Approved Research This page provides a searchable list of all research protocols that have been reviewed and approved by the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology(UNCST).
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Name Title Nationality Approval Date Expiry Date Field of Science/Classification Trial Type Research Type  
Mudarshiru Bbuye
ID: UNCST-2025-R019080
EXPLORING THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN AIR QUALITY AND THE BURDEN OF RESPIRATORY TRACT INFECTIONS IN KAMPALA, UGANDA
REFNo: HS6603ES

General objective To explore the impact of ambient air pollution on the incidence, prevalence, and severity of respiratory tract infections, and the extent of enforcement of air quality control policies and regulations in Kampala, Uganda, a low-resourced urban setting Specific Objectives 1.To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to quantify the association between ambient air pollution and respiratory tract infections in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). 2. To characterise the spatial variation in ambient PM2.5 exposure and its correlation with respiratory tract infection health effect among sub-populations in Kampala, Uganda 3.To determine the effect of air quality policies and regulations on the long-term ambient PM2.5 levels and the respiratory tract infections health effects in Kampala, Uganda. 4. To explore the limitations of adaptation and enforcement of air pollution control policies and regulations to reduce the ambient air pollution health effects in Kampala, Uganda.
Uganda 2025-10-24 17:34:12 2028-10-24 Medical and Health Sciences Non-Clinical Trial Degree Award
Doreen Kirungi
ID: UNCST-2025-R019078
AN EXPLORATION OF THE POTENTIAL OF DIGITAL NOMADS AS A VIABLE MARKET SEGMENT FOR UGANDA: A CASE STUDY OF SOUTHWESTERN UGANDA
REFNo: SS4069ES

1. To profile digital nomads in South Western Uganda. 2. To assess the availability, quality, and accessibility of services and facilities offered in Southwestern Uganda. 3. To design a framework for creating awareness about digital nomads as a viable market segment in southwestern Uganda.
Uganda 2025-09-12 16:41:54 2028-09-12 Social Science and Humanities Non-Clinical Trial Degree Award
Denis Collon Akwar
ID: UNCST-2025-R019046
Student Success in Online Academic Programs: A Case of Higher Education Institutions in Uganda
REFNo: SS4612ES

The study is intended to explore students’ success in online programs at higher education institutions in Uganda. It will be guided by the following research questions:
1. What factors impact students' success in online academic programs?
2. What is the effect of different pedagogical techniques on student success in online academic programs?
3. What perceptions do students and course instructors have on student success in online academic programs?
Uganda 2025-12-22 15:35:35 2028-12-22 Social Science and Humanities Non-Clinical Trial Degree Award
Ibrahim Adabara
ID: UNCST-2025-R019039
AGENTIC AI FOR CYBERSECURITY: A FRAMEWORK FOR THE DESIGN AND GOVERNANCE OF RESILIENT AUTONOMOUS DEFENSE SYSTEMS
REFNo: SIR547ES

1.3 Main Objective

The primary objective of this research is to construct a theoretically grounded and ethically aligned framework for conceptualizing, simulating, evaluating, and governing AAI systems in cybersecurity. The framework will serve as a strategic model for autonomous defensive agents, focusing on secure, transparent, and accountable operation in adversarial environments, in alignment with legal and normative expectations.

1.4 Specific Objectives

i. To develop a reference model for agentic AI systems integrating autonomy, ethical responsiveness, and adaptive reasoning by synthesizing existing literature and formalizing the framework within the first phase of the study.

ii. To design and implement a simulation-based methodology that models adversarial threat scenarios and tests agentic AI responses within a defined experimental period, using performance and ethical indicators as measurable outputs.

iii. To construct a multi-criteria evaluation framework that defines and measures agentic system performance in terms of transparency, latency, proportionality, and normative alignment, validated through simulated test cases in the second phase.

iv. To propose and validate a governance and ethical oversight model for agentic AI deployment, incorporating regulatory review, stakeholder auditability, and normative safeguards by the final phase of the project, following empirical evaluation.
Nigeria 2025-09-17 11:18:20 2028-09-17 Engineering and Technology Non-Clinical Trial Degree Award
Shevan Nyamwiza
ID: UNCST-2025-R019014
NGO ACTIVITIES AND GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE IN RWAMWANJA REFUGEE SETTLEMENT, KAMWENGE DISTRICT, UGANDA
REFNo: SS4660ES

i.To assess the role of advocacy on Gender Based Violence in Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement in Kamwenge District. ii.To examine the effect of humanitarian services on Gender Based Violence in Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement in Kamwenge District. iii.To establish the influence of capacity building on Gender Based Violence in Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement in Kamwenge District.
Uganda 2025-12-18 17:42:15 2028-12-18 Social Science and Humanities Non-Clinical Trial Degree Award
Naomi Nabami
ID: UNCST-2025-R018998
Women vendors: A history of female commercial activities across the Uganda-Congo border during the 20th century.
REFNo: SS4964ES

