The Initiative to Develop African Research Leaders (IDeAL) is a high-quality training programme designed to develop outstanding young African scientists into world-class research leaders. It is hosted by KEMRI – Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kenya. IDeAL is available to young researchers, from Undergraduate Research Attachments to Postdoctoral Fellowships, with the aim of keeping scientists at African institutions through a defined programme of recruitment, supervision and mentorship with the goal of establishing unique career paths for all students and fellows.
IDeAL is one of the 11 initiatives under DELTAS Africa (Developing Excellence in Leadership, Training and Science in Africa) funded by the African Academy of Sciences (AAS)’s and Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa (AESA) and supported by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development Planning and Coordinating Agency (NEPAD Agency) with funding from the Wellcome Trust and the United Kingdom government.
IDeAL Team comprises over 200 persons including postdoctoral fellows, students, interns, mentors, supervisors, and the secretariat.
For more details on the schemes supported under IDeAL, visit the Programmes Page.
IDeAL builds on previous capacity strengthening activities at the KEMRI – Wellcome Trust Research Programme. As illustrated in figure below capacity building at the Programme has gone through different phases. During the earliest phase, 1989-2008, the emphasis was on building core structures to support research and training including high quality laboratory, clinical, field and ICT infrastructure. As these core structures expanded there was a gradual increase in the number of local researchers training at Masters and PhD levels, albeit on an ad hoc basis. It eventually became clear that there was need to develop a coherent framework to manage and scale up research training activities at the Programme. This was achieved through the awarding of a Strategic Award amounting to 12 Million Pounds by the Wellcome Trust. The award supported research training activities from 2008 to 2015.
As a result of the Award capacity building activities in the Programme expanded markedly. In addition, the award facilitated the centralisation and harmonization of capacity building management by providing a secure financial base that enabled long term planning of career paths.
In brief, between 2008 and 2015, 52 students were support to undertake PhDs and also received a further one year Postdoctoral support. 32 of these are Postdoctoral Reseachers at KWTRP and elsewhere while 8 are lecturers in local Universities. 5 have already received Wellcome Trust Training Fellowships. 88 people were supported for Masters training either directly or through support leading to the successful application for external Masters Fellowships (e.g. the Wellcome Trust Masters Fellowship). We have provided internships to 172 recent Kenyan graduates. Over 30 of who have now progressed through the research training to Postdoctoral level. Majority of the rest are either research assistants or Masters students elsewhere.
Importantly, work supported by the SA has contributed to development of a number of health policies and practice guidelines in Kenya and Globally particularly for prevention and treatment of early childhood illnesses. In addition, it has been presented in over 200 conferences and resulted in over 300 peer-reviewed publications (>150 first author papers – >50 in journals with an Impact Factor of >4, and > 150 non-first author papers – >30 in journals with an Impact Factor of >4.
Vision
African-led research solving African and global health issues
Mission
To generate a critical mass of African Research Leaders
Objective
Attract – To attract young African to research
Train – To provide high quality research training
Retain – To support the retention of African researchers in the Continent
Nurture – To nurture emerging African research leaders
Prof. Sam Kinyanjui
Email : SKMuchina@kemri-wellcome.org Prof. Sam Kinyanjui is the Head of Training and Capacity Building at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Programme in Kenya and the Director for the Initiative to Develop African Research Leaders (IDeAL). Prior to the current position, he spent 16 years doing research on the immunology and molecular biology of malaria parasites. During this period he developed a strong interest in capacity building for health research in Africa.
As the Head of Training and Capacity Building at the KWTRP in Kenya, he provides scientific and strategic guidance for academic training towards research leadership. His key achievement has been the development and implementation of a comprehensive research career framework for attracting, training and retaining African research leaders. Through the framework, Prof. Kinyanjui has overseen the training of over 200 graduate interns, the majority of who have taken up a research career after the internship. This scheme has now been developed into a nationally accredited Postgraduate Diploma in Health Research Methods. He has also overseen over 100 Masters and over 70 PhD training since 2008. In 2015 Prof. Kinyanjui was awarded a further 8 million pounds by the Wellcome Trust/DIFD to build on this work through the Initiative to Develop African Research Leaders (IDeAL)
Regionally, Prof. Kinyanjui is involved in advocacy for increased commitment to building research capacity in Africa by both African governments and funding agencies. In 2006 he worked at the African Union Headquarter promoting health research agenda within the Union. He also sits on the advisory boards of several African capacity building initiatives including MUIIplus, SSACAB, SANTHE and the TDR Global Community Adhoc Workgroup.
