

Her PhD study is “simply” to understand why some infants have malaria parasites and remain healthy while other infants have malaria parasites and become ill. Her research is supervised by Prof. Anna Farnert at the Karolinska Institutet, Prof. Faith Osier at KEMRI-Kilifi and Heidelberg University Hospital and Dr. Kwaku Poku Asante at KHRC.

Akua has a passion for writing, teaching/mentoring and nurturing children who lose their mothers at birth. At leisure, she would go swimming.

Dr. Kenneth Munge, MBChB

Prof. Kara Hanson

My research has focused primarily on the economics of health systems in low- and middle-income countries. I have done research on hospital sector reforms in Uganda and Zambia, focusing on the implications of two-tier pricing for equity of access to hospital services. I am interested in the role of the private sector in health systems, and in identifying the opportunities and limitations of the private sector in improving the efficiency, quality and responsiveness of health systems.  I work with a DFID funded project on education systems research, contributing insights from the development of health systems research methods.  I am co-Research Director of RESYST – Resilient and Responsive Health Systems  , which is a UK-DFID funded research consortium bringing together researchers from South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Thailand, India, Vietnam and the UK. Our programme includes research on health financing, health workers and governance and leadership in the health sector.

My second area of focus is the economics of malaria control interventions. In particular, I am interested in understanding better how to expand access to interventions that have been shown to be cost-effective. Recent activities in this area include the A CTWatch Project , studying the market for antimalarial medicines and a linked grant from the ESRC Secondary Data Analysis Initiative to estimate the demand for antimalarials; and economic evaluations of a range of interventions addressing malaria in pregnancy ; and the Independent Evaluation of the Affordable Medicines Facility-Malaria , which is an innovative financing mechanism for antimalarial drugs.

I am a member of the Centre for Evaluation , the Malaria Centre , and the Centre for Global Noncommunicable Diseases .

In January 2015 I was appointed Associate Dean for Research in the Faculty of Public Health and Policy.

Dr. Dorris Kirigia

World Health Organization, WHO, Congo

Doris completed her PhD in health economics and public health in 2009 from University of New South Wales, Australia and a Masters in Public Health 2004 from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom. Doris joined KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in 2011 as Post-Doctoral Researcher. Her research interests include health equity, health systems research, and use of technology to deliver health care (e-Health) interventions, social determinants of health and Health in All Policies, health care financing and economic evaluation of health related interventions. Her current research involves evaluating different health financing mechanisms and expanding fiscal space for health to contribute to the current global and national debate on universal health coverage and health systems strengthening. Her other interests include engaging policy makers in finding evidence based innovative approaches to ensure those socially and economically disadvantaged population groups have access to quality and affordable health care. Doris is an expert advisor for WHO regional office on health equity and social determinants of health and is a member of different public health and health economics organisations.

Munge is a public health practitioner with background training and experience as a medical doctor. His interests are in economics of health systems, health systems, and primary care. He has experience in research, analysis and policy engagement in Kenya examining vaccine safety, health financing, strategic purchasing and economic evaluation. His PhD is examining the capacity of decentralised governments in Kenya to raise the level of public health expenditure without harming their financial well-being (i.e. fiscal space for health) in the context of Kenya’s pursuit of universal health coverage (UHC). He is co-leading work surveying the distribution of, risk factors for, and cost-effectiveness of diagnostic strategies for hypertension and diabetes; which is also examining the performance and capacity of the Kenyan health systems to deliver interventions to target these diseases through primary care. He is a member of the African Health Economics and Policy Association, the International Health Economics Association and the John Snow Society. He is part of the management group of RESYST – Resilient and Responsive Health Systems – a DFID-funded international consortium, that brings together ten African and Asian countries and is also a member of the Kenya Country Core Group for the Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage.

Peter Macharia

Prof. Benn Sartorious

My academic qualifications includes a PhD in applied epidemiology/biostatistics, a 2-year applied field epidemiology fellowship (European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training [EPIET]) and an MSc in epidemiology and biostatistics. My research interests include: cancer epidemiology with an increased focus on the viral etiology thereof, global and regional underestimation of specific cancers in developing settings with poor quality data, Bayesian spatial-temporal modelling, risk determinant estimation for longitudinal outcomes within various statistical frameworks and application of inequality indices to health outcomes. I have more than a 100 international peer reviewed publications. I have served as a reviewer for more than a dozen international ISI accredited journals (e.g. BMC Medicine, Bulletin of the World Health Organization, American Journal of Public Health) thus far. I’m also an associate editor for BMC Public Health and an official reviewer for Geospatial Health. I joined the Global Burden of Disease (GDB) Project from 2015 and was invited to be a member of the GBD Scientific Council shortly thereafter.

Dr. Symon Kariuki

Peter Macharia is a PhD candidate of spatial epidemiology at The Open University UK, supported by the Initiative to Develop Research Leaders (IDeAL), based at the Kenya Medical Research Institute-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP).  His PhD research focuses on modelling subnational child mortality, its determinants and their contribution since 1965 in Kenya. This work will allow benchmarking, inform policies, resource allocation and the realization of SDGs

Prior to this Peter was a geospatial modeller with the spatial health metrics group within KWTRP, where he worked on mapping populations at risk of malaria, coverage of malaria interventions, access to health services and developed spatial models to quantify bed-nets needed at each health facility in Kenya

He holds a MSc in Geospatial Information System (GIS)  and Remote Sensing from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology(JKUAT), Postgraduate Diploma in Health research methods  from Pwani University and BSc in Geomatic Engineering and GIS from JKUAT

His interests are in disease mapping and spatial epidemiology (child mortality, its determinants, access and utilization to healthcare).

Peter is a member of The  International Society of Geospatial Health  , The  GIS chapter  of the Institution of Surveyors of Kenya and The American Association of Geographers

• Sub national variation and inequalities in under-five mortality in Kenya since 1965 (2019) .  Macharia PM ,  Giorgi E, Thuranira PN, Joseph NK, Sartorius B, Snow RW, Okiro EA | BMC Public Health  19 :146   [ PMID: 30717714] [PMCID:  PMC6360661 ]
• What mapping Kenya’s child deaths for 50 years revealed – and why it matters (2019).  Macharia PM  and Okiro EA  The Conversation
• Spatio-temporal analysis of Plasmodium falciparum prevalence to understand the past and chart the future of malaria control in Kenya . (2018). Macharia PM , Giorgi E, Noor AM, Waqo E, Kiptui R, Okiro EA, Snow RW| Malaria journal
• National and sub-national variation in patterns of febrile case management in sub-Saharan Africa: an insight into public health sector service delivery . (2018). Alegana VA, Maina J, Paul O Ouma PO, Macharia PM , Wright J, Atkinson PM, Okiro EA, Snow RW, Tatem AJ| Nature Communication
• Access to emergency hospital care provided by the public sector in sub-Saharan Africa in 2015: a geocoded inventory and spatial analysis . (2018) Ouma PO, Maina J, Thuranira PN, Macharia PM , Alegana AA, English M, Okiro EO, Snow RW|Lancet G lobal Health
• Coverage of routine reporting on malaria parasitological testing in Kenya, 2015–2016 . (2017) Maina JK, Macharia PM , Ouma PO, Snow RW, Okiro EA| Global health action  
• Spatial models for the rational allocation of routinely distributed bed nets to public health facilities in Western Kenya .  Macharia PM , Ouma PO, Odera PA, Snow RW, Noor AM (2017)| Malaria Journal
• Spatial accessibility to basic public health services in South Sudan .  Macharia PM , Ouma PO, Gogo EG, Snow RW, Noor AM (2017).| Geospatial Health
• A national health facility survey of malaria infection among febrile patients in Kenya, 2014. Githinji S, Noor AM, Malinga J,  Macharia PM , Kiptui R, Omar A, Njagi K, Waqo E, Snow RW (2016).| Malaria Journal

Reagan Mogire

• Target-similarity search using Plasmodium falciparum proteome identifies approved drugs with anti-malarial activity and their possible targets .  Reagan M. Mogire ,  Hoseah M. Akala,  Rosaline W. Macharia,  Dennis W. Juma,  Agnes C. Cheruiyot,  Ben Andagalu,  Mathew L. Brown,  Hany A. El-Shemy,  Steven G. Nyanjom

George Makau

Dr. Amin Hassan

Dr. Joakim Esbjörnsson

George Makau is based at Lund University, Sweden. He obtained his MSc degree in Molecular Biology from an Inter-University Programme in Molecular Biology (IPMB) jointly organised by Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and Antwerp University in Belgium. He completed his MSc degree thesis in Molecular Oncology at the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (SCK-CEN), investigating the molecular and cellular effects of different radiation qualities on cancer cells. Makau has gained experience in infectious diseases research through active placements in various institutes including the Flanders Institute of Biotechnology (VIB) in Belgium and the US Army Medical Research Unit.

Growing up partly in Kenya and having witnessed the devastation ensuing from the HIV-1 epidemic in the country, his current desire is to contribute to HIV-1 research for human health in Africa and help combat the spread of HIV-1 through advocating for science-informed policy making. His current study utilises high-throughput sequence data to providing insights into circulating HIV-1 variants, transmitted drug resistance and characteristics of founder viruses in well-established at-risk groups cohorts in Kenya.

Jonathan Abuga

Jonathan did his Research Internship at the Neurosciences group of the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP), in Kilifi-Kenya. He has undergraduate (Kenyatta University, Kenya) and postgraduate (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel) training in Public Health. He is currently doing a Ph.D. on examining changes in the burden of neurological disabilities in children over a period of improved child survival as well as determining long-term mortality following neurological disabilities, using both statistical and epidemiological approaches to answer these questions. He is supervised by researchers from KWTRP and the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, where he is registered for his Ph.D. His research work is supported by the Sub-Saharan Africa Consortium for Advanced Biostatistics Training (SSACAB) and the Initiative to Develop African Research Leaders (IDeAL).

Kennedy Mwai

I am a Bio-statistician and a PhD student working on epidemiological and high-throughput proteomic data.  My Bachelor’s  Degree from JKUAT was in Mathematics and Computer Science with a specialization in Statistics. I hold an MSc in Biostats from University of the Witwatersrand with a focus on Bayesian Spatial-Temporal models. I build computational tools that make data analysis easier, faster, and more fun.

Currently, I am working on analytical frameworks for studies of correlates of protection against Plasmodium falciparum with a main interest in systems biology approach focusing on malaria epidemiology and the correlates of protection. Additionally, with others, we teach Introduction to Statistical Methods for Health Research using R and RStudio httpss://github.com/Keniajin/PwaniR_Training_2015 .

If you want to keep up with everything we are working on, follow me on Twitter @kenniajin.

Dr. Derick Kimathi, MBChB

Derick Kimathi is a medical doctor, trained at the University of Nairobi. Derick joined KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in 2017. He works within the arbovirus group, where he leads the human clinical trials. His interests are in tropical diseases prevention with a focus on emerging and re-emerging diseases; how to utilize vaccines for disease outbreak prevention and disease epidemic control.

Derick was awarded the TNF -Scholarship at the University of Oxford. His PhD is examining the immunogenicity of fractional doses for the Yellow Fever Vaccines in an attempt to redefine the minimum dose recommendation for the vaccine. His work also focuses on understanding the health policy processes at a macro level and how that influences vaccine use routinely and during epidemics.

Derick is the lead for the EDCTP funded multi-site study (NIFTY) with partners in KWTRP- Kenya, Epicentre- Uganda and France, UVRI-Uganda, Institut Pasteur de Dakar- Senegal and the University of Oxford.

