Overview of Department of Chemistry (meeting with VC, Uppsala University) Muhammad Ntale (PhD) Department of Chemistry CONAS Makerere University 29 th November, 2013

Introduction The department started in Has four fully-operational branches:  Physical chemistry.  Inorganic chemistry.  Organic chemistry.  analytical/environmental chemistry.

Main activities Teaching. Research. Outreach to the community.

Undergraduate programs B.Sc (Chemistry Major and Minor) - about 200 students (1 st, 2 nd and 3 rd year). B. Industrial Chemistry- about 200 students (1 st, 2 nd and 3 rd year). Students from the School of Educ. - about 150 students (1 st, 2 nd and 3 rd year).

 Students from Department of Distance Educ. – about 60 students (1 st, 2 nd, 3 rd and 4 th ). Graduate Programs: Master of Science – about 10 students per year. PhD – about 5 students at any given time (at least for the last 5 years). Student population has increased.

There are several common laboratories;  1 for inorganic.  1 for organic.  1 for physical chemistry.  2 for first year and 1specialised laboratory (unit operations lab) for industrial chemistry.  Instrumentation room. Available facilities

Facilities cont. There are also 5 research labs mainly dealing with analytical work. The department has 1 computer lab. 1 room for graduate students. There are two lecture rooms and 1 seminar room. The rest of the space is used as office space.

Facilities cont. –Several pH meters –Analytical Balances –Water baths –Rotary evaporators –Glassware –ICT / E-Learning – thanks to the SIDA support to Makerere –Chemicals

Equipment for research purposes –FTIR Spectrophotometer. –UV-VIS Spectrophotometer. –2 operational GCs and 1 GC-MS. –1 New HPLC system.

Ongoing research Pesticide Residue Analysis. Indigenous Food/medicinal Plants. Plant Pigments. Natural products chemistry. Inorganic Reaction Mechanisms.

Ongoing research cont. Clays and Zeolites as Bleaching Earths. Non-metallic/Metallic derivative species in environmental systems. Other areas such as clinical chemistry.

Staffing DesignationEstablished postsOccupied Professors22 Associate professors33 Senior Lecturers62 Lecturers106 Assistant Lecturers48 Chief Technicians21 Principal Technicians 21 Total 2923

Staffing challenges Academic Staff: –Attraction/Retention at PhD Level still a problem. We are overcoming this by training them from here. –Thanks to ISP/SIDA for the support to build capacity for the University. –Only 10 PhDs out of 21 members. –7 members currently pursuing their PhDs.

Challenges cont.  All the professors are on contract.  Only 3 out of 21 members are Female.  1 PhD for the Industrial Chemistry section.  Poor Staffing in Physical and organic chemistry sections.

Technical and Support Staff: DesignationEstablished postsOccupied Senior Technicians21 Technicians I62 Technicians II122 Lab. Assistants148 Personal Secretary20 Copy typist11 Stenographer10 Lab. attendants93 Cleaner13 Store man10 Total 4920

General Challenges  Understaffing (43 out of 78 occupied).  Competition with other new Universities for trained technical staff.  We need to train/upgrade our staff.

Infrastructural problems In the recent past the department was faced with many other challenges such as non- functional fume hoods etc. Thanks to Professor Peter Sundin for the donation (Fume Hoods). When the ADB funding becomes a reality, the department will get a facelift and some equipment too.

Other problems Organic Lab (lacks most of the necessary materials such as extraction systems, fume Hoods not efficient). Inorganic Lab (apparatus and equipment not enough). Industrial Lab (all equipment is very old and most is non functional; obtained in 1984).

Problems cont. Physical Lab still needs more necessary equipment such as; –pH meters –Analytical Balances –Water baths –Conductivity meters

Problems cont. Running Costs/ Service /minor repairs is also a major problem. There is no gas for heating purposes in all labs. The hydrogen Generator is no longer functional.

Past linkages/collaborations Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Wildlife (Cleaner Production Centre, a UNIDO Project) NEMA Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala Uppsala University (Environ. N, P, S derivatives Project) International Development Research Centre (IDRC) (Indigenous Food Plants of Uganda) University of Bergen, Norway (Research Projects on Environmental Chemistry, Fish Oils and Plant Pigments under NUFU)

Publications Proceedings from regional and international workshops. Several articles in international peer-review journals, e.g,  Journal of chromatography B.  Phytochemistry.  Journal of Food Composition and Analysis.  Chemosphere.  Malaria journal.  American Journal of Oil Chemists’ Society.

Future plans Increase PhDs in Department. Enhance Research collaboration, locally, nationally, regionally and internationally. Encourage staff to search for grants. Improve/Strengthen Quality Assurance.

Future plans cont. Strive to equip/service/repair equipment. Improve /Introduce new Academic programs eg one for pure chemists. Promote/ Improve staffing at all levels. Embrace ICT in Learning/Teaching.

THANK YOU