Makerere University’s Directorate of Graduate Training has conducted a three-day workshop to equip senior lecturers with advanced skills in the Philosophy of Methods, aiming to strengthen research capacity and support the recently approved PhD-by-research curriculum.
The workshop, held at Level 4 Conference Hall in the Senate Building, brought together lecturers from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Education and External Studies, and Makerere University Business School.
Prof. Julius Kikooma, Director of Graduate Training, opened the workshop by highlighting its purpose. “The teaching of Philosophy of Methods gives all participants the fundamentals to extend knowledge to other learners, hence its importance in upholding the Makerere University values,” he said.
He urged participants to take an active role in mentoring PhD students as the university implements the new PhD-by-research curriculum. “To holistically implement the senate-approved PhD curriculum, we are coordinating capacity building trainings of all stakeholders in a structured approach with different units of the University,” he added.
Dr. Dickson Kanakulya emphasized the importance of consistent and philosophically grounded research in solving Africa’s complex challenges. “Lasting solutions to societal issues can only be got through training such as Philosophy of Methods, where researchers come up with new models for societal solutions,” he said.
Dr. Kanakulya noted that Makerere remains one of Africa’s top research institutions and underlined the broader impact of PhD research. “Research has shown that the higher the number of PhD researchers in any given country, the higher the levels of development of that country, e.g., the USA and China,” he said.
He added that the training helps researchers generate new concepts and question existing assumptions. “Philosophy of Methods is meant to bring out philosophical generation of concepts, theories and ideas,” he said.
Dr. Kanakulya also called for integrating philosophical thinking into national initiatives. “For a better rollout of the Parish Development Model, we need implementers to be ethical,” he said, stressing the ethical dimension of research methods.
Prof. Sulait Tumwiine, Associate Dean at the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research at MUBS, said the training helps scholars stay relevant amid evolving technologies. “As professors, we need to understand how we leverage on what comes up, so that it does not take our space, but also appreciate how we can support growth of knowledge,” he said.
Dr. Jim Spire Ssentongo explained that philosophy promotes critical inquiry. “Philosophy is the basis of understanding what knowledge is and how it is arrived at,” he said. He emphasized its role in all academic disciplines, including mathematics and physics.
Prof. Joseph Ntaayi from MUBS noted that philosophy sharpens a researcher’s understanding of knowledge creation. “Ontological and epistemological questions that lead to good research design methods can only be answered by this training,” he said.
Dr. Robert Kakuru, a lecturer from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, added that the training enables graduate students and supervisors to make informed methodological choices. “Without this training, one cannot answer why they use a specific research approach,” he said.
The training was supported by the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA) and forms part of Makerere’s broader effort to promote research excellence and intellectual rigor among its graduate educators.
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