The first objective of this project is to contribute to women’s empowerment in the subregion by looking at their historical trajectory. It will also allow for historicizing ICBT between the DRC and Uganda, recentering female agency, and bringing in the Congolese perspective. The project fills in an important blank spot in our historical understanding of the Uganda-Congo border’s economic development by connecting the precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial contexts in which this trade took place. By recentering the overlooked role of women as commercial actors throughout the history of ICBT, the project investigates how trade connections evolved in times of war and forced displacement, but also in pre-conflict decades. This will result in a dissertation that focuses on the 20th century to the present.
Here are the specific objectives of the research:
RO1 – Historicizing ICBT between the DRC and Uganda: According to Titeca (2009), informal trade activities between DRC and Uganda must be understood through the lens of a complex history that includes ethnic interconnections and refugee fluxes. Yet they also build on historical relations and exchanges that predate the context of conflict or the Structural Adjustment Programs. The project fills in an important blank spot in our historical understanding of this border’s economic development by connecting the precolonial, colonial and postcolonial contexts in which this trade took place. By recentering the overlooked role of women as commercial actors throughout the history of ICBT, the project investigates how trade connections evolved in times of war and forced displacement, but also in pre-conflict decades. This will result in a dissertation that focuses on the period 1850 to present.
RO2 – Recentering female agency: Public discourse about the border area under study, particularly the Congolese side, often portrays women as mere victims of a conflict-prone context. While sexual violence is indeed used as a weapon of war in this region, with cases dating back to colonial abuses (see Mertens 2023), it is crucial to also pay attention to the ways in which these women have shaped their livelihoods, generated forms of economic autonomy, and evaded male control (see for example Obbo 1980, MacGaffey 1988). Because of its informal character, ICBT generates specific regulatory dynamics, which not only require negotiation with state officials, but also with the broader population (see Titeca 2012). However, we know very little about the ways in which women have navigated this commercial ecosystem. Therefore, their agency is the starting point of this research project (see Thomas 2016). By applying an interdisciplinary approach and using a variety of sources, the project tackles the methodological challenges that have hitherto played a role in the overlooking of Central African female histories.
RO3 – Bringing in the Congolese perspective :Informal export from Uganda to the DRC continues to grow rapidly, with the DRC making up 49,4% of Uganda’s total informal exports in 2018, in comparison to 27,1% in 2010 (Titeca 2020: 3). While this project does not have the ambition to add quantitative data from the Congolese side to the debate, it is innovative in its historical attention to the activities, experiences and livelihoods of Congolese female experiences in this border area. The informality of their activities and the lack of control over mobility was a general source of distress for the colonial government, especially in border areas (see for example Mathys forthcoming). Recent doctoral research by Aurélie Bouvart (2024) even suggests that Congolese women who were brought to court in the Belgian Congo were mostly convicted for “crimes” related to unauthorized mobility. This project, therefore, contributes a critical new perspective by foregrounding the agency of Congolese women and by highlighting the historical continuities in their strategies for navigating both economic and social landscapes across the Congolese-Ugandan border.
Democratic Republic of Congo 2026-04-02 17:52:15 2029-04-02 Social Science and Humanities Non-Clinical Trial Degree Award
Cynthia Agema Lysanne
ID: UNCST-2025-R018967
Exploring the balance between social disappointment and inequity aversion in chimpanzees.
REFNo: NS979ES

The objective of this study is to gain deeper insight into the behavioural responses of chimpanzees to unequal reward distributions, and to examine whether these responses are primarily driven by social disappointment or by inequity aversion. We aim to better understand the cognitive and emotional processes underlying social evaluation in great apes. The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the evolutionary roots of fairness and social expectations, and offers practical value for improving animal welfare, especially in captive or sanctuary settings, by adapting care practices based on species-specific social sensitivity.
Netherlands 2025-07-10 12:51:39 2028-07-10 Natural Sciences Non-Clinical Trial Degree Award
Maegan Hoffman Jennie
ID: UNCST-2025-R018963
Behavioral impact of variable terrain across wild chimpanzee populations
REFNo: SS3973ES

Determine whether difference in terrain, primarily elevation and slope, are significant predictors of the observable differences in social behavior seen
between the Kanyawara and Budongo chimpanzees.

