Kibabii University’s philosophy, vision and mission demonstrate the importance placed upon research and related activities in the University. As a matter of fact, one of the major functions of the University is to “participate in the research, transmission and preservation and enhancement of knowledge and to stimulate the intellect participation of staff and students in the economic, social, cultural, scientific and technological development of society”. The University endeavors to achieve this goal, through promotion of the role of the University as a primary source of research and innovation through strategic partnerships, training, mentorship, and community outreach programs anchored on a solid foundation of research culture in the University.
To actualize this broad vision, the University embarked, in the last two years, on establishing the necessary structures to anchor research and innovation culture in the University. These included the establishment of the Directorate of Research, Consultancy and Extension within the new Division of Planning, Partnerships, Research and Innovation with a clear mandate; to establish a framework for quality research, develop and sustain research and publication culture, implement research findings, and establish linkages and partnerships with local and international partner institutions to facilitate research and innovation activities.
To achieve these objectives, the University has endeavored to put in place the necessary policies and guidelines, including:
- Prioritized staff capacity building through training in grant proposal writing, project management, and scientific writing and publication and attendance of international conferences and workshops.
- Entered into strategic research and innovation collaborations and partnerships both locally and internationally.
- Putting up and incrementally equipping its newly built state of the art laboratories and workshops to aid training, research and innovation.
- Equipping and enhancing staff skills by setting aside some funds to support staff to attend and present their research findings in international conferences.
- Setting aside funds to support one (1) internally funded research project. This staff have competitively applied for the internally funded research project and a team has won the funds amounting to Kshs. 300,000.00 (Three Hundred Thousand Kenyan Shillings).
These efforts are beginning to bear fruits as evidenced by the number of proposals that have been submitted for funding by the staff. In the financial year 2017/18, the University has;
- Participated in a number of calls for research proposals, and for the first time landed two major research funding from the European Union and the National Research Fund (NRF) to a tune of more than 70 million (Seventy Million Kenyan Shillings). Greater part of this money will go into funding the establishment of Kibabii University as an Information Communication and Technology (ICT) Hub which will certainly put Kibabii University in the league of global centres of excellence in ICT.
- Increased the number of graduate students getting scholarships for their research projects. Recently twenty (20) proposals were submitted for Multidisciplinary research call by staff, twenty six (26) proposals by masters and sixteen (16) proposals by PhD students were submitted to NRF for funding. These numbers are un-doubtfully encouraging from a young but vibrant institution like Kibabii University.
- Established collaborative and joint research work through the AHEAD EU funded Research Project. The AHEAD Research project focuses on establishing an Innovation Hub for capacity building.
As a young University, the issues of physical and human resources remain a challenge, but we cannot afford to sit and wait. It is our hope that going forward, the research and innovation culture that has been embraced in the University will find its roots and become one of the cornerstones in the realization of Kenya’s Vision 2030, SDGs and the Africa Agenda 2063. The University is currently repositioning herself to embark on contributing towards the realization of the National “Big 4” Agenda. As a University, we believe that future socioeconomic development of this country lies in quality research and innovation.