Dr. Dorcas Mbuvi
Dr. Francis Ndung’u
Email : FNdungu@kemri-wellcome.org Francis did his earlier education in Nairobi, Kenya, before proceeding to the National Institute for Medical Research, London, UK, where he did his PHD in immunology with Dr Jean Langhorne and Prof Kevin Marsh. He was awarded the PHD in 2005, after which he took up a post-doctoral training position at the same institute, and was successful at implementing a new programme of research in quantifying antigen-specific memory B cells in a mouse model of malaria. He moved back to Kenya in 2008 as post-doctoral researcher, with the aim of obtaining own funding to start and build a research group. His main areas of interest are: (i) immunological memory to malaria in historically infected individuals, and, (ii) hosts factors responsible for increased susceptibility to P falciparum malaria in a small proportion of children that experience excessively more malaria than expected.
Mwendwa Mutuku
Email : smutuku@kemri-wellcome.org Mutuku holds a B.A Degree in Journalism and Media Studies from the University of Nairobi and a member of the Public Relations Society of Kenya. He has previously worked for local and international organisations such as the Africa Union/United Nations Information Support Team in Somalia, Kenya’s Ministry of Water and Irrigation and FilmAid International.
He is a passionate communication professional who has managed media and public relations for national and intergovernmental agencies and non-profits and participated in successful communications and media campaigns. He is an all-rounder with nine years of experience in public relations; digital strategy development and execution; branding and marketing; graphic design and production of multimedia content. He believes in channelling the power of media to impact lives and influence positive social change on behalf of multilaterals, socially-oriented non-profits, and private-sector creative agencies. He is highly skilled in conceptual and visual storytelling.
Liz Igombo-Murabu
Email : LMurabu@kemri-wellcome.org Liz Igombo-Murabu is the Students’ Administrator for IDeAL and KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme. She has spent the last 10 years playing a vital role in ensuring the smooth and efficient management of the training of nearly 150 academic trainees ranging from school leavers and undergraduates attachees, Postgraduate Diploma, Masters, and PhD students and postdoctoral fellows funded under IDeAL.
She joined the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in 1996 and has served in different capacities within the Programme. She has been the training administrator since 2008 supporting both academic training and continuing professional development of over 800 staff. She also holds a HND in Executive Assistance, a Diploma in Administrative duties from Cambridge International College, UK, Certificate on Leadership and Management in Health Systems with the University of Washington and a Certificate in Computer Operations and Business Applications from The Mombasa Polytechnic. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor degree in Executive Business Administration Programme with specialization in Management and Administration with Cambridge International College, UK.
Rita Baya
Email : RBaya@kemri-wellcome.org Rita Baya joined KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme in June 2012 and currently holds the position of an Administrative Assistant. She is tasked with Office management, Interface administrative functions of various projects, Travel Management from Reservations, transfers, travel authorization documents, Itinerary coordination, foreign & local travels, Organize & coordinate logistics for local and international meetings, trainings, seminars, workshops, conferences. Documentation i.e. reports, filing and documents archiving. She has over 5 years’ experience in Administration and holds a Bachelor degree in Administration from Kenya Methodist University.
David Ngui
Email : DNgui@kemri-wellcome.org David Ngui joined KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme in November 2013 and is currently tasked with producing both internal management reports and grant donor reports with a key focus in ensuring timely, accurate and complete recording, reporting of financial transactions according to accounting best practice and donor reporting guidelines. He has over 5 years’ experience in auditing and finance, having previously worked as an Audit Assistant and Assistant Accountant in auditing and micro-finance institutions in Kenya.
He is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Accounting from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology and is currently pursuing a Masters in Business Administration at Kenyatta University.
Florence Kirimi
Email : FKirimi@kemri-wellcome.org Florence Kirimi joined the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in August 2016 as the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer for IDeAL. She is responsible for implementing the Monitoring and Evaluation activities of the Training Department, assisting the Head of Training in monitoring the Department’s activities on a regular basis, developing and maintaining the Department’s MIS and for collecting and analyzing different data in relation to the Department’s activities. She also prepares periodic reports on the training activities including those supported under IDeAL grant.
She holds a Masters’ Degree in Public Health with over 5 years’ experience in implementation of Monitoring and Evaluation for development projects which include developing M & E Plans, logical frameworks, output, monitoring and impact indicators for projects, participating in regular project reviews, Preparation of annual progress reports for feedback to donors and other stakeholders.
Dr. Alun Davies
Alun Davies has over 20 years experience in science education, health research and community engagement in Kenya: nine years as a science and senior teacher at urban and rural schools in Kenya; followed by eleven years as a researcher at KWTRP. Prior his current post, Alun managed an HIV research project in Kilifi, employing 50 staff at three sites to initiate HIV clinical trials. Alun’s current role in community engagement draws on a combination of his experience in education and health research towards facilitating engagement interactions between researchers and school students. Over the past six years, Alun has established a ‘Schools Engagement Programme’ (SEP) which facilitates interactions between researchers and up to 1000 students form 25 schools a year. The activities are aimed at promoting positive attitudes towards science among secondary school students; and promoting mutual-understanding between health researchers and the community. SEP has also enabled Kilifi students’ views to be incorporated into the Nuffield Council on Bioethics Working Party report on Ethical Issues for Research Involving Children. Alun’s current research explores ways of evaluating engagement with health research using a combination of quantitative, qualitative and participatory approaches.
John Mutua
Mutiso holds a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Statistics with Computing (University of Eldoret) and currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Medical Statistics – University of Nairobi (Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases). His research interests lies in applications of R Programming in analysis of medical data and presently an IDeAL Masters fellow working with Dr. Charles Sande and Dr. Nelson Kibinge on development of serological data analysis framework using R.
Brian Roy Omondi
Supervisors
Dr. Melissa KapuluGrowing up, Brian had always been passionate about research in life and health sciences. This motivated him to pursue a BSc. Biochemistry from Egerton University. Thereafter, he enrolled for MSc. Biochemistry from the same institution. Brian’s research interest lies in Molecular Parasitology and Immunology. He is currently focusing on malaria transmission blocking interventions involving evaluation of anti-gametocyte immunity for transmission blocking vaccine (TBV) development and assessment of bacterial symbiont inhibition of Plasmodium parasite infection.
Arnold Wasike
Arnold is an IDeAL MSc. student under the Viral Epidemiology and Control group at KEMRI-Wellcome Trust. He is currently pursuing an MSc. in Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics at JKUAT and holds a BSc. in Biochemistry from Egerton University. His MSc. project aims at comparing the diagnostic performance of enzyme immunoassay, TaqMan array cards, real-time RT-PCR and next generation sequencing in investigation of viral acute gastroenteritis aetiology in Kilifi Kenya. He aims to develop his research profile by participating in high quality scientific research and achieve the highest level in academia while working to improve global human health.
Caroline Mburu
Caroline Mburu holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the University of Nairobi. She is pursuing a Master’s degree in Medical Statistics from the University of Nairobi. She is currently working on cost effectiveness analysis of Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine in Kenya using a dynamic transmission model. Her interest lies in Infectious Disease Epidemiology and dynamic compartmental models of disease transmission.
Andrew Egesa
Andrew has a background in agriculture and is enrolled for MSc. Biotechnology studies at Kenyatta University. He previously trained in Research, Microscopy and Molecular Biology at University of Regensburg, Germany. At KEMRI-Wellcome Trust, Andrew is undertaking research on comparison of diagnostic performance of various real-time PCR kits in investigation of Pneumonia Aetiology in Coastal Kenya. He also has interest in Biopharming, Vaccines and Stem cells research.
Jacqueline Wahura
Jacqueline has a background in Biochemistry and is currently an MSc. Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics student at JKUAT. Her current project focuses on Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Genome Sequencing using the Oxford Nanopore Technology.
Samwel Nyamweya
Supervisors
Dr. Benjamin TsofaNyamweya undertook a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing ( Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology), after which he got an opportunity to work with the USAID under the Site Improvement through Monitoring Systems (SIMS) programme , through which he gained more insight into the state of health systems in Kenya. In addition, he has also worked with LVCT-Health undertaking community health research where he gained skills and knowledge on community health research. During this period he developed an interest in health systems which prompted him to enroll for a Masters of Public Health at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology, of which he is currently pursuing.
Presently, he is an IDeAL MSc fellow, working with Dr. Benjamin Tsofa and Dr. Jacinta Nzinga on Health Systems Research, focusing on the factors influencing career choices of graduate nurses trained in semi-urban settings. He hopes to further his career in Health Systems and help in scaling up the Health Systems in Kenya.
Faith Marura
Faith Marura is an IDeAL Masters Fellow pursuing MSc. Biotechnology at the Centre for Biotechnology and Bioinformatics (CEBIB), University of Nairobi. She holds a BSc. Biochemistry degree from the same university.
She is working on the adoption of the Golden Gate cloning system for enhanced expression of novel Malaria vaccine candidate antigens. Her interests are in Molecular biology and Bioinformatics.
Rachel Njuguna (Deceased)
Peninnah Makusa
Peninnah holds a BSc. in Biochemistry from the University of Nairobi and is pursuing MSc. in Biotechnology from the same university. She is currently an IDeAL Masters fellow. Her study at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust aims to examine the kinetics of antibody responses to Rh5 and EBA-175 merozoite variants in plasma samples obtained from an acute and convalescent cohort of children. She aims to use her research to inform malaria vaccine development.
She has a keen interest in immunology, molecular biology and epidemiology of infectious diseases.
Everline A. Onyango
Everline A. Onyango holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Pwani University. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Microbiology. Her study seeks to understand host-pathogen interactions focusing on the impact of Plasmodium falciparum extracellular vesicles on host immunity.
John W. Oketch
I am a BSc. Molecular and Cellular Biology graduate from Kenyatta University, Kenya. Currently, pursuing my master’s project at KEMRI Wellcome Trust aimed at comparison of the patterns of spread of human metapneumovirus (HMPV) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in Africa using virus sequence data, for my master’s degree in Bioinformatics. I am under the supervision of professor James Nokes, KEMRI Wellcome Trust, and DR. Everlyne Isoe (Pwani university). I am a passionate and keen to build a solid scientific career in biomedical research; specifically, I am interested in genetics of human infectious diseases.
Martha Luka
I hold a BSc in Medical Laboratory Science and Technology from the University of Nairobi and a Post Graduate Diploma (PGD) in Health Research Methods from Pwani University. I have worked as a clinical laboratory technologist at the Nairobi Hospital and interned at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-Kenya. As an IDeAL PGD fellow, I worked on the molecular characterization of human rhinovirus among school-going children. This experience equipped me with numerous molecular and computational skills, and as a result, I won an EANBiT scholarship to pursue an MSc in Bioinformatics at Pwani University. For my master’s research project, I aim to elucidate the transmission pathways of human rhinovirus within and across different scales using whole-genome sequence data. The successful completion of this project will inform public health policies on the management of outbreaks of human rhinovirus, the most commonly isolated viral respiratory agent. My supervisors are Prof. James Nokes, Dr Charles Agoti, and Dr Alii Kiti from Pwani University.
I am interested in virology, molecular biology, pathogen genomics and data visualization.
Joy Kabagenyi
Supervisors
Dr. Charles SandeJoy is an IDeAL and EANBiT funded student pursuing an MSc in Bioinformatics. She holds a BSc. (Biology) from Kyambogo University- Uganda. Currently, Joy is undertaking her research project under the Viral Epidemiology and Control group at KEMRI-Wellcome Trust. Her project aims at profiling immune responses to common and emerging infections in infants during the first years of life. Before joining IDEAL, she worked with the Immunomodulation and Vaccines programme at MRC/UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit. While there she worked on various projects that aimed to understand immune profiles to vaccines such as BCG and MVA85A, and infections such as Respiratory Syncytial Virus and how helminth infections influence these profiles. Her interest in using computational methods to understand host and pathogen interactions specifically integrating pathogen genomics and host functional genomics, as a way to contribute knowledge to vaccine and drug development.
Moses Njagi Mwaniki
Supervisors
Dr. George GithinjiNjagi Mwaniki holds an undergraduate degree in Informatics from Moi University and currently working towards a master’s degree in Bioinformatics at Pwani University. He worked for two years in Software Engineering before moving into Bioinformatics where he’s supervised by Dr. George Githinji and Dr. Pjotr Prins working on exploring virus genomic data using variation graphs using currently existing software and developing new tools. He strongly believes in the ability of graphs to represent sequence data and that the current methods used to represent sequence data will be replaced by methods that inherently represent variation and wants to be there when the change occurs.