USA 2025-07-22 16:56:59 2028-07-22 Social Science and Humanities Non-Clinical Trial Degree Award
ASHIRAF MABANJA
ID: UNCST-2025-R018962
Emotional Intelligence Critical thinking, and Doctoral Success in Ugandan universities
REFNo: SS4035ES

i.To analyze the influence of emotional intelligence on doctoral success in Uganda universities. ii.To analyze the influence of critical thinking on doctoral success in Uganda universities. iii.To analyze the combined influence of emotional intelligence and critical thinking on doctoral success in Ugandan universities. iv.To compare the levels of emotional intelligence between doctoral graduates who completed their studies on time and those who experienced delays in completion. v.To compare the levels of critical thinking between doctoral graduates who completed their studies on time and those who experienced delays in completion.
Uganda 2025-07-10 16:54:51 2028-07-10 Social Science and Humanities Non-Clinical Trial Degree Award
ALEX TWINAMATSIKO
ID: UNCST-2025-R018945
CURRICULUM ADAPTATIONS FOR LEARNERS WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY THAT REQUIRE LIMITED SUPPORT IN INCLUSIVE PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN UGANDA. A CASE OF ISINGIRO TOWN COUNCIL, ISINGIRO DISTRICT
REFNo: SS4608ES

1. To establish the aspects of curriculum adaptation used in teaching learners with intellectual disabilities that require limited support in inclusive primary schools in Isingiro Town Council, Isingiro District
2. To examine how the teachers, adapt curriculum for learners with intellectual disabilities that requires limited support in inclusive primary schools in Isingiro Town Council, Isingiro district
3. To analyse the challenges the teachers, experience in implementing curriculum adaptation practices for learners with intellectual disabilities that require limited support in inclusive primary schools in Isingiro Town Council, Isingiro district.

Uganda 2025-12-23 8:33:34 2028-12-23 Social Science and Humanities Non-Clinical Trial Degree Award
ARTHUR KICONCO
ID: UNCST-2025-R018937
Type 2 diabetes self-management in resource limited settings: family support, self-efficacy, self-management practices, and readiness to implement Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support in informal settlements in Kampala, Uganda
REFNo: HS6253ES

i. To validate the diabetes management self-efficacy scale in Uganda Hypotheses
ii. To assess the joint association between diabetes knowledge and family support, and diabetes self-management among people with type 2 diabetes in informal settlements in Kampala Uganda
iii. To evaluate the causal effect of family support on self-efficacy among people with type 2 diabetes in informal settlements in Kampala Uganda.
iv. To explore the perceived readiness to implement DSMES for patients with type 2 diabetes in informal settlements in Kampala, Uganda using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR).
Uganda 2025-09-17 13:59:03 2028-09-17 Medical and Health Sciences Non-Clinical Trial Degree Award
Jamir ssebadduka
ID: UNCST-2025-R018912
A MACHINE LEARNING MODEL FOR PREDICTING SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF MALARIA INCIDENCES IN UGANDA
REFNo: HS6769ES

to develop and evaluate a hybrid geographically weighted machine learning framework for predicting the spatial distribution and incidence of malaria in Uganda at fine geographic scales, by integrating environmental factors, demographic factors, and clinical data to support evidence-based disease surveillance and targeted intervention strategies
Uganda 2026-01-27 19:26:26 2029-01-27 Medical and Health Sciences Degree Award
Joeri Smits
ID: UNCST-2025-R018883
Search frictions in credit markets
REFNo: SS4207ES

To assess the feasibility of evaluating whether a digital loan comparison tool—providing tailored information on loan cost and predicted approval likelihood—can help prospective borrowers make better-informed application decisions in Uganda’s credit market.
Netherlands 2025-08-18 13:30:49 2028-08-18 Social Science and Humanities Non-Clinical Trial Non-degree Award
AKANKWASA ALEX
ID: UNCST-2025-R018808
INTERNAL CONTROL SYSTEMS AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS’ PERFORMANCE IN UGANDA; RUBANDA DISTRICT LOCAL GOVERNMENT
REFNo: SS4182ES

To examine the effect of financial controls on financial performance of Rubanda District Local Government.
(ii) To determine the influence of human resource controls on the staff satisfaction in Rubanda District Local Government.
(iii) To explore the relationship between systems control on the levels of customer satisfaction in Rubanda District Local Government.
(iv) To evaluate the moderating effect of staff retention on internal control systems and Performance of Rubanda District Local Government.

