Dr. Ivan Nathanael Lukanda is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Journalism and Communication at Makerere University. He earned a PhD in Journalism from Stellenbosch University in South Africa in 2018, and previously completed a Master of Arts in Journalism and Communication through a sandwich programme between Makerere University and Örebro University in Sweden. Early in his career, he was selected as a UNESCO visiting fellow at Daystar University in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2013, and more recently supported as a fellow of the African Humanities Programme under the American Academy of Learned Societies for 2022–2023. He also contributes as an early-career researcher on the Africa Urbanities Project, sponsored by the Andrew Mellon Foundation for the 2019–2024 period.
Beyond academia, Dr. Lukanda is an active media and communications consultant and has practical experience as a freelance journalist with Sunday Vision and Uganda Radio Network. His research and teaching interests center on science and technology communication, including topics such as genetically modified organisms, environment and climate change, the dynamics between scientists and media, women in science, journalists’ safety, freedom of expression, and media and cultural identity. He teaches on a range of subjects, including research methods, writing for communication, communication for development, media and culture, and media ethics, and has supervised students at both undergraduate and graduate levelsHis scholarly output includes publications in outlets such as Springer, ANU Press, the Journal of Science Communication, and the Journal of African Cultural Studies.
“Without Money You’re an Enemy of the Media”: Money as a Facilitator and/or Obstacle to Media Access during Election Campaigns Book Section
In: Election Campaigning in Sub-Saharan Africa: Democracy, Societal Cleavages and Social Media, pp. 117–138, Springer, 2026.
In: Tembo, Nick Mdika (Ed.): Trauma in the Age of Social Media in Sub Saharan Africa: Narrative and Representation, pp. 119-137, Springer Nature Switzerland, Cham, 2025, ISBN: 978-3-031-95508-2.
Street food discourses and the case of the Ugandan “Rolex” Journal Article
In: Journal of African Cultural Studies, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 227–241, 2025.
Ambivalent identities in Kampala city: an interrogation of the “grasshopper delicacy” in Ugandan press photographs Journal Article
In: Social Dynamics, vol. 50, no. 3, pp. 363–381, 2024, ISSN: 1940-7874.
A spark of interest and empowerment: An assessment of climate change journalism training initiatives by local media support organisations Journal Article
In: Journalism Education, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 78, 2024.
Depatriarchalising the Media Coverage of Science in Uganda: Recovering Women's Voices Book Section
In: Routledge Handbook of Contemporary African Women, pp. 225–242, Routledge, 2024.
New Challenges Old Tactics: How Ugandan Newsrooms Combat Fake News Book Section
In: Digitisation, AI and Algorithms in African Journalism and Media Contexts, pp. 53–67, Emerald Publishing Limited, 2023.
Media Framing of COVID-19 in the Hybrid Democracies of Uganda and Tanzania. Journal Article
In: Taiwan Journal of Democracy, vol. 17, no. 2, 2021.
Female voices marginalised in media coverage of science in Uganda, both as authors and sources Journal Article
In: 2021.
Cultural values and modern media as drivers of science communication Journal Article
In: A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE, pp. 907, 2020.
Activists as strategic science communicators on the adoption of GMOs in Uganda Journal Article
In: 2020.
Implications of media-scientists’ relationship on crop biotechnology debate in Uganda Book Section
In: Agriculture and ecosystem resilience in Sub Saharan Africa: livelihood pathways under changing climate, pp. 633–652, Springer, 2019.