Caroline Mburu

Caro’s interest lies in Infectious disease epidemiology and the application of mathematical models for infectious disease control. She previously worked on modelling, transmission dynamics of typhoid and assessing the cost-effectiveness of Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine in Kenya. Her PhD works entail applying mathematical modelling to serologic data to assess the impact of vaccination programs and provide evidence that will inform vaccine policy in Kenya. Her ultimate career goal is to inform disease management using mathematical modelling tools in low middle-income countries (LMICs).

Masters training is first stage of specialisation in research training. As such it provides a foundation for further research training and for increased intellectual engagement in a focused research area. In line with our goal of building local research capacity by feeding the research career pipeline at all levels, The KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme has developed a Masters studentship scheme to support talented Masters students registered at local universities complete the research project component of their training. The studentships, which are funded through the Initiative to Develop African Research Leaders, (IDeAL), provides the students with stipend and an opportunity to spend up to eight month at our Kilifi or Nairobi facilities doing their research projects in a highly productive research environment. Research costs for the project are catered for under the supervisor’s research funding.​ To apply visit the recruitment page .​

John W. Oketch

I am a BSc. Molecular and Cellular Biology graduate from Kenyatta University, Kenya. Currently, pursuing my master’s project at KEMRI Wellcome Trust aimed at comparison of the patterns of spread of human metapneumovirus (HMPV) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in Africa using virus sequence data, for my master’s degree in Bioinformatics. I am under the supervision of professor James Nokes, KEMRI Wellcome Trust, and DR. Everlyne Isoe (Pwani university). I am a passionate and keen to build a solid scientific career in biomedical research; specifically, I am interested in genetics of human infectious diseases.

Martha Luka

I hold a BSc in Medical Laboratory Science and Technology from the University of Nairobi and a Post Graduate Diploma (PGD) in Health Research Methods from Pwani University. I have worked as a clinical laboratory technologist at the Nairobi Hospital and interned at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-Kenya. As an IDeAL PGD fellow, I worked on the molecular characterization of human rhinovirus among school-going children. This experience equipped me with numerous molecular and computational skills, and as a result, I won an EANBiT scholarship to pursue an MSc in Bioinformatics at Pwani University. For my master’s research project, I aim to elucidate the transmission pathways of human rhinovirus within and across different scales using whole-genome sequence data. The successful completion of this project will inform public health policies on the management of outbreaks of human rhinovirus, the most commonly isolated viral respiratory agent. My supervisors are Prof. James Nokes, Dr Charles Agoti, and Dr Alii Kiti from Pwani University.

I am interested in virology, molecular biology, pathogen genomics and data visualization.

Joy Kabagenyi

Joy is an IDeAL and EANBiT funded student pursuing an MSc in Bioinformatics. She holds a BSc. (Biology) from Kyambogo University- Uganda. Currently, Joy is undertaking her research project under the Viral Epidemiology and Control group at KEMRI-Wellcome Trust. Her project aims at profiling immune responses to common and emerging infections in infants during the first years of life. Before joining IDEAL, she worked with the Immunomodulation and Vaccines programme at MRC/UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit. While there she worked on various projects that aimed to understand immune profiles to vaccines such as BCG and MVA85A, and infections such as Respiratory Syncytial Virus and how helminth infections influence these profiles. Her interest in using computational methods to understand host and pathogen interactions specifically integrating pathogen genomics and host functional genomics, as a way to contribute knowledge to vaccine and drug development.

Moses Njagi Mwaniki

I am an IDeAL early career postdoctoral fellow at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme . I utilise bioinformatics approaches to study virus evolution and transmission patterns during outbreaks. My current project investigates the role of minority variants in virus evolution and in reconstructing virus transmission chains.

Njagi Mwaniki holds an undergraduate degree in Informatics from Moi University and currently working towards a master’s degree in Bioinformatics at Pwani University. He worked for two years in Software Engineering before moving into Bioinformatics where he’s supervised by Dr. George Githinji and Dr. Pjotr Prins working on exploring virus genomic data using variation graphs using currently existing software and developing new tools. He strongly believes in the ability of graphs to represent sequence data and that the current methods used to represent sequence data will be replaced by methods that inherently represent variation and wants to be there when the change occurs.

Matano Emmanuel Rumba

My name is Matano Emmanuel and I am doing MSc.in immunology. I did BSc. Zoology for my undergraduate at Pwani University. I am now in my second year doing MSc. Immunology under the IDeAl studentship scheme. My current study is on understanding the role of Plasmodium falciparum extracellular vesicles (PfEVs) on host immune regulation specifically the role of PfEVs on host immune downregulation as a mechanism for immune evasion by the malaria parasite which has been shown to happen in other infections such as cancer. I am working towards becoming an independent health research scientist who can identify a research problem in health and come up with a solution. I have a strong interest in extracellular vesicles and I look forward to working on the same but with viruses particularly for my PhD. My supervisors are Dr. Abdirahman Abdi and Dr. Cheryl Andisi.

Jeremiah Waswa Wanyama

Jeremiah is a master’s student in Immunology at Pwani University under IDeAL- KEMRI. He holds a bachelor’s degree in BSc in Biochemistry from Pwani University. During his BSc degree, he did a research project addressing the health side effects of triclosan based antiseptic soaps to the immune system. He did his internship at Institute of Primate Research.

He aspires to be a senior research scientist in the area of viral immunology, especially in HIV infection in addressing the gene silencing in targeting the transmission mode of the virus.

Hannah Wanja Kimingi

Hannah graduated with BSc. Medical Microbiology from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (2017). She’s currently an MSc Immunology student at Pwani University under IDeAL. She is a former PGD student where she was working on understanding the role of antibodies against  P. falciparum  variant surface antigen. Prior to being a PGD fellow, she volunteered and gained Biomedical laboratory experience at the Institute of Primate Research. During her undergraduate, she gained Microbiology, Molecular, Immunological and Serological lab work experience from KEMRI, Nairobi, and Thika Level 5 Hospital. She’s interested in infectious diseases with key emphasis on diagnosis, immunity, and strategies which may, in turn, improve human health lowering the mortality and morbidity rates arising from infectious diseases.

Lynn Nanjala Fwambah

Lynn Fwambah is currently an MSc Immunology student under an IDeAL scholarship. She graduated top of her class from the University of Nairobi with a BSc Biochemistry First Class Honours. Following this, she was awarded a studentship by IDeAL to pursue a Postgraduate Diploma in Health Research Methods. Her PGD thesis was a systematic review on the effects of haptoglobin in bacterial infections. Her interests lie in HIV immunology and she would like to focus on determining what immunological and genetic factors that elite controllers possess that enable them to suppress HIV viral load without antiretroviral therapy. This information may be useful in identifying possible vaccine candidates.

Cecillia Nafula Wechessa

Growing up, I had the constant need to give a helping hand to people and interest in scientific research. This led me to pursue a degree in Biochemistry at Egerton University. Currently, I am a student at Pwani University under IDeAL Immunology Masters Studentship.  I started off as a volunteer at a local dispensary and high school.  I later joined The Institute of Primate Research for my personal attachment and acquired skills on molecular work, tissue processing and Immunological techniques. Later on, I joined Nyumbani Diagnostic Laboratory for my Industrial Attachment where I gained basic medical laboratory skills. For my internship I was trained on procedures such as phage therapy and microscopy, just to mention a few, at IPR. My primary interest lies on understanding the human immune system in relation to emerging non- communicable diseases and how such knowledge can be used to improve the well-being of the African population.

John Nderitu Kimotho

I have a background in BSc. Medical Laboratory Science and Technology from the University of Nairobi class of 2018. I am also a licensed Laboratory Technologist by the Kenya Medical Laboratory Technicians and Technologists board. Before the studentship, I worked as a Laboratory Technologist in a hospital which has equipped me with admirable laboratory technical skills. I have also done clinical attachments at Kenyatta National hospital and Mbagathi District Hospital. I am currently in my first year of study pursuing a Master’s degree in Immunology as an IDeAL student at Pwani University. My interest lies in the area of vaccine development which I believe to be the smartest human invention ever. I am precisely interested in malaria vaccine development which has proven troublesome over the years. I foresee myself holding a PhD within 5-10 years and at the same time leading a research group in a research institution or an academic institution.

Christine Kalekye

I did my undergraduate studies at Kenyatta University and studied BSc in Microbiology where I graduated with First Class Honors. I am currently an MSc student in Immunology at Pwani University under IDeAL studentship. I have interned with GreenLife International Company where I also worked as a marketer for herbal medicine. I amassed incredible knowledge of effective herbal medicine form local plants. I have interned with Equity bank as a Wings to Fly program alumnus and a full-time mentor under Equity Leaders Program (ELP). My current area of interest is pharmacogenomics of anti-malarials in response to P.vivax and P.falciparum, which I am enthusiastic to start on once I finish my course work.  I look toward to do my PhD in the future and join research fellowships like Future Leaders-African Independent Research Fellowship (FLAIR).

Berrick Otieno

I am a master’s student at Pwani University in collaboration with IDeAL. I have a background in BSc Nursing and Public Health from Pwani University and hold a certificate in Health System Management from Pwani University/IDeAL. I have done research related short courses on including systematic literature review offered through Cochrane Interactive Learning and Management of Human Resource for Health (HRH), a program offered by MoH-Kenya/USAID. I have developed strong client-facing and teamwork skills through my 1-year internship at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital and 3 years of clinical nursing at Aga Khan Hospital-Mombasa. My MSc project is ‘Association between electroencephalographic features and neuropsychiatric comorbidities of epilepsy’, I am supervised by Prof Charles Newton and Dr. Symon Kariuki. We aim to determine if electroencephalographic features can be biomarkers for psychiatric disorders. I aspire to do a Ph.D. after Masters and join neuroscience scientist.

Kashero Kaingu

Dr. Alun Davies

Alun Davies has over 20 years experience in science education, health research and community engagement in Kenya: nine years as a science and senior teacher at urban and rural schools in Kenya; followed by eleven years as a researcher at KWTRP. Prior his current post, Alun managed an HIV research project in Kilifi, employing 50 staff at three sites to initiate HIV clinical trials. Alun’s current role in community engagement draws on a combination of his experience in education and health research towards facilitating engagement interactions between researchers and school students. Over the past six years, Alun has established a ‘Schools Engagement Programme’ (SEP) which facilitates interactions between researchers and up to 1000 students form 25 schools a year. The activities are aimed at promoting positive attitudes towards science among secondary school students; and promoting mutual-understanding between health researchers and the community. SEP has also enabled Kilifi students’ views to be incorporated into the Nuffield Council on Bioethics Working Party report on Ethical Issues for Research Involving Children. Alun’s current research explores ways of evaluating engagement with health research using a combination of quantitative, qualitative and participatory approaches.

I have a background in social sciences and I am currently pursuing a Master of Science in Public health at Pwani University. I have completed my coursework and am now doing my project. My project is on HIV amongst adolescents in Kilifi and my topic is ‘’Academic achievements and experiences among adolescents living with HIV in Kilifi.’’ My main inspiration towards doing a Master’s in Public health and a project that gives emphasis to adolescents living with HIV is embedded on the view that there has been little effort on these adolescents which in turn will affect the health outcomes of the general population in the near future and therefore something needs to be done to salvage the situation. My supervisors for this particular project will be Professor Amina Abubakar and Allan Davies in whose tutelage I expect to grow competently in research.

