A three-day workshop on the histories of climate change and migration in Uganda has concluded at Makerere University with the award of €18,000 in seed grants to nine beneficiaries, strengthening a collaborative research initiative between Makerere University and the University of Cambridge.
Five graduate students from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHUSS) and four beneficiaries from refugee communities and host organisations each received €2,000 to support their educational and research journeys and contribute to emerging scholarship on climate change, migration, displacement and community resilience.
The grants were awarded under the Histories of Climate Change and Migration in Uganda project, supported by the Mastercard Foundation Climate Resilience and Sustainability Research Fund in partnership with the Cambridge Africa Programme at the University of Cambridge.
The project is led by Dr Samuel Meyerson of the University of Cambridge as Principal Investigator, with Dr Pamela Kanakwa, Dean of the School of Liberal and Performing Arts at Makerere University, serving as Co-Principal Investigator. Dr Charlotte Mafumbo and Dr Taylor Curtis are also members of the project leadership team.
The initiative is implemented through collaboration between Makerere University’s Department of History, Archaeology and Heritage Studies and its international partners, bringing together scholars, graduate researchers, practitioners and members of refugee communities to examine the historical dimensions of climate change, migration and displacement.
The workshop ended on Thursday, 10 September 2026, with a planned field visit to the National Archives on Friday, 11 September.
The seed-grant award letters were presented by Associate Professor Julius Kikooma, Director of the Directorate of Graduate Research and Training at Makerere University, who represented the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs. He also presented certificates of attendance to workshop participants.
The beneficiaries are Mwesigye Jonathan, Kabwijamu Patrich, Lukyamuzi Herbert, Asiimwe Nelson and Akol Alfred, all from CHUSS; Nshimirwa Bless from the Growing Futures Initiative; Jackson Musafiri and Benefice Tuyisenge from Nakivale Refugee Settlement; and AORW Uganda, also from Nakivale Refugee Settlement.
Beyond providing financial support, the seed grants are intended to deepen the participation of emerging researchers and refugee-community actors in producing knowledge about climate change, migration and displacement. They also reflect the project’s emphasis on ensuring that communities whose experiences are being studied have a meaningful role in shaping the research and discussions around them
“This started as a very casual conversation, but it grew into something big.”
Dr. Pamela Khanakwa, Project Principal Investigator and Dean of the School of Liberal and Performing Arts, described the initiative as one that had grown considerably beyond its original conception.
“This started as a very casual conversation, but it grew into something big and bigger, beyond what we ourselves even anticipated at this time,” Khanakwa said.
She explained that the project has two interconnected components: the workshop and the seed-grant programme supporting graduate students as well as participants from refugee communities.
Khanakwa acknowledged the support of the Mastercard Foundation’s Climate Resilience and Sustainability Research Fund and the Cambridge Africa Programme at the University of Cambridge, noting that such partnerships had made the initiative possible.
She particularly thanked participants from refugee communities for responding to the organisers’ call and actively contributing to discussions throughout the workshop.
“I listened to you make your submissions this afternoon and you can’t imagine how satisfying that is for us on this side,” she said.
Khanakwa also thanked the project team, administrative staff and communications personnel who worked behind the scenes to make the workshop successful.
She described Duncan and Esther as the “engine behind everything,” praising their dedication to ensuring that the event ran smoothly.
As the workshop concluded, Khanakwa emphasised that the event should be viewed as the beginning of a longer process of collaboration.
“We know that this is just the beginning,” she said.
“It’s important that we learn from the past in order to understand the present.”
Representing the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Associate Professor Julius Kikooma commended CHUSS for creating platforms that bring together scholars and participants from different countries and disciplines.
“At this rate, it is only the College of Humanities and Social Sciences that is doing what our strategic plan asks us to do in terms of the issue of internationalisation,” he said.
Kikooma also praised the Department of History, Archaeology and Heritage Studies for its transformation and its growing contribution to global academic conversations.
“I thank all the colleagues in the Department of History for the efforts of putting Uganda’s history at the centre of global conversations,” he said.
Delivering the Deputy Vice-Chancellor’s message, Kikooma said the project had an important ambition: to support scholars from Uganda, refugees and internally displaced people to develop humane historical accounts of migration, displacement and the environment.
He said the research could provide important context for policymakers searching for practical responses to contemporary challenges.
“It’s important that we learn from the past in order to understand the present,” he said.
Kikooma argued that climate change, migration and displacement should not be viewed solely as contemporary phenomena. Communities have historically developed strategies for coping with environmental changes, moving in response to changing circumstances and producing knowledge that enabled them to adapt.
He stressed that communities should therefore be recognised as actors, innovators and holders of knowledge rather than merely passive victims.
“The task before us therefore is not simply to write more histories. It is to write better histories,” Kikooma said.
He called for histories that are inclusive, critical, interdisciplinary, grounded in evidence and relevant to contemporary challenges.
“You’ve made very important and interesting contacts.”
Representing the Principal of CHUSS, Associate Professor Eric Awich Ochen said the workshop had demonstrated the value of bringing together researchers from different disciplines and backgrounds.
“You’ve made very important and interesting contacts that some of you will go on to use for the rest of your life,” Ochen said.
He said the relationships established during the workshop could develop into future research projects and collaborations addressing history, climate and migration.
Ochen also welcomed Professor Kikooma in his new capacity as Director of Graduate Research and Training, recalling his earlier service within the college.
He urged Makerere’s graduate leadership to continue creating infrastructure and opportunities for master’s and doctoral students.
“The workshop has exposed us to the incredible responsibility our country has.”
