Clarke International University

Yesterday, at Professor Charles Olaro’s inaugural professorial lecture hosted by @CIUuga, we were honoured to welcome Hon. @CHRISBARYOMUNS1, Minister of Health, as our guest of honour. In his address, he called on us to strengthen the “umbilical cord” between universities, industry, partners and policymakers. And to ensure “cross fertilisation” The image stayed with me. An umbilical cord sustains life through what passes through it. It made me wonder what actually flows through the relationships we have established as institutions, and whether we allow that exchange to change us. Universities have much to contribute. But we enter partnerships with established ways of deciding whose knowledge counts, which questions deserve investigation and what qualifies as expertise. Meaningful exchange asks us to be open to having some of those assumptions challenged. A practitioner may describe a problem that does not fit neatly within our academic disciplines. A community may question whether the issue we want to research is the one that matters most to them. A policymaker may need an answer before our research timetable can provide it. These encounters can be uncomfortable, but they reveal where our ways of working need closer examination. For me, this gives the Minister’s call for “cross-fertilisation” a deeper meaning. We need to consider when we invite others into our thinking. By the time we ask a partner to endorse a proposal or participate in a project, how much room remains for them to influence the question, the priorities or the approach? As university leaders, we might learn something by looking at our partnerships through the decisions they have changed. What have we reconsidered because a partner challenged us? What have we made room for that our own institutional habits might otherwise have excluded? That requires a particular kind of confidence: being secure enough in our expertise to let it be questioned, and willing to share influence over work for which we remain accountable. As I reflect on the lecture, I find myself asking what we at CIU must be willing to change so that the exchange we value can take deeper root. We are grateful to everyone who responded to our invitation and to the partners whose support made this convening possible. We will continue sharing reflections on the lecture and its call to action. @MarieStopesUg @PSIUganda @Seed_Global @ClintonHealthAI @cehurduganda @IDIMakerere Department of National Health Laboratory and Diagnostic Services(NHLDS) Ministry of Health - Uganda @UNFPAUganda @MinofHealthUG @CIUuga @ProfOkiria