Bernadette Kutima Ataku

Bernadette Kutima holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Microbiology from Pwani University. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Immunology. Her study focuses on cloning and expression of recombinant protective Dengue envelop proteins for immunological screening. Her research interests entail genetic investigations of organisms of importance to public and environmental health, use of bacteriophages against antibiotic-resistant bacteria in biomedical setting and the related host immune responses to the viral agents once exposed, the potential use of DNA vaccines to help the immune system develop protection from a disease and the use of nanotechnology in treatment and diagnosis of diseases as seen in various articles. Her supervisors are Dr. James Nyagwange, Prof. Suhaila Hashim and Prof. George Warimwe

Elizabeth Indeje

Dr. Simon Muriu

Elizabeth Indeje holds a Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology from Pwani University. She is currently an IDeAL Masters Fellow pursuing MSc Immunology at the same university. Her research focus is on investigating the effects of nutritional status on immunity and vaccine responses in Kenyan children. Her current interest lies in understanding malnutrition, immunity in infants, and vaccine humoral responses with the desire to understand how malnourished children respond to vaccines in quest to provide mechanistic insights, which can be utilized in designing interventions targeted to alleviate malnutrition to complement vaccination in children and thus improve their health. Besides, Elizabeth has a particular interest in volunteer work and mentorship through encouraging and empowering Kenyan high school students sponsored by Equity Group Foundation.

Robert Mugendi Mugo

Holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Health Research Methods from Pwani University and Bachelor’s Degree from Kenyatta University. In addition, he holds a Certificate in Leadership and management. He is currently an MSc Immunology student at Pwani University in collaboration with KWTRP, under IDeAl sponsorship. He aims to determine the kinetics and longevity of RTS,S/ASO1 induced complement-fixing antibodies, this will be essential in the development of a highly efficacious and long-lasting Malaria Vaccine.Previously worked on sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of Rotavirus strains, to find out whether there is potential for the development of vaccine escape mutants. Robert is passionate about understanding immunity to infectious diseases, specifically Plasmodium falciparum malaria.

Mercy Wanjiru

I did my undergraduate degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at South Eastern Kenya University. I am currently doing my Master’s project at KEMRI-Wellcome Trust which is titled, “Using Mendelian Randomization to investigate the relationship between Vitamin D deficiency and tuberculosis.” Since my project cuts across three major fields in the medical field: Infectious diseases; nutrition; medical statistics, I am positive that the diverse skills and mentorship I will have gained from this project will be sufficient to steer me into a career am passionate about- medical research. My supervisors are Dr. Sarah Atkinson of Kemri-Wellcome Trust and Dr. Tom Yates of Imperial College, London.

Lewis Murugu Mukiiri

I graduated from the University of Nairobi with a BSc in Microbiology & Biotechnology (2018). Currently, I am an IDeAL MSc. Immunology student at Pwani University. I started my journey in science by volunteering at Githongo Sub-county hospital, Meru. Essentially, I acquired basic medical lab skills and participated in community outreach programmes for diabetes awareness. I later joined KEMRI (CRDR) for my industrial attachment where my Molecular and Microbiology laboratory skills were heightened. Prior to joining IDeAL, I worked as a Research Assistant with JHPIEGO in the Postpartum Family Planning (PPFP) Choices Study. I was involved in coordinating with facility clinicians to identify and recruit eligible participants into the study. What is more, I have special interests in understanding malaria and human host immune responses to Plasmodium falciparum antigens. Additionally, how such knowledge can be used to address the need for an effective malaria vaccine.

Daisy Chelangat

Daisy is pursuing a master degree in Applied Statistics at the University of Kabianga. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Applied statistics with computing from Maasai Mara University. She is studying time trends of diarrhoea and dehydration admissions to Kenyan hospital following the introduction of the Rotavirus Vaccine. Her interest is in understanding other underlying factors that could be affecting the trends in hospital admissions other than the introduction of the vaccine. One of her aspirations is to develop strong statistical models that would detect possible underlying factors, affecting the trend. She is supervised by Dr. Samuel Akech and Dr Lucas Malla

William Ilua Muasya

William has always been fascinated by how the human body works, as well as utilizing technology to improve medical research. This inspired him to pursue Medical biotechnology with Information Technology at Maseno University. In 2018, he completed a Post Graduate Diploma program in Health Research Methods at Pwani University in collaboration with Kemri-Wellcome Trust where he was working on the kinetics of gametocyte expression in individuals undergoing controlled human malaria infection (CHMI).

His interests lie in understanding the immunology of infectious tropical disease and vaccine development. Currently, William is an MSc Immunology student at Pwani University and doing his project at KWTRP. He seeks to identify novel antigens on the surface of gametocyte-infected erythrocytes that could be utilized as transmission-blocking vaccines in malaria.

The Postgraduate Diploma Course, which is  offered jointly by KEMRI – Wellcome Trust Research Programme and Pwani University,  is a unique learning program whose aim is to equip recent graduates with theoretical and practical knowledge of the philosophy and practice of research so as to enhance their transition to a research career or further postgraduate training. The course covers all types of health research from basic biomedical research to social science and health system research and provides an opportunity for the students to develop a deep appreciation of the various elements of research through attachment in a highly active research environment. Every year, 15 – 25 young graduates competitively take us these positions with full scholarship on tuition and a monthly stipend.

Maureen Wanjiru Mburu

Maureen Wanjiru Mburu, pursued Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology and Biosafety at the University of Eldoret. She is currently a Postgraduate Diploma student in Health Research Methods. Research topic; Biology of Tungiasis, Tunga penetrans genome project. I look forward to being an eminent researcher in the health sector and to use the skills obtained to make a positive impact on the health sector. I have interest in Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics.

I pursued Nursing and Public health in my undergraduate level at Pwani University and currently pursuing a postgraduate diploma in health research methods; a course that is jointly offered by Pwani University and Kemri-Wellcome trust. My project is titled, ‘Burden and risk factors for common mental health disorders and substance abuse disorders among young people living with HIV in low and middle income countries.’ Supervised by professor Amina  Abubakar and Moses Kachama. I aspire to be at the forefront of the research field, to be part of a community that aims to make the world a better place through research.

Kelvinson Mwangi

I’m an IDeAL post-graduate diploma fellow of Health Research Method under the supervision of Dr. Sarah Atkinson and John Muriuki and based at the Kenya Medical Research Institute-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP). I’m passionate about using statistical techniques and methodologies in assessing evidence to inform better decisions. I hold a bachelor’s degree in Applied Statistics with IT from Maseno University. My work focusses on evaluating the association between Malnutrition and Malaria in African children: the effect of malnutrition on malaria-specific antibodies (MSP1 and AMA1) and whether malnutrition influences the natural immunity to malaria.

Audrey Mumbi

My name is Audrey Nyawira Mumbi. I hold a bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy. I am a Post Graduate Diploma student working on a project on ‘Examining the policy and implementation of HIV prevention through private retail pharmacies in Kenya’ supervised by Dr Peter Mugo. We aim to understand the policy environment surrounding the HIV prevention policies; HIV self-test kit and Pre-exposure prophylaxis, their implementation in private retail pharmacies and strategies that are required to enhance their delivery and impact.

As a holder of a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy I have a keen interest to build a career in health system research. I aspire to pursue a master’s degree in health systems and eventually a PhD in the same and become a renowned health researcher.

Yvonne Kamau

Dr. Marta Maia

Dr. Yvonne Kamau is a registered Pharmacist and an alumnus of the University of Nairobi in Kenya. She is undertaking a research project on mosquitocidal effect and pharmacokinetics of different ivermectin dose regimens in preparation for a randomized controlled trial. Through this research project, she intends to advance work on the current malaria control interventions and possibly contribute to research work on Malaria eradication through the guidance of distinguished faculty. Her interests lie on the impact of health policies on the achievement of quality, affordable, accessible and equal health for all, in line with SDG #3.

Solomon Njenga

I hold a BSC. Degree in Mathematics And Economics, with IT, from Maseno University. Currently, I am part of the Ideal Program as a Post Graduate Diploma fellow in Health Research Methods and undertaking a research project.Prior to becoming a PGD student, I interned at Kenya Forestry Research Institute-Central Highlands Eco-region Research Programme (KEFRI-CHERP) -Headquarters in the Biometrics and GIS department. I also did my attachment at Kenya Plant Health Quarantine Inspectorate Service (Muguga).I intend to apply my statistical knowledge to help make informed decisions backed by data and also to solve some problems in the health sector. In the long run also intend to help and play a part in the eradication of malaria among other diseases.

Ken Muriithi

Ken Murithi has an academic background in Bachelor of Science (Microbiology) from Pwani University. He is currently pursuing a Post Graduate Diploma in Research Methodology offered by KEMRI in conjunction with Pwani University. His present focus is to obtain a high-quality DNA from Tunga penetrans, sequence it and carry out the sequence analysis.

Anita Kerubo

I am a graduate from Maseno University with a degree in Applied Statistics with IT and an alumnus of Mama Ngina High School. She is currently a PGD Fellow with IDEAL. Her current research work focuses on the reliability of using recall of onset of seizures to calculate incidence of epilepsy. She aims to make a positive contribution in the Neurological Department of Science. This studentship is the beginning of her career journey in Research and Science and aspires to be part of the solution wherever she goes by having an open mind and uniting with other people who have similar goals.

Moses Mwamburi

Moses Mwamburi is a PGD student holding a Bachelor’s degree in Analytical Chemistry from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. He currently holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Health Research Methods studentship award from KEMRI Wellcome Trust IDeAL program. He will be studying the use of MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry to measure the age of malaria vectors under the supervision of Dr. Marta Maia.

His key interest is on the application of analytical chemistry techniques in vector biology studies as an evidence-based approach towards the prevention of morbidity and mortality in Africa. He is also interested in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He is keen on furthering his studies to postdoctorate levels and eventually into a high impact research career.

Mary Wanja Njoroge

I pursued a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Health (Public Health), Moi University. I have been an intern at the National AIDS Control Council where I gained skills in HIV literature search, data analysis and reporting. Previously, an attachee at the Bungoma County Referral Hospital where I gained practical skills in immunization activities and disease surveillance.  Currently, I am part of the IDeAL programme as a Post Graduate Diploma Fellow in Health Research Methods undertaking a project in ’’Ecological investigation of the association between confidence in science/vaccine confidence and actual vaccine coverage data whilst accounting for GDP and other relevant covariates’’. I aspire to be a global health researcher with cutting edge skills as I seek to find out what extent vaccination coverage is correlated to how populations feel about science and health (including vaccines and vaccination). My interests are Public health research, disease prevention and vaccine studies.

Githuka Alfred Mburu

I am a young aspiring health researcher having a background at Medical Laboratory science from Kisii University. I was first attached at Thika Level 5 Hospital in my undergraduate and later duly licensed as a Laboratory Officer. I have previously worked as a Medical laboratory assistant at East & Central Africa Health link in Nairobi from January to August 2019. I am currently a Post Graduate Diploma student at Pwani University with a key research interest in improving diagnostic systems as I aspire to contribute in providing solutions to healthcare-related challenges. Am currently working on “D iagnosis of acute infections through microarray-based analysis of antibodies in lymphocyte supernatants” under the supervision of Dr. Charles Sande.