Dr Charlotte Mafumbo, Head of the Department of History, Archaeology and Heritage Studies and host of the workshop, said the discussions had demonstrated the complex responsibilities facing Uganda in responding to climate change, migration and displacement.
“The workshop has exposed us to the incredible responsibility our country has to all types of people, particularly to refugees, to asylum seekers, to internally displaced persons,” she said.
Mafumbo noted that the workshop brought together approximately 30 papers addressing issues including human security, health security, environmental security, resilience, adaptation, humanitarian intervention and indigenous knowledge.
She called for greater understanding of the laws and policies governing climate change and migration in Uganda, arguing that researchers should be able to engage policymakers from a position of knowledge.
She also proposed the development of policy briefs emerging from the workshop, identifying inter-institutional collaboration, the teaching of histories of climate and migration, and research methodology as key areas.
Mafumbo emphasised the importance of research integrity.
“Cooking up numbers doesn’t make sense. Telling lies doesn’t make sense. But honesty does vindicate you in your work,” she said.
She further highlighted the importance of indigenous knowledge in understanding environmental change and migration, saying the issue had emerged repeatedly throughout the workshop.
Refugee participants: “There is nothing for us without us.”
The participation of refugee communities emerged as one of the defining features of the workshop.
Joseline, a representative working with refugee communities, welcomed the opportunity for practitioners and refugees to participate directly in academic discussions.
“There is nothing for us without us,” she said.
She said the inclusion of refugees allowed them to contribute to discussions about their own futures rather than simply being subjects of research.
She urged Makerere University and its partners to maintain the engagement beyond the workshop.
“Please don’t stop,” she said, encouraging continued opportunities for refugees to contribute, share experiences and learn.
Jackson Musafiri: “Let us involve refugees, let the refugees raise their voices.”
Jackson Musafiri, a refugee based in a refugee settlement and working with a refugee-focused organisation, said the invitation to participate in the workshop gave him hope.
“Let us involve refugees, let the refugees raise their voices,” Musafiri said.
He argued that refugees possess ideas and knowledge capable of contributing to national development and said their inclusion in academic spaces could help challenge perceptions that refugees have little to contribute to their host societies.
He also thanked Uganda for providing refugees with protection, livelihoods and security.
Benefice Tuyisenge: “I was over the moon.”
Benefice Tuyisenge, from Nakivale Refugee Settlement, described participation in the workshop as a deeply significant experience.
“When I got this communication to attend this workshop, I was over the moon,” he said.
He said the opportunity to sit alongside professors and researchers at Makerere University had strengthened his desire to pursue higher education.
Tuyisenge, who is involved in a refugee-led organisation supporting education, explained that family responsibilities had previously prevented him from pursuing university studies himself.
He appealed for opportunities that could enable him to continue his education.
“If there is an opportunity to support me to pursue my education, I would like to come and also study here at Makerere University,” he said.
His reflection underscored the wider importance of the project’s commitment to extending educational and research opportunities to people directly affected by displacement.
Shimirwa Bless: “Carry on with developing scholarship right from master’s.”
Shimirwa Bless a graduate student and one of the beneficiaries of the seed-grant initiative, praised the decision to support emerging scholars at master’s level.
He said researchers often receive greater attention once they reach doctoral level, yet support at master’s level can provide an important foundation for future academic careers.
“I would want to thank and encourage the college leadership to just carry on with this great responsibility of helping researchers right from their master’s level,” Nelson said.
He said he was humbled to be among the grant recipients and intended to use the opportunity to strengthen his research and work towards publication.
Anyango Kevin: “I was able to come up with something good for my research work.”
Anyango Kevin, a PhD student in Political Science, said the workshop had already influenced his research.
He particularly appreciated discussions on methodology and ethical considerations, saying the sessions came at an important point in his doctoral work.
“I was able to come up with something good for my research work,” he said.
Anyango also praised the workshop’s interdisciplinary character and called for continued collaboration between disciplines.
Fabio: “We are thinking about the future.”
An international participant from Brazil said the workshop challenged the perception that scholars from the Global South merely consume knowledge produced elsewhere.
“This kind of workshop states, yes, we are thinking about the future,” he said.
He praised the opportunity for scholars from different academic traditions to work together on major contemporary challenges such as climate change and migration.
A collaborative platform for future research
The closing ceremony demonstrated that the Histories of Climate Change and Migration in Uganda project is seeking to build more than a conventional academic network.
Through the leadership of PI Dr Pamela Kanakwa and Co-PI Dr Samuel Myerson/Mayson, together with Makerere University, the University of Cambridge and the Mastercard Foundation-supported research initiative, the project has created a platform where graduate researchers, international scholars, government representatives, practitioners and refugee communities can exchange knowledge.
The €18,000 seed-grant investment provides a practical extension of that collaboration by putting resources directly into the hands of nine beneficiaries.
The discussions also generated calls for stronger links between universities, government institutions and communities; greater attention to the history of climate and migration in teaching and research; improved research methodologies; policy briefs for decision-makers; and preservation of indigenous knowledge.
As the workshop formally closed, speakers repeatedly stressed that the end of the three-day meeting should mark the beginning of a broader collaboration.
The planned visit to the National Archives on Friday will provide an immediate continuation of that work, linking the workshop’s discussions about historical evidence with direct engagement with Uganda’s documentary heritage.
The broader ambition, as articulated during the closing ceremony, is to ensure that research on climate change, migration and displacement is not confined to academic institutions, but travels into communities, policy spaces and practical interventions, informed by both historical evidence and the lived experiences of the people most affected.
Story by Jane Anyango, Principal Communication Officer CHUSS
Photo credits; Peninah Nalubega 4th year Journalism and Communication student
