Project: Student Training for Entrepreneurial Promotion –
Sustainability (STEP-S)
Project Team: Prof. Peter Wanderi & Mr Bonface Joel Malala
Period: 2024-2027 (4 Years)
Over 100 postgraduate students (PhD and Masters) from Mount Kenya University benefited from the Postgraduate Research Workshop held at Mount Kenya University from 15th – 19th July 2024. The workshop was sponsored by the Student Training for Entrepreneurial Promotion – Sustainability (STEP-S) project which is funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). The STEP-S project is a collaboration between Leuphana University (Germany), Mount Kenya University (Kenya), Godfrey Okoye University (Nigeria) and University of Venda (South Africa) under the leadership of Prof. Michael M. Gielnik (Leuphana University).
The workshop was conducted in a hybrid mode (both physical and online attendance). Dr Francis Makokha (Director, Research and Innovation) from MKU and Prof. Michael M. Gielnik graced the opening ceremony. In their remarks, Dr Makokha emphasized on the importance of enhancing postgraduate research skills to ensure students are able to conduct research activities effectively and efficiently on time to enhance completion period. Prof. Michael on his side encouraged the postgraduate students to develop research skills and use it as a tool to enhance their academic journey.
During the 5-day workshop, Mr Paul Herrmann and Ms Janina Peschmann from Leuphana University (Germany) were the facilitators. Dr Anyway Mikioni from University of Venda (South Africa) and Mr Christopher Chediebere Uwakwe from Godfrey Okoye University (Nigeria) attended the workshop as the STEP-S Project Coordinators. In addition, two PhD students; Ms Meggy Kantert (Godfrey Okoye University) and Ms Matamela Juliet Netshikulwe (University of Venda) joined colleagues from Mount Kenya University for the workshop.
The following research topics were covered during the workshop; Literature search and efficient reading, Developing a research question and theory building, Research methods and study designs, Measurements of variables/constructs, Research ethics and open science, Descriptive statistics and data quality, Introduction to inferential statistics, Interpreting and understanding statistical results, Introduction to statistics software R, General writing rules, Writing an introduction, Information on the publishing process and writing a review.
Prof Michael who participated in the workshop through the online platform trained the postgraduate students on the review process where he used practical examples and personal experience in his journey to becoming a senior researcher. He encouraged postgraduate students to closely work with supervisors as mentors to enhance research skills. The workshop closing ceremony was graced by the Dr Mercyline Kamande (Deputy Vice-Chancellor-Academic and Research Affairs) who emphasized the need to pair postgraduate students with faculty researchers (research teams) to benefit in research mentorship as well as competitive proposal writing skills.