Lucy Wairimu Mwangi

My name is Lucy Wairimu Mwangi a graduate from the University of Kabianga with a BSc in Environmental Health. I am a licensed public health practitioner where my roles are oriented in prevention, promotion, and protection of health. Tasked as a Community Health Assistant in Busia County, I coordinated primary health care activities, therefore, contributing tremendously towards achieving Universal Health Care.My career aspiration is to be a research scientist with a clear drive to finding solutions to the changing trends in the world. It fascinates me how information and passing knowledge can transform lives. I aspire to infuse health care concerns to the upcoming generation through the papers I will publish soon. Additionally, I would want to advance my studies to the post-doctoral level. I am a post-graduate diploma student under Prof. Charles Newton and Mr. Jonathan Abuga. My research project is Access and Utilization of Health Care Services among children with NI in Low and Middle-Income Countries.

Gideon Mbithi

I am pursuing a PGD in Health Research Systems at IDEAL KEMRI- WELLCOME trust. I have a bachelor’s degree in Geospatial Information Science from Maseno University. I did my industrial attachment at Directorate of Resource Surveys and Remote Sensing (DRSRS) where acquired skills on spatial analysis, data presentation and cartography. My current research project entails assessing secular trends in the incidence and outcome of head injury admitted to Kilifi County Hospital (2002-2018) under the guidance of Prof. Charles Newton and Dr. Symon Kariuki. My research interests are disease mapping, spatial modelling and using GIS to better understand public health in relation to medical geography. I am aspiring to major my studies on remote sensing technologies.

Pauline King’ori

I graduated with BSc. Biomedical Science and Technology from Egerton University. I was attached at the Central Veterinary Laboratories-Kabete during my undergraduate studies where I learned different procedures related animal health research. My experience at this institution triggered my interest to pursue a career in biomedical research. My current PGD project involves conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies focusing on vitamin D and respiratory infections. I am passionate about biomedical research and aim at improving public health by promoting good nutrition to address nutritional deficiencies. My project supervisors are Dr. Sarah Atkinson and Reagan Mogire.

Millicent Makandi

Millicent Makandi, pursued a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Public health at Pwani University. I have been an intern at Embu Teaching and Referral Hospital where I saw the importance of evidence based practices for health care providers to offer better health care. Previously , I worked for IPSOS-synovate  in collaboration with World Bank as a research assistant where I developed interest in research and felt the need to pursue this line. Am currently doing PGD- in health research methods undertaking a project in Examining health system requirements for the inclusion of chlamydia and trichomoniasis screening in the routine antenatal care package in Kenya. I aspire to be a global health research leader and promote evidence based reproductive-health. I hope to gain new insights, come up with innovative solutions to health problems and contribute in strengthening capacities to materialize universal health coverage. My interest is in  strengthening health systems to offer quality care. My  supervisors are Dr. Simon Masha and Dr. Benjamin Tsofa.

Margaret Chifwete

I hold a bachelor’s degree in BSc. Biotechnology. I am a postgraduate diploma student currently working under the supervision of Isabella Oyier and Mercy Akinyi on a project on determining the prevalence of non-falciparum malaria in Kilifi and Western Kenya. My aim is to detect P.malariae and P.ovale using sensitive molecular methods which in our case we will be using qPCR.

My interests is mainly in immunology and in the malaria vaccine development since my project will further lead to show the contribution of the non-falciparum malaria to the overall malaria disease burden the information obtained will be very useful in this case.

I aspire to grow in immunological research and pursue postgraduate training for further advancement in my career.

Peninah Wanjiku Wachira

I pursued Bachelor of science in Environmental Health (Public Health) at Moi university. I have been a volunteer at Kilifi County Referral Hospital in the Public Health department where I gained various skills in; primary health care promotion initiatives, disease surveillance and response, immunization, public health and sanitation, licensing and regulation of entities that sell food to the public among others. I have also worked in an NGO, WOFAK (Women Fighting AIDS in Kenya) Kilifi branch. In WOFAK I was tasked with supervising community health volunteers and monitoring their activities in follow up of HIV patients for treatment adherence.  Currently, I am in for the postgraduate diploma course doing a project on “ Effects of Anti- Epileptic Drugs On the Outcomes of Pregnancy”. I aspire to gain new skills in conducting systematic reviews, epidemiological analysis and writing manuscripts alongside identifying an area in research which I can venture in. I also look up to networking with other researchers and learning from them.  My interest is in considerably neglected topics of public health concern and vulnerable groups, in this case epilepsy: its treatment and effects particularly on the outcomes of pregnancy. My primary project supervisor is Prof. Charles Newton and Dr. Symon Kariuki as the co-supervisor.

Lilian Walala

I graduated from The University of Nairobi with a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology and Biotechnology.  She is an alumnus of Moi Girl’s School Nairobi. During her time in campus, she got an opportunity to be attached at the Center for Microbiology Research in KEMRI where she was first exposed to research. She did her internship at the National Public Health Laboratories in Nairobi. She hopes to use her expertise in microbiology to improve human health across the globe. Her main interest lies in the area of immunology and molecular biology. Her aim is to be a part of the next frontier of scientists who will come up with an effective vaccine for malaria. Currently she is pursuing a post-graduate diploma at Pwani University and doing a project about a malaria vaccine under the supervision of Dr. Karamoko Niare and Dr. James Tuju at the Kemri-Wellcome Trust Kilifi.

Edwin Dzoro Mwazuma

I did a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Statistics at the University of Nairobi. I did my internship at the County Government of Kilifi for ten months at the Department of budget and economic planning. I am currently doing my post-graduate diploma on Health Systems Research at Kemri-Wellcome Trust, Kilifi My project is on Examining the operations and functioning of county health stakeholders’ forum in the context of devolution in Kenya. My research interest centres around health systems and health policy. I aspire to advance my career path in human health research, specializing in health services research, to identify the most effective ways to organize, manage, finance and deliver high-quality healthcare.

Applications for this open every beginning of the year after the release of the KCSE results.

PUBReC is the result of long term collaboration between Pwani University and KEMRI – Wellcome Trust, one of the leading research centres in Kenya and the region. The two institutions share a common interest in research and capacity building. This and close geographic proximity, map out the two institutions as natural partners. Over the last 6 years, a strong partnership has developed particularly in the areas of health and biosciences research and teaching. The relationship is governed by an MoU to ensure it is mutually beneficial.

PUBReC was conceived in 2013 initially as a virtual platform for managing, consolidating and expanding the bioscience research activities with plans to eventually develop high quality research infrastructure that will form the its core. The construction and equipping of a state-of-the-art molecular lab commenced in 2016 with funding from the Wellcome Trust and Pwani University and was managed by a steering committee consisting of representatives from the University and KEMRI – Wellcome Trust. The lab is currently supporting research activities of 12 researchers including Postdocs and Masters Students.

To be a Global Leader in bioscience research.

To apply Bioscience Research for improved livelihoods.

• 51 PhD Students
• 66 Masters Students
• 48 Postdoctoral Fellowships
• 104 Postgraduate Diploma Students
• 44 School Leavers Attachees
• 423 Peer Reviewed Publications

Ph.D Scholarships for Kenyan students 2024-2025

Find Ph.D scholarships for Kenyan students 2024-2025 to study abroad and in Kenya

Call For Applications: CAPSI Ph.D. Fellowship in the Non-Profit Sector’s Contribution to African Economies 2024

The Centre on African Philanthropy and Social Investment (CAPSI) at the Wits Business School, with the support of the Mastercard Foundation, invites applications for Doctoral Fellowship on the Non-Profit Sector and its Contribution to African Economies project. The aim of the PhD

Published: 10 May 2024 Type: PhD Value: $30,000 Deadline: 24 May 2024

City Law School PhD Law Scholarships for Black British Researchers 2024

The City Law School is offering a full-time, three-year doctoral scholarships (entry in September 2024) specifically addressed to Black British applicants. Applications are invited from exceptional and ambitious graduates wishing to pursue cutting-edge research in any of the School's key rese

Published: 27 Mar 2024 Type: PhD Study in: United Kingdom Deadline: 01 Apr 2024

Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS) Scholarships for PhD Students at University of Stirling 2024

Our Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS) Studentships represent a £3.6m investment by the University in doctoral research from 2023-2025. Apply Now!!!!  

Published: 23 Mar 2024 Type: PhD Study in: United Kingdom Deadline: 25 Mar 2024

Arthritis Society Canada Training Graduate PhD Salary Award (TGP) 2024

Salary awards are offered to graduate students who are undertaking full-time research training in an area of clear relevance to arthritis and Arthritis Society Canada's Strategic Plan 2020-2025: Accelerating Impact - Research Strategy which aims to identify research avenues that f

Published: 18 Mar 2024 Type: PhD Study in: Canada Value: $105,000 Deadline: 16 Apr 2024

University of British Columbia Gustave O. Arlt Scholarship Award in Humanities 2024

This award is named in the honor of Gustave O. Arlt (1895-1986) who was the first president of the Council of Graduate Schools, former faculty member and Dean of the Graduate School at UCLA, and a scholar of German language and literature. Since 1972, this award is made annually to recognize a young

Published: 15 Mar 2024 Type: PhD Study in: Canada Deadline: 12 Apr 2024

University of Kent Law School PhD Research Studentship in UK 2024

This studentship is offered by Kent Law School in association with the UKRI-funded Future Leaders Fellowship project led by Dr Connal Parsley, “The Future of Good Decisions: an Evolutionary Approach to Human-AI Government Administrative Decision-Making”. The project will take a new appro

Published: 05 Mar 2024 Type: PhD Study in: United Kingdom Value: £23,334 Deadline: 31 Mar 2024

Canadian Government NSERC Postgraduate Scholarships for PGS-Doctoral Students 2024

The Canada Graduate Scholarships — Doctoral (CGS D) program is a federal program of scholarships administered by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (S

Published: 27 Feb 2024 Type: PhD Study in: Canada Value: $105,000 Deadline: 17 Oct 2024

The Human Frontier Science Program Research Grants for Innovative Basic Researchers 2024

HFSP Research Grants support innovative basic research into fundamental biological problems with emphasis placed on novel and interdisciplinary approaches that involve scientific exchanges across national and disciplinary boundaries (see guidelines). Participation of scie

Published: 23 Feb 2024 Type: PhD Study in: Value: 500,000 USD Deadline: 19 Mar 2024

Funds For Women Graduates ?Foundation Grants for PhD or DPhil Students 2024

?Foundation Grants are designed to help women graduates in the final year of a PhD or DPhil with their living expenses. We do not provide funds to cover fees. To be eligible you must be registered for study or research at an approved institution of higher education in Great Britain and doing the bul

Published: 23 Feb 2024 Type: PhD Study in: United Kingdom Value: £6,500 Deadline: 28 Mar 2024

University of Kent Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Scholarship for PhD Students 2024

The University of Kent is pleased to offer four EPSRC studentships starting in September 2024 to exceptional students undertaking PhD study in the following schools on a full-time basis: School of Physics and Astronomy School of Chemistry and Forensic Sciences School of Computing School

Published: 22 Feb 2024 Type: PhD Study in: United Kingdom Value: £18,622 Deadline: 24 Mar 2024

Victoria University of Wellington Doctoral Scholarship Call for Application 2024

These scholarships are intended to encourage and support doctoral study (PhD) at Victoria University of Wellington. History To encourage postgraduate research Victoria University of Wellington offers scholarships to those about to begin their doctoral studies. These scholarships are awarded on

Published: 21 Feb 2024 Type: PhD Study in: New Zealand Value:  $29,500 Deadline: 01 Nov 2024

University of Southampton Horizon Europe Fee Waivers for Postgraduate Students 2024

