Careers
Training
As an established major research centre, we aim to produce a cadre of researchers from Kenya and East Africa who are internationally competitive in developing and leading sustainable research programmes throughout the region. To do this we are:
Targeted training through taught course Masters has proved to be important in providing a kick start for those progressing to PhDs. We identify appropriate candidates and academic sponsors within the Programme, who apply for Masters fellowships from the Wellcome Trust and other funders.
Not all potential researchers will pursue a taught course masters and not all Masters training is preparation for a PhD. In some areas e-learning offers a suitable approach, particularly for the key cadre of staff providing support and management for research groups. We currently offer financial and intellectual support for distance learning Masters to selected individuals who are already working within the Programme.
Recently we have introduced a limited number of core-funded PhD studentships within the Programme, which are applied for by principal investigators associated with the Programme.
We can provide structured PhD training to East African students which will cover three to four years on average. The Programme has been a designated Open University (OU) sponsoring establishment since 2002 and has recently been approved as an Affiliated Research Centre (ARC) of the OU.
PhD training is carried out according to the Programme's own procedures which lay out the provision for registration, upgrading, annual reporting, supervision, third-party monitoring, student representation etc.
Our supervisory capacity draws on our extensive network of regional and international collaborators. Over the last five years the Programme has registered 31 PhD students and 20 MSc students.
A massive gap in current international approaches to building research capacity is the lack of emphasis on post doctoral support. Gaining a PhD is the beginning rather the end of research training. The next five to ten years are critical in determining the eventual career path of researchers. During this period having mentorship and protected time are vital.
Many of our PhD trainees will move to other institutions at the post-doc stage, both within Kenya and elsewhere. However, our priority is to retain a cadre of candidates judged competitive enough to apply for training fellowships, the next stage on the way to an independent research career.