Uganda 2025-09-17 15:37:56 2028-09-17 Social Science and Humanities Non-Clinical Trial Degree Award
Chidiebere  Adim Victor
ID: UNCST-2025-R018777
Borderless Hustle: Kinship, Trust, and Economic Dependency in African Refugee Entrepreneurship
REFNo: SS4082ES

This study addresses a critical gap by examining how African refugee entrepreneurs mobilize kinship networks to build trust, mitigate risk, and secure the resources necessary to navigate unfamiliar and frequently hostile entrepreneurial terrains.
Nigeria 2025-09-23 11:09:24 2028-09-23 Social Science and Humanities Non-Clinical Trial Non-degree Award
PETER KADDU
ID: UNCST-2025-R018764
Human Resource Planning Practices and Perceived Health Service Delivery in Uganda; a case study of selected District in Central Uganda.
REFNo: SS4063ES

To examine the influence of workforce alignment on perceived health service delivery in selected Districts.
To analyze the relationship between human resource forecasting and perceived health service delivery in selected Districts.
To assess the association between succession planning and perceived health service delivery in selected Districts.
To evaluate the moderating effect of customer factors on human resource planning practices and perceived health service delivery in selected Districts.

Uganda 2025-08-07 20:42:21 2028-08-07 Social Science and Humanities Non-Clinical Trial Degree Award
Winnie Nakatudde
ID: UNCST-2025-R018763
Understanding Refugee Voices: Refugee Girls Experiences with Uganda’s Education Policies.
REFNo: SS3950ES

• To understand the extent to which Uganda’s current education policies and initiatives effectively meet refugee girls’ heterogeneous aspirations and needs.
• To find out how refugee girls in Nakivale settlement navigate educational trajectories, considering their gender, ethnicity, and social backgrounds.
• To examine the extent to which refugee girls in Nakivale settlement draw on and pursue ecological support systems (family, community, NGOs) to aid their educational integration.
• To determine how the lived experiences of refugee girls in Nakivale settlement differ from those of refugees in an urban setting.
Uganda 2025-06-20 18:50:23 2028-06-20 Social Science and Humanities Non-Clinical Trial Degree Award
Prossie Nampijja
ID: UNCST-2025-R018736
COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION AND SUSTAINABILITY OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROJECTS IN UGANDA; A CASE OF MARKETS AND AGRICULTURAL TRADE IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME (MATIP) IN LUGAZI MUNICIPALITY
REFNo: SS4427ES

i.To examine the level of community participation in planning on sustainability of local government projects in Lugazi Municipality. ii.To analyse the level of community participation in implementation on sustainability of local government projects in Lugazi Municipality. iii.To assess the significance of community participation in monitoring and evaluation on sustainability of local government projects in Lugazi Municipality.
Uganda 2025-10-17 18:33:25 2028-10-17 Social Science and Humanities Non-Clinical Trial Degree Award
Azizi Wasike
ID: UNCST-2025-R018730
NATURAL LANGUAGE UNDERSTANDING - DRIVEN MACHINE TRANSLATION MODEL FOR ENGLISH AND LUSOGA
REFNo: SIR585ES

(i) To determine the impact of language barrier between English and Lusoga language users in Busoga subregion. (ii) To create corpora for training, testing and evaluating a Natural Language Understanding-driven Machine Translation model for English and Lusoga. (iii) To design a Natural Language Understanding-driven Machine Translation Model for English and Lusoga. (iv) To implement a Natural Language Understanding-driven Machine Translation Model for English and Lusoga. (v) To evaluate the effectiveness of the Natural Language Understanding-driven Machine Translation Model for English and Lusoga in terms of translation adequacy and fluency.
Uganda 2026-02-12 12:20:48 2029-02-12 Engineering and Technology Non-Clinical Trial Degree Award
FRANCIS WENANI MWISAKA
ID: UNCST-2025-R018729
ENHANCING TVET- INDUSTRY COLLABORATION FOR MARKETABLE SKILLS DEVELOPMENT IN EASTERN UGANDA.
REFNo: SIR542ES

1. To identify industry-specific skill gaps and requirements to guide collaborative training initiatives.
2. To assess the effectiveness of existing partnerships between TVET institutions and industries in fostering market-relevant skills.
3. To explore barriers to effective collaboration between TVET institutions and industries

4. To design a strategic framework for strengthening partnerships and aligning training programs with industry needs.


Uganda 2025-09-12 16:42:50 2028-09-12 Engineering and Technology Non-Clinical Trial Degree Award
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