The University of Southampton is introducing a new programme to support the reassociation of the UK with the Horizon Europe programme, and the University strategy to grow the international diversity of its doctoral cohort. The University will apply a fee waiver - equivalent to the diffe

Published: 20 Feb 2024 Type: PhD Study in: United Kingdom Value: £26,100 Deadline: Not Specified

Newcastle University Konishi Foundation Scholarship for PhD Students 2024

The Konishi Foundation Scholarship provides support to an excellent candidate who wishes to pursue a PhD in Politics in topics related to East Asian politics within the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology at Newcastle University. For purposes of this call, East Asia includes China, Hong Kong

Published: 16 Feb 2024 Type: PhD Study in: United Kingdom Value: £18,622 Deadline: 19 Feb 2024

Newcastle University Adaptive Management Strategies of Amenity Grasslands PhD Scholarship 2024

Recreational and amenity land provides important green space for people but can be poor for biodiversity. Frequent mowing regimes by local authorities have left many areas of amenity grassland thin and compacted, with low botanical diversity. Changes to mowing regimes could significantly improve bio

Published: 12 Feb 2024 Type: PhD Study in: United Kingdom Value: £18,622 Deadline: 23 Feb 2024

Newcastle University AHRC-funded PhD Studentship in Early Modern Studies 2024

Interested in early modern books, print culture and politics? This project investigates how the early modern English state used the book trade guild known as the Stationers’ Company to censor publications.  You will work with the Stationers’ Company’s extensive archive (in

Published: 09 Feb 2024 Type: PhD Study in: United Kingdom Value: £17,668 Deadline: 28 Feb 2024

TWAS-Fayzah M. Al-Kharafi Award for Developing and Developed Countries 2024

TWAS is inviting nominations for the 2024 Award from all its members as well as science academies, national research councils, universities and scientific institutions in developing and developed countries.

Published: 09 Feb 2024 Type: PhD Deadline: 10 May 2024

Newcastle University Overseas Research Scholarships (NUORS) for International PhD Students 2024 entry

Newcastle University is committed to offering support to the very best international students hoping to pursue a programme of research. We are pleased to offer a small number of University funded NUORS awards for outstanding international students who apply to commence PhD studies in any subject in

Published: 08 Feb 2024 Type: PhD Study in: United Kingdom Value: £24,088 Deadline: 10 May 2024

University of Bristol Black Heritage PhD Scholarships 2024

We welcome applications for full scholarships to postgraduate research programmes starting in 2024. As part of our commitment to the Black community, the University of Bristol has launched a number of postgraduate research scholarships exclusively for students of Black heritage for 2024/25 entry.

Published: 02 Feb 2024 Type: PhD Study in: United Kingdom Value: £18,622 Deadline: 27 Feb 2024

• Best Scholarships
• DAAD MIPLC Scholarships for Students from Developing Countries (Germany) 2024
• DAAD STEM Study Scholarships for Developing and Emerging Countries 2024
• UK Government Chevening Scholarship for Students Worldwide 2025
• University of Oxford Skoll Scholarships 2025 (Fully-funded)
• United Nations Young Professionals Programme 2024
• University of Michigan African Presidential Scholars Program 2024
• Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship Programme 2024
• Yenching Academy Masters Fellowships for International Students 2024

Scholarship Tips

• US Visa Types Fees & Requirements
• 20 Free Social Media Marketing Course
• 30 Best Medical Universities In The US 2024
• Tips To Find And Apply For Scholarships Online
• 30 Best Study Techniques To Try This 2024
• 26 Best Country To Teach English 2024
• 26 Best Free AI Chatbot 2024
• 20 Best Countries To Relocate 2024

Scholarships by Country to Study

• United Kingdom
• United States
• South Africa
• New Zealand
• Netherlands

Scholarships by Category

• Postgraduate
• Undergraduate
• College School
• Entrepreneurs
• Bachelors Degree
• Women Scholarships
• Fully Funded

Scholarships by Country of Origin

• African Students
• Developing Countries

Scholarships by Institution / Company

• Flinders University
• German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
• University of Edinburgh
• The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS)

Scholarships by School

• University of Melbourne
• University of Kent
• University Of Queensland, Australia
• University of Oxford
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Use

Scholarships

• Undergraduate Scholarships
• Masters Scholarships
• MBA Scholarships
• Ph.D Scholarships
• Fellowship Scholarships
• Fully Funded Scholarships
• F1 Visa Interview Questions And Answers
• Scholarship Application Letter
• Letter Of Intent For Scholarship
• Personal Statement For Masters
• Motivation Letter For Scholarship
• Scholarship Acceptance Letter

Other Locations

• Scholarships in UK
• Scholarships in Canada
• Scholarships for Nigerian Students
• Scholarships for African Students
• Study Abroad Community

• Scholarships
• Edu loans Education loans Study Abroad Education Loan
• More Courier transcripts Articles Events
• Phd Scholarships
• Study in Kenya Scholarships

45+ PhD Scholarships, Fellowships and grants for international students in Kenya

Full list of PhD Scholarships, Fellowships and grants for International students in Kenya- eligibility criteria, deadlines, application form, selection process & more!

[Updated 3 days ago] PhD Scholarships for International students in Kenya are below:

• Momeni Iranian Financial Assistance Scholarships, 2024 |
• Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds MD Fellowships 2024 |
• Crivelli Europe Scholarships by UniCredit Foundation 2024 |
• Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds (BIF) PhD Fellowships 2024 |
• John Monash Scholarships 2024 |
• Dissertation Fieldwork Grants 2024 |
• Sanders Prize in the History of Early Modern Philosophy 2024 |
• Horowitz Foundation Grants 2024 |
• CSIRO Alumni Scholarship In Physics 2025 |
• Carlsberg Foundation Internationalisation Fellowships 2024 |
• more scholarships below
• Date posted

CSIRO Alumni Scholarship In Physics 2025

Eligible Degrees:

Funding Type:

Eligible Courses:

Eligible Nationalities:

Scholarship can be taken at:

Crivelli Europe Scholarships by UniCredit Foundation 2024

Get the best abroad education loan at free of cost

WeMakeScholars initiative is supported by the Govt. of India; associated with 10+ public/private banks & NBFCs.

Sub location cannot be blank.

Please confirm

Are you an Indian national?

Please confirm below details

Contact Number:

Email Address:

Please enter the One Time Password (OTP) sent to

John Monash Scholarships 2024

Sanders Prize in the History of Early Modern Philosophy 2024

Horowitz Foundation Grants 2024

Carlsberg Foundation Internationalisation Fellowships 2024

Dissertation Fieldwork Grants 2024

Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds (BIF) PhD Fellowships 2024

Momeni Iranian Financial Assistance Scholarships, 2024

Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds MD Fellowships 2024

Women in Finance Scholarship by Numerix 2024

Roberto Rocca Fellowships 2024

Center for Cyber Safety and Education Certification Scholarship 2024

Croucher Scholarships for Doctoral Study 2024

Facebook Emerging Scholar Program 2023

Dr. Eduard Gubelin Research Scholarship 2024

Roberta Sykes Scholarships 2024

Leakey Foundation Research Grants 2024

Amelia Earhart Fellowship for Women at Zonta International 2024

JN Tata Endowment Loan Scholarship 2024

Our scholarship team will help you with any questions.

Kindly login to comment and ask your questions about PhD Scholarships for International students in Kenya

Momeni Iranian Financial Assistance Scholarships, 2024 is a Partial Funding international scholarship offered by the Momeni Foundation for international students. Students eligible for this scholarship are: Open to applicants of Iranian descent

This scholarship can be taken for pursuing in All subjects offered by the university . 30 Jun is the deadline to send applications for Momeni Iranian Financial Assistance Scholarships, 2024. Any institution across the world. You may apply on Momeni Iranian Financial Assistance Scholarships, 2024 application form .

Check out other international Fellowships and Grants and Scholarships offered by Momeni Foundation

Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds MD Fellowships 2024 is a Partial Funding international scholarship offered by the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds (BIF) for international students. Students eligible for this scholarship are: Open to Germany nationals

This scholarship can be taken for pursuing in Biomedicine. Deadline varies is the deadline to send applications for Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds MD Fellowships 2024. Renowned research laboratories all over the World except their home institution and city.. You may apply on Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds MD Fellowships 2024 application form .

Check out other international Fellowships and Grants and Scholarships offered by Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds (BIF)

Crivelli Europe Scholarships by UniCredit Foundation 2024 is a Partial Funding international scholarship offered by the UniCredit Foundation for international students. Students eligible for this scholarship are: Open to nationals of all countries where UniCredit is present

This scholarship can be taken for pursuing in Economics, Banking or Finance. 15 Nov is the deadline to send applications for Crivelli Europe Scholarships by UniCredit Foundation 2024. Anywhere across the globe . You may apply on Crivelli Europe Scholarships by UniCredit Foundation 2024 application form .

Check out other international Fellowships and Grants and Scholarships offered by UniCredit Foundation

Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds (BIF) PhD Fellowships 2024 is a Partial Funding international scholarship offered by the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds (BIF) for international students. Students eligible for this scholarship are: Open to all nationals

This scholarship can be taken for pursuing in Biomedical research. 01 Oct is the deadline to send applications for Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds (BIF) PhD Fellowships 2024. Any Internationally leading laboratory. You may apply on Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds (BIF) PhD Fellowships 2024 application form .

John Monash Scholarships 2024 is a Partial Funding international scholarship offered by the John Monash foundation for international students. Students eligible for this scholarship are: Open to Australian nationals

This scholarship can be taken for pursuing in All subjects offered by the universities. 01 Jul is the deadline to send applications for John Monash Scholarships 2024. Universities around the world. You may apply on John Monash Scholarships 2024 application form .

Check out other international Fellowships and Grants and Scholarships offered by John Monash foundation

Dissertation Fieldwork Grants 2024 is a Partial Funding international scholarship offered by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for international students. Students eligible for this scholarship are: Open to all nationals

This scholarship can be taken for pursuing in Anthropology. 01 Nov is the deadline to send applications for Dissertation Fieldwork Grants 2024. Any research institution around the World. You may apply on Dissertation Fieldwork Grants 2024 application form .

Check out other international Fellowships and Grants and Scholarships offered by Wenner-Gren Foundation

Sanders Prize in the History of Early Modern Philosophy 2024 is a Partial Funding international scholarship offered by the Marc Sanders Foundation for international students. Students eligible for this scholarship are: Open to all nationalities

This scholarship can be taken for pursuing in History of Early Modern Philosophy. 01 Oct is the deadline to send applications for Sanders Prize in the History of Early Modern Philosophy 2024. Any institutions across the world. You may apply on Sanders Prize in the History of Early Modern Philosophy 2024 application form .

Check out other international Fellowships and Grants and Scholarships offered by Marc Sanders Foundation

Horowitz Foundation Grants 2024 is a Partial Funding international scholarship offered by the Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy for international students. Students eligible for this scholarship are: Open to all nationals

This scholarship can be taken for pursuing in Social Policy. 01 Dec is the deadline to send applications for Horowitz Foundation Grants 2024. Institutions/Universities across the World. You may apply on Horowitz Foundation Grants 2024 application form .

Check out other international Fellowships and Grants and Scholarships offered by Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy

CSIRO Alumni Scholarship In Physics 2025 is a Partial Funding international scholarship offered by the The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) for international students. Students eligible for this scholarship are: Open to all nationalities

This scholarship can be taken for pursuing in Physics and Mathematics. Deadline varies is the deadline to send applications for CSIRO Alumni Scholarship In Physics 2025. Any overseas or interstate institution, such as a university or research establishment of international standing... You may apply on CSIRO Alumni Scholarship In Physics 2025 application form .

Check out other international Fellowships and Grants and Scholarships offered by The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)

Carlsberg Foundation Internationalisation Fellowships 2024 is a Full Funding international scholarship offered by the Carlsberg Foundation for international students. Students eligible for this scholarship are: Open to Denmark nationals

This scholarship can be taken for pursuing in All research fields offered by the Institutions. 01 Oct is the deadline to send applications for Carlsberg Foundation Internationalisation Fellowships 2024. International Research institutions around the World. You may apply on Carlsberg Foundation Internationalisation Fellowships 2024 application form .

Check out other international Fellowships and Grants and Scholarships offered by Carlsberg Foundation

We will help you get Scholarships

Abroad Education loan

Country Based Scholarships

• India Scholarships for PhD students
• USA Scholarships for PhD students
• Canada Scholarships for PhD students
• Australia Scholarships for PhD students
• UK Scholarships for PhD students
• Germany Scholarships for PhD students
• France Scholarships for PhD students
• Italy Scholarships for PhD students
• Sweden Scholarships for PhD students
• Netherlands Scholarships for PhD students
• Japan Scholarships for PhD students
• China Scholarships for PhD students
• Korea, South Scholarships for PhD students
• Saudi Arabia Scholarships for PhD students
• Malaysia Scholarships for PhD students
• Vietnam Scholarships for PhD students
• Iran Scholarships for PhD students

Interest Based Scholarships

• Sports scholarships for PhD students
• Nursing scholarships for PhD students
• Civil Engineering scholarships for PhD students
• Mechanical Engineering scholarships for PhD students
• Film scholarships for PhD students
• Pharmacy scholarships for PhD students
• Medicine scholarships for PhD students
• Law scholarships for PhD students
• History scholarships for PhD students
• Computer science scholarships for PhD students

Natinality Based Scholarships

• Indian scholarships for PhD students
• American scholarships for PhD students
• Canadian scholarships for PhD students
• Australian scholarships for PhD students
• British scholarships for PhD students
• German scholarships for PhD students
• French scholarships for PhD students
• Italian scholarships for PhD students
• Swedish scholarships for PhD students
• Dutch scholarships for PhD students
• Japanese scholarships for PhD students
• Chinese scholarships for PhD students
• South-korean scholarships for PhD students
• Saudi-arabian scholarships for PhD students
• Malaysian scholarships for PhD students
• Vietnamese scholarships for PhD students
• Iranian scholarships for PhD students

Degree Based Scholarships

• High/Secondary School Scholarships in Kenya
• Bachelors Scholarships in Kenya
• Masters Scholarships in Kenya
• PhD Scholarships in Kenya
• Post Doc Scholarships in Kenya
• Diploma Scholarships in Kenya
• Training & Short courses Scholarships in Kenya
• Conferences & Travel Grants Scholarships in Kenya
• Research Fellow/ Scientist Scholarships in Kenya
• MBA Scholarships in Kenya
• Other Scholarships in Kenya
• Medicine (MBBS/ MD) Scholarships in Kenya
• Sports degree Scholarships in Kenya
• Nursing degree Scholarships in Kenya
• Civil Engineering degree Scholarships in Kenya
• Mechanical Engineering degree Scholarships in Kenya
• Film degree Scholarships in Kenya
• Pharmacy degree Scholarships in Kenya
• Medicine degree Scholarships in Kenya
• Law degree Scholarships in Kenya
• History degree Scholarships in Kenya
• Computer science degree Scholarships in Kenya

Nationality Based Scholarships

• Scholarships for indian students in Kenya
• Scholarships for american students in Kenya
• Scholarships for canadian students in Kenya
• Scholarships for australian students in Kenya
• Scholarships for british students in Kenya
• Scholarships for german students in Kenya
• Scholarships for french students in Kenya
• Scholarships for italian students in Kenya
• Scholarships for swedish students in Kenya
• Scholarships for dutch students in Kenya
• Scholarships for japanese students in Kenya
• Scholarships for chinese students in Kenya
• Scholarships for south-korean students in Kenya
• Scholarships for saudi-arabian students in Kenya
• Scholarships for malaysian students in Kenya
• Scholarships for vietnamese students in Kenya
• Scholarships for iranian students in Kenya

Top Banks for Education Loan

Education Loan by Country

Education loan for top Courses

Top Banks for Abroad Education Loan

Education Loan

• List of 100 scholarships you should apply to study in USA
• Asia provide scholarships too!
• The Ultimate guide on applying for scholarships
• Top 10 fully funded scholarships that will cover all your expenses
• 13 Popular Scholarships you could never miss to be in USA
• Top 10 medical schools in the world 2016
• Top 10 affordable business schools around the world
• Study abroad | Egypt for Post Graduation
• Top 10 Reasons to Choose Canada for Higher education
• Students moving to Germany-Dos and don’ts

Important links

• Women Scholarships
• Indian government scholarships
• Fully funded scholarships
• Partial funded scholarships
• Full tuition fee scholarships

The most trusted Education Finance Platform supported by the Government

Enter your registered Email address to login

Modal header

Call for Applications: CARTA PhD Fellowships 2025

The Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA) invites applications for its prestigious PhD Fellowships for the year 2025. CARTA is a collaborative initiative involving eight African universities, four African research institutes, and eight non-African partners. Our mission is to bolster the capacity of African institutions to conduct globally competitive research, with a particular focus on addressing health and development challenges in the region.

CARTA PhD Fellowship

As part of its innovations, CARTA offers a collaborative doctoral training program in public and population health. This program has been developed in response to the great challenges faced by Africa’s institutions of higher education in addressing the training and retention of the next generation of academics in the region. Specifically, CARTA seeks to fund candidates who will be future leaders in their institutions. That is, young, capable, and committed individuals who, in time, will ensure that their universities will be the institutions of choice for future generations of academics and university administrators wishing to make a positive impact on public and population health in Africa.

The multi-disciplinary CARTA PhD fellowship is open to staff members of participating institutions who are interested in conducting their PhD research on topics relevant to the broad fields of public and population health. We welcome applications from any discipline, such as public health, demography, anthropology, communication, and economics, among others, as long as the research question aims to contribute to public and population health issues in Africa. CARTA is committed to gender equity in access to the training programs and governance structure and implements a series of interventions to support the progress of women in academia (see CARTA’s gender position ). Women are therefore particularly encouraged to apply. 

Successful applicants will attend CARTA’s innovative series of Joint Advanced Seminars (JASES) for cohorts of doctoral students admitted and registered in the participating African universities. Both the development and delivery of these courses are jointly led by regional and international experts. The seminars include didactic sessions, discussions, demonstrations, and practice labs. These activities collectively serve to: 

• Expose students to key theories and concepts, seminal readings, and research methods of disciplines relevant to public and population health; 
• Train students in critical research skills; and 
• Build and maintain a network of researchers for scientific collaborations, professional support, and mutually beneficial exchange of scientific resources.

JASes are offered once annually for four years to each cohort and build skills and conceptual depth from year to year. Each JAS runs for 3 to 4 weeks. Specific topics covered in each JAS include the following: 

• JAS-1 (March 2025) builds critical thinking, technical skills, and other core research competencies, and introduces  students to the essential concepts and seminal articles of the disciplines brought together under CARTA 
• JAS-2   (November 2025)  focuses on data management and analysis. Fellows learn to use software packages for qualitative and quantitative data management and analyses. Practice sessions use real research data and current software packages for hands-on training 
• JAS-3   (August 2027)  focuses on data presentation, the doctoral dissertation, and scientific writing and communication skills to facilitate results dissemination and policy engagement 
• JAS-4   (March 2028)  addresses professional development including skills necessary to manage and teach large class sizes, raise and manage research funds, grant writing, and research management.

In 2025, the CARTA program plans to offer up to 15 PhD fellowships and two additional fellowships reserved for staff members of the Somali National University (SNU), Somalia, who will be mentored by one of the CARTA partners, Makerere University, Uganda. The fellowships, which are tenable at the CARTA African universities, include the following benefits:

• The cost of the fellow’s participation in the advanced seminars; 
• A modest monthly stipend; moderate support for research activities; 
• A laptop loaded with relevant software;
• Funds to attend one international conference; and 
• Support to participate in training programs of choice. 

Note : The CARTA fellowships run for a maximum of four years. Fellowships will only cover tuition fees, medical insurance, and travel support for fellows registered at a partner institution different from their own.

Respective African partner institutions need to commit to continue paying fellows’ salaries (or equivalent) as faculty members and to modify their workloads for the fellows, to enable them to fully participate in CARTA-organized activities pertaining to their PhD program and also to concentrate on their PhD studies. The partner institutions will also need to commit to waive the fellows’ fees if they are registered at the institution where they are employed. Fellows are encouraged to seek supplemental funding to cover additional costs of their doctoral program.

Eligible African Institutions

• Makerere University, Uganda
• Moi University, Kenya
• Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria
• University of Ibadan, Nigeria
• Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, Malawi and Associates (through Kamuzu)
• University of Nairobi, Kenya
• University of Rwanda, Rwanda
• University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa (Wits can only nominate staff members who are citizens of an African LMIC outside of South Africa)
• Somali National University, Somalia (through collaboration with Makerere University)
• African Population and Health Research Center, Kenya
• Agincourt Health and Population Unit, South Africa
• Ifakara Health Institute, Tanzania

Eligibility

• A Master’s degree in a relevant field.
• Prior admission into a PhD program is not required for application but awards are contingent on such admission being obtained at one of the participating African universities.
• Applicants for this program  must be full-time teaching or research staff at one of the participating African institutions  and should be committed to contributing towards building capacity at their institutions.
• Applicant’s PhD research proposal must be related to public and population health.
• Fellowships are only open to individuals who have not yet registered for a PhD or are in the very early stages (first year) of the PhD program and are yet to define their research proposal. Fellows seeking support to complete a PhD or secure an additional PhD are not eligible to apply.
• Applicants must commit to participation in all four annual residential Joint Advanced Seminars (JASes), and to engage in inter-seminar activities designed to keep fellows actively engaged and in continual communication with peers and mentors.
• Male applicants must be under the age of 40 years and female applicants under the age 45 years.

Application Procedure

• Contact the CARTA focal person at your institution to discuss your interest and obtain application materials. Application forms may also be downloaded below .
• At this point, applicants are expected to submit their application forms and reference letters by April 15, 2024, to the Focal Persons at partner institutions WITH A COPY TO THE SECRETARIAT ( [email protected] ) . You can access the application here.  
• CARTA partner institutions will nominate candidates who will be invited for the full application process. The institutional selection will take place between April 15 and May 15, 2024 . Institutions must submit a completed University CARTA PhD Fellowships Applications Screening Form by May 15, 2024 .
• Only those who are nominated by their institutions will be invited to submit a full application between June 1 and July 15, 2024 . 

a. The full application includes:

• A full research proposal
• Letter of support from their institution committing to modify the workloads for the fellows, to enable them to fully participate in CARTA-organized activities pertaining to their PhD program and to waive the fellows’ fees if they are registered at the institution where they are employed. 
• Critical review of a scientific article
• Numeracy task 
• Critical thinking task 
• Understanding plagiarism course 
• Basic Health Research Ethics course 

b. Applications will be accepted ONLY through the official portal. Nominated candidates need to make sure to receive an official ID to log in and submit within the time stipulated by the system. No late or incomplete application will be considered under any circumstance.

