RESEARCHERS have been urged to actively take part in disseminating their findings and putting them to good use so as to impact communities.Karrine Sanders, the programmes manager for the association of Commonwealth universities on Developing Research Uptake in Sub-Saharan Africa (DRUSSA), said there is need to shift from the traditional way of doing research to a more pro-active one which involves ensuring that researches benefit communities.“Often researches stay on library shelves and do not get to where they should. Traditionally—and this applies to all universities around the globe – the emphasis has very much been placed on getting research articles into a journal,” Sanders said.“But emphasis is no longer on how much research you have done, but how that research made a difference,” she added.Sanders was speaking, Thursday, after the official launch of the DRUSSA programme at the National University of Rwanda.The Huye-based university is one of the 24 in sub-Saharan Africa participating in the DRUSSA programme. Kigali Health Institute is the other local higher learning institutions supported by the programme.Research uptake involves putting in place the right people, the right systems and right processes within universities to ensure that research makes certain difference in the community and the policy of the government that they are working in, according to Sