For six consecutive times, the Embassy of the Republic of Rwanda in Sweden in collaboration with UR-Sweden Programme organized the Science Day event. The recurrent event brought together recent PhD graduates and students to present the community impact of their research and talk about their PhD training experience in Sweden.
Dr Florence Uwamahoro kicked off the Research presentations in the science day. In her research “Banana Xanthomonas wilt & potato bacterial wilt in Rwanda” Florence provides good practices against potato & banana diseases in Rwanda to help farmers secure food and income
Florence was followed by Dr Judith Mukamurigo who presented her research topic “Quality of intrapartum care in Rwanda: Management & Women's experiences". Her research proposes strategies to improve the health system in terms of maternal health care especially around childbirth in Rwanda.
Dr Florence (L) and Dr Judith presenting during Science day
The science day event also featured presentations by Dr Chantal Mutimukwe along with Solange Mukamurenzi who made presentations in e-Government field. Mutimukwe presented her research findings on information privacy protection practices from e-Government users while Mukamurenzi took the audience through Government service Evaluation in a broad perspective in Rwanda
Solange (L) and Dr Chantal made presentations on e-Government in Rwanda
Our PhD students also made presentations respectively on Multi-resolution earth observation data for urbanization monitoring & environmental impact analysis by Theodomir Mugiraneza while Parfait Yongabo presented on the role of research Management and innovation uptake. Yongabo noted that good policies should be coupled with implementation capacity and provision of related tools and instruments to ensure good results. He also rated the Triple Helix Model: University-Industry and Government to be an effective model in the Rwandan context.
Theodomir (L) and Parfait also made presentations in science day
Speaking on the occasion, H.E Christine Nkulikiyinka, the Ambassador of the Republic of Rwanda to the Nordic countries expressed her satisfaction about the impact of research presented for the community benefit. Nkulikiyinka who spearheaded Science Day events by convening Rwanda PhD graduates and students in Sweden noted that the only way for research to be impactful is to ensure that they are disseminated to beneficiaries.
In his remarks, Raymond Ndikumana noted that the research impact discussion is gradually gaining momentum thanks to forums such as science day. Ndikumana who serves as the Overall Coordinator of UR Sweden Programme added that beyond the number of PhD graduates, there is impactful research that are being carried out to respond to community needs.
“Topics that are being tackled relate to the context of Rwanda with an emphasis towards the development of the nation and ultimately contributing to eradication of poverty,” He said
Amb. Christine and Raymond made few remarks during science day
The science day was also an occasion to reflect on the 67 PhD graduates in total produced through the bilateral collaboration between Rwanda and Sweden under the coordination of UR-Sweden Programme. The Collaboration is gearing towards a five year new phase which is expected to enroll 80 PhD candidates with substantial investment in ICT and research environment.