5. Final fellowship decision, which is independent of the university nomination, will be communicated by the CARTA Secretariat by  November 1, 2024 .

Important Dates

• April 15, 2024: Deadline for submission of initial application materials
• June 1 – July 15, 2024: Full application submission period
• November 1, 2024: Announcement of final fellowship decisions
• March 1, 2025: Commencement of fellowship and in-person JAS1 (3 – 4 weeks)

For more information, contact us at [email protected]

• Our Funders
• Our Partners
• Board of Management
• Secretariat
• Fellows Publications
• Newsletters and Factsheets
• Publications about CARTA
• Reports about CARTA

P.O. Box 10787 – 00100 Nairobi, Kenya [email protected] +254 (20) 400 1000, 266 2244, 266 2255

Connect With Us

We'd love your feedback.

The 2025-26 Competition is now open. Applications must be submitted by the national deadline of October 8, 2024 at 5pm ET.

Current U.S. Student

United States citizens who are currently enrolled in undergraduate or graduate degree programs are eligible to apply.If you are currently enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program at a U.S. college or university, you will apply through that institution, even if you are not currently a resident there. Find the Fulbright Program Adviser on your campus.

U.S. Citizen but not a Student

If you are a U.S. citizen, will hold a bachelor’s degree by the award start date, and do not have a Ph.D. degree, then you are eligible to apply. Non-enrolled applicants should have relatively limited professional experience in the fields (typically 7 years or less) in which they are applying. Candidates with more experience should consider applying for the Fulbright Scholar Program .

The Getting Started page will provide information on eligibility and next steps.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program welcomes applications in the creative and performing arts. Arts candidates for the U.S. Student Program should have relatively limited professional experience in the fields (typically 7 years or less) in which they are applying. Artists with more experience should consider applying for the Fulbright Scholar Program .

Creative & Performing Arts projects fall under the Study/Research grant category and are available in all countries where Study/Research grants are offered.

U.S. Professor/Administrator

If you are a U.S. citizen and a professor or administrator at a U.S. institution and are interested in applying for a Fulbright Scholar Award, you will need to apply through fulbrightscholars.org .

To support your students in applying for a U.S. Student Program award, please connect with the Fulbright Program Adviser at your institution.

Non U.S. Citizens

If you are a non-U.S. citizen interested in applying for a Fulbright Award to the United States, you will need to apply through the Fulbright Commission or U.S. Embassy in your home country. Find out more information on the Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program or Fulbright Foreign Student Program .

• East Asia-Pacific
• Europe & Eurasia
• Middle East & North Africa
• South and Central Asia
• Sub-Saharan Africa
• Western Hemisphere

Open Study/Research Award

Specialized Grant Types

• Science/Public Health
• Environmental

Award Profile

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program in Kenya aims to strengthen educational and cultural relationships between the United States and Kenya. 

Grant Length

Grant period.

Fulbright grants will begin between August 2025 and March 2026, subject to the approval of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi.

Orientation

As a condition of their grants, all grantees may be required to participate in a Pre-Departure Orientation during the summer of 2025.

Candidate Profile

The candidate must be committed to carry the grant through to completion. They should also be open to help bridge a working relationship between their host institution and the Embassy during the duration of their grant.

What is life like for Fulbrighters in the host country?

Previous Fulbright grantees have had a fairly smooth time while on their programs in Kenya. The capital city of Nairobi is cosmopolitan, always buzzing and very modern. Other towns away from the City are vibrant too but at a lower scale. The Embassy finds ways to keep Fulbright grantees involved in networking events and other activities of relevance. Fulbright grantees typically arrange their own housing, medical services access, access to funds/cash needs without requiring much help from the embassy. Striking the right balance in their relationships with host institutions and obtaining a study permit for those who require it are some of the most challenging issues some grantees have pointed out.

Eligibility

Degree level of applicant, foreign language proficiency.

Additional Information: Although English is one of the two official languages of Kenya, Kiswahili and/or other languages may be useful outside of Nairobi.

Fulbright Proposal Types

Affiliation.

It is the applicant’s responsibility to secure affiliation with an appropriate host institution. It is strongly recommended that applicants identify appropriate host institutions for their projects and that they include affiliation letters with their Fulbright applications. Fulbright grantees affiliate with a university department as graduate students for non-credit coursework, or as research associates who may teach in a classroom at the department’s discretion. Affiliations with Kenyan government ministries or research institutions are also acceptable.

Affiliation Fees/Tuition

Award benefits.

• A stipend broadly based on the cost of living in the host country. These funds may be used by the grantee to support housing, meals, and incidental costs during the grant period.
• International travel benefits
• Accident & sickness health benefits
• 24/7 mental health support line for urgent and non-urgent situations
• 12 months of non-competitive eligibility (NCE) hiring status within the federal government

Stipend Amount This is an estimated amount and is subject to change. The financial terms of the grant will be confirmed in the grant document issued after selection.

One-time allowances this is an estimated amount and is subject to change. the financial terms of the grant will be confirmed in the grant document issued after selection..

• Excess baggage fees
• Research/Materials allowance
• Settling in allowance

Additional Grant Benefits

• Diplomatic pouch

Estimated Cost of Living Consider using cost of living comparison websites to gain a better understanding of the potential costs in your host country.

The grant amount is budgeted to cover the Fulbrighter's housing, transportation, utilities, settling-in costs, and registration/visa fees.

Fulbright Program Management Contact

Fulbright commission/u.s. embassy website, special considerations.

Many Kenyan universities have constituent colleges outside of Nairobi with acute capacity-building needs. To help alleviate these concerns, candidates are strongly encouraged to consider affiliations with these colleges wherever possible. However, candidates should note that most of these constituent colleges lack sufficient infrastructure, meaning that office space and housing might be difficult to find on campus.

Research Clearance

The website linked  here details the process for obtaining a research permit. It is important to start early and work with the host institution to obtain the documentation needed to begin research.

Fulbright Commission/U.S. Embassy Contact

Call for Proposals

Access all the proposals from AERC and network members. Our objective is to strengthen local capacity for conducting independent, rigorous inquiry into problems pertinent to the management of Sub-Saharan African economies.

Call for Policy Comments for Food Policy

Call for Proposals for Review Papers for Food Policy

Call for Expression of Interest 2024: Awards Scheme

Call for Proposals for Africa – Europe Research Partnership

Calls for proposals – TWAS-DFG Cooperation Visits Programme – SSA

Twas-dfg cooperation visits programme – mena.

• Report Vulnerbility
• Whistleblowing
• Privacy Terms

© 2024 All Rights Reserved

Faculty of Agriculture

• Agricultural Economics
• Food Science, Nutrition & Technology
• Land Resource Management & Agricultural Technology
• Plant Science & Crop Protection

Faculty of Built Environment

• Art and Design
• Architecture
• Real Estate, Construction Management & Quantity Surveying
• Urban and Regional Planning

FACULTY OF BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

• Business Administration
• Finance and Accounting
• Management Science and Project Planning

FACULTY OF EDUCATION

• Educational Management, Policy and Curriculum Studies
• Educational Communication and Pedagogical Studies
• Physical Education and Sport
• Educational Foundations
• Educational and Distance Studies
• FACULTY OF LAW

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

• Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
• Civil and Construction Engineering
• Electrical and Information Engineering
• Environmental and Biosystems Engineering
• Geospatial and Space Technology.

FACULTY OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

• Anthropology, Gender and African Studies
• Diplomacy and International Studies
• Economics and Development Studies
• Geography, Population and Environmental Studies
• History and Archaeology
• Journalism and Mass Communication
• Library and Information Science
• Linguistics and Languages
• Philosophy and Religious Studies
• Political Science and Public Administration
• Sociology, Social Work and African Women Studies

FACULTY OF HEALTH SCIENCES

• Dental sciences
• Nursing Sciences
• Public and Global Health
• Human Anatomy & Physiology
• Clinical Medicine & Therapeutics
• Paediatrics and Child Health
• Obstetrics & Gynecology
• Human Pathology
• Diagnostic Imaging & Radiation Medicine
• Medical Microbiology and Immunology
• Ophthalmology

FACULTY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

• Computing and Informatics
• Mathematics
• Earth & Climate Science
• Biochemistry

FACULTY OF VETERINARY MEDICINE

• Public Health,Pharmacology & Toxicology
• Veterinary Anatomy & Physiology
• Animal Production
• Clinical Studies
• Veterinary Pathology, Microbiology & Parasitology

RESEARCH INSTITUTES

• Wangari Maathai Institute for Peace and Environmental Studies
• Institute of Nuclear Science & Technology
• The Institute for Climate Change and Adaptation
• Kenya Aids Vaccine Institute
• Institute of Diplomacy and International Studies
• Institute of Anthropology, Gender and African Studies
• Institute of Tropical & Infectious Diseases
• East African Kidney Institute
• Population Studies and Research Institute
• Institute for Development Studies
• Confucius institute

RESEARCH CENTRES

• African Women's Studies Centre
• Center for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis (CEMA)
• Centre For Biotechnology & Bioinformatics
• Centre for Advanced Studies in Environmental Law & Policy
• Centre for Translation and Interpretation
• Virtual Tour
• Data Privacy

Meet Bridget Mutuma, the only Kenyan Scientist awarded ARISE Fellowship of Over Kshs. 70M

Meet Bridget Mutuma, the only Kenyan Scientist awarded ARISE Fellowship

Bridget Mutuma, a Research Associate at the Department of Chemistry was awarded the Africa Research Initiative for Scientific Excellence (ARISE)  of Over  Kshs. 70M  to be implemented in the next five years. The ARISE grant is funded by the Eurpoean Commussion through the African Academy of Sciences in partnership with the African Union. 

In an exclusive Interview with Corporate Affairs, Bridget revealed that she is setting up a lab at the Department of Chemistry, she revealed, ‘a two-stage chemical vapor reactor, a UV-visible spectrophotometer, and a thermal gravimetric analyzer, among others. We are building human capacity by training two undergraduate students, two masters’ students, and two doctorate students.’

The Research Project that Dr. Mutuma is leading is titled, ‘From Plastic waste to low-cost carbon nano-reactors for use in monitoring environmental pollutants and nano- plastics.’

The nano-plastics project aims to assess the distribution of micro-plastics and nano-plastics from selected cities and coastal ecosystems in Kenya. The plastics and micro-plastics from the selected areas will be converted into low-cost carbon nanomaterials using environmentally friendly routes. The utilization of plastic waste is an economical way of waste recycling whilst producing value-added materials for sustainable consumption of materials. The use of these carbon nanomaterials (nano-reactors) as catalysts will be applied in the degradation of organic pollutants and nano-plastics providing a platform for decreasing plastic pollution in the cities. The applied holistic strategy will create job opportunities as well as human capacity building through nanotechnology training of postgraduate students. The nanomaterials generated will also be applied in the sensor technology to detect pollutants in the air thus addressing key global environmental challenges. The project will contribute to the transformation of Africa into a knowledge-based and innovation-led continent.

Dr. Mutuma has extensive postdoctoral experience in nanomaterials, sensor technology and energy storage systems. Her research interest is in the development of plastic waste-derived carbon nanomaterials/core-shell nanostructures for use in gas sensors, photocatalysis, energy storage and conversion systems. Her research findings have been published in over 32 peer-reviewed articles and presented in several national and international conferences.

Dr Mutuma aspires to be a leading scientist in the area of sensor technology, photocatalysis and solar energy conversion as she seeks to provide solutions for mitigating plastic and air pollution through innovation and infrastructure development in Africa.

Read related article

Applying for a Doctoral Program

Start Your Application

Manage Your Application

A Doctorate is the highest academic degree awarded by universities in most fields of study. It involves several years of rigorous research, culminating in a dissertation that contributes new knowledge to the field. Doctoral candidates work closely with a faculty advisor to explore and answer complex questions, often pushing the boundaries of what is known.

Applying to a doctoral program is like applying for a job. This process requires more diligence and patience than applying for a Master’s degree. To stand out from a competitive pool of candidates, you must prepare a strong application that includes your academic achievements, any related research experience, and a clear statement of your research interests and goals. Be sure to demonstrate your passion, fit for the program, and your interest in RIT.

Explore our doctoral programs

How to Apply for a Doctoral Program

For details on the exact application requirements for your program, visit the Application Details section on your degree page and thoroughly review the graduate application instructions page .

• Most doctoral programs have an application deadline of January 15 and admit to Fall terms only, but be sure to verify the application deadline for your program and start terms before applying. Many programs will accept applications on a rolling basis after the priority deadline has passed until all spots are filled. For tips on completing your application, view our Ph.D. Application 101 recording . 
• Early applicants may see a “Hold for Program Deadline/Review Date” on the checklist in their portal. This an administrative hold that prevents applications from going for review until after December 15th. You will be notified when your file is sent to the review committee by email.
• Choose the Right Doctoral Program:  Review individual doctoral program pages carefully to learn the curriculum, research focus areas, facility profiles, and facilities to determine if the program is a good fit for you and to ensure that your interests and background align with the degree. The application will allow you to enter up to three choices in order of preference.
• Research Your Faculty Interests: Identify faculty members whose research aligns with your interests. Matching your research area with potential advisors strengthens your application and helps ensure a good fit. It is not necessary to secure a faculty advisor in order to submit your application. Learn more about researching faculty and areas of interest
• Craft Your Statement of Purpose for Research: This requirement should clearly convey your research interests, indicate what faculty member(s) you would like to work with, your experience, and why you want to pursue a doctorate at RIT. Each program may have specific guidelines, so be sure to address them. There is no minimum or maximum length. If you listed more than one program choice in your application it is suggested that you prepare separate statements for each program (doctoral and/or master’s). You may upload all three at the time you submit your application, or wait for a decision on your first choice program.  View program-specific criteria
• Choose Strong References: Make sure you choose the right people to submit letters of recommendation and give them plenty of time so they can prepare their support letter in advance. References should speak to your ability and promise to become a successful independent researcher. Professors, research supervisors, or professional mentors make ideal choices.
• Update Your CV/Resume: Ensure your CV or resume is current and highlights relevant academic achievements, research experience, publications, and professional skills.
• Verify Admission Requirements: Double-check all admission requirements and application details for your chosen program. Ensure you have all necessary materials, including transcripts, test scores, and any additional documents. You do not need to submit financial documents as part of your doctoral application. Focus on preparing a strong academic and research-focused application to showcase your qualifications and readiness for doctoral study.
• Understand Decision Timing: The review process typically starts in late January and may take several weeks to a few months. Be patient as the committee evaluates your application and aligns faculty advisors with candidates in matching research areas where funding is available. You may be invited to interview if faculty would like to know more about you. Interviews are not required. Admission decisions are first communicated in mid-March and continue until the class is full. If you are not admitted to your first choice program, allow additional time for review for second and third choices. RIT does not simultaneously review for multiple programs. 
• Replying to an Offer of Admission: Accepted candidates must respond to their doctoral degree offers by April 15 or the date indicated on your admit letter and in their portal. If you decide to accept your offer, you are expected to honor your commitment to enroll at RIT as a doctoral student. This ensures a smooth transition into your program and reflects your professionalism and reliability. 

Researching Faculty Advisors and/or Research Interest Areas

Identifying a potential faculty research advisor(s) and research interest areas in your Statement of Purpose for Research is important. It is not necessary to secure a faculty advisor(s) in order to submit your application.

Here are avenues for your research:

Align Research Interests

Ensure your research interests align with those of potential advisors. This alignment is crucial for a productive and supportive mentoring relationship. Review faculty members' recent publications and current projects to understand their focus areas. Visit the program page to learn about the current research for your program.

Use RIT’s “Find an Expert” Tool

Utilize RIT’s Find an Expert tool to identify faculty members with specific expertise. This resource can help you narrow down potential advisors based on your research interests. You may also want to use Google Scholar and search for RIT faculty.

Explore RIT’s Faculty Directory

Start by exploring the RIT Faculty Directory to find faculty members whose research aligns with your interests. This directory provides detailed profiles, including research areas, publications, and contact information.

Explore our Research Centers and Institutes:

RIT is home to a diverse array of research centers and institutes that drive innovation across various fields. These centers provide state-of-the-art facilities and collaborative environments to support groundbreaking research. Explore our extensive list of research centers and institutes

Reach Out to Potential Advisors

Once you’ve identified potential advisors, you may choose to reach out to them with a well-crafted email. This is not required but encouraged. Introduce yourself, briefly explain your research interests, and express why you’re interested in their work. Attach your CV and any relevant documents. Be respectful of their time and follow up if you don’t hear back within a couple of weeks. Do pay attention if it is documented that a faculty advisor is not taking on new students.

Funding Sources for Doctoral Students

Doctoral students typically receive full tuition and an RIT Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA) or Graduate Teaching Assistantship (GTA) that will pay a stipend for the academic year. There is not a separate application process for scholarship and assistantship consideration

Assistantships and Stipends

Research and teaching assistantships provide valuable experience and come with stipends that help cover living expenses during the school year, such as room and board. 

Summer Support Some programs are able to offer stipend support during the summer. Eligibility for summer funding will be determined by the graduate advisor and/or program director. 

Funding Throughout Program Funding throughout your doctoral program will depend on your satisfactory academic and research performance. Students are expected to fulfill their assistantship duties responsibly and make satisfactory progress towards their degree. It is expected that starting your second year, funding will be provided from your college either through a Teaching Assistantship or by your graduate advisor from external funds.

Student Fees Full-time students are responsible for both Student Activity and Student Health Services fees. In addition, RIT expects that all students will have health care insurance. Learn more about student fees

Timing and Distribution of Stipends

Graduate Research Assistants and Graduate Teaching Assistants receive a semi-monthly stipend payment starting a few weeks after the initial enrollment term. For U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents, no taxes are withheld at the time the payment is made. However, students are encouraged to file estimated tax payments quarterly. Detailed information about the timing and distribution of stipends will be provided by your academic department. 

Financial Document Submission

Doctoral applicants are not required to submit financial documents as part of the application process. Focus on showcasing your academic and research potential without the added stress of financial documentation. If you are admitted, you will receive funding notification with your admission offer and international students who require a student visa will be assisted through the I-20 process.

Student Support and Community

Doctoral Student Association

The Doctoral Student Association provides an inviting environment that brings students together to encourage collaborative work. Doctorate students collaborate to produce high-quality journal publications and conference presentations in a friendly and encouraging environment. The group also provides information about professional and social activities to help produce well-rounded graduate students.

Learn more about the Doctoral Student Association

RIT Graduate School

The RIT Graduate School acts as a central hub, enhancing the academic journey for graduate students by cultivating a diverse scholarly community and offering robust professional development programs. This supportive environment, backed by dedicated faculty and staff, empowers students to excel in their research, scholarship, and creative endeavors.

Learn more about the RIT Graduate School

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a doctorate and a master’s degree?

Understanding the differences between a doctorate (Ph.D.) and a master's (M.S.) degree program is crucial in making an informed decision. While a master's program typically focuses on advancing your knowledge and skills in a specific area, a doctorate emphasizes original research and developing new theories or applications.

Can I go from a Bachelor’s degree to a Doctorate? Do I need a Master’s degree first?

Yes, you can go directly from a Bachelor's degree (BS) to a Doctorate program. You are not required to get a master’s degree before pursuing a Doctorate. This pathway can be a strategic choice depending on your career goals and readiness for advanced research. 

May I have an application fee waiver?

The $65 application fee covers the management and processing of your record and admission materials. If you are unable to pay our application fee due to financial hardship, we encourage you to carefully consider the expenses associated with graduate study before applying.

Is there a set GPA requirement for being considered for a doctoral program at RIT?

Admitted doctoral students typically have a GPA of 3.0 or above. If it is lower, you will not necessarily be eliminated from consideration. You are welcome to apply. The Admissions Committee will consider your complete application when making a decision.

Do I need to provide GRE or GMAT scores ?

Requirements vary by program. Refer to your doctoral program page or the  deadlines and requirements  table for details. For programs that require test scores, we do not state minimum GRE or GMAT scores. Official scores should be sent to RIT directly from the testing agency using Institute code 2760.

What are the English language test score requirements? As an international student do I need to submit scores?

An official score report for the TOEFL, IELTS Academic, PTE Academic exam, or  RIT English Language Proficiency Test  is required of all international applicants who are not eligible for a waiver. We do not accept letters from your college or university indicating "English proficiency" or letters indicating courses were taught in English in place of official English language test scores. We do not accept Duolingo scores. See the “English Language Test Requirements” section in the  Application Materials  section of the  Application Instructions  for full details.

Do I need to have authored research papers to apply for admission to a doctoral degree?

No, you do not need published research papers to apply for a doctoral degree. A majority of admitted students do not have prior experience authoring research papers. However, admission to a doctoral degree is very competitive, and having published research papers helps strengthen your application.

How many students apply for doctoral study, and how many are admitted?

Admission to an RIT doctoral program is highly competitive. The number of applications received and the number of fully funded opportunities are limited and vary from year to year and by program.

Will the stipend fully cover living costs in the US?

The stipend should cover modest living expenses (housing and food), fees (student activity fee and health services fee), and costs for books, supplies, and some personal expenses. However, each student differs in their preferred living styles and their relative expenses. Doctoral students are permitted to take on other part-time employment so long as it does not interfere with their doctoral work (international students are only able to work on campus, for a total of 20 hours per week including their research positions). On-campus opportunities can be found through Career Connect .

Do doctoral students need to have personal finances available upon arriving at RIT?

Though our Ph.D. is fully funded, students do need to have their own funds available for travel and arrival in the US and to get settled in Rochester immediately upon entering the program. Please be sure to keep this in mind as you consider applying and your finances. If admitted, your first payment/stipend would not be until a few weeks into the program, so you will need to have a foundation of funds available for housing and other living expenses before that.

Is funding throughout the program guaranteed?

Your full tuition and assistantship stipend responsibilities will be determined by your graduate advisor and/or program director. It is our expectation that you will fulfill your duties responsibly and make satisfactory progress towards your degree. Funding in future years will depend on your satisfactory academic and research performance. It is expected that starting your second year, funding will be provided from your college either through a Teaching Assistantship or by your graduate advisor from external funds.

Our team is here to help you as you apply to RIT's doctoral programs. Do not hesitate to reach out if you have questions or need assistance.

Contact Your Admissions Counselor

Email  [email protected] to be connected with your admissions counselor

Chat with Us

For general questions about RIT or applying to one of our doctoral programs, use our live chat or search your question in the chatbot.

Request an Appointment or Schedule a Campus Visit

An in-person visit or virtual meeting with an admissions counselor will provide a personalized experience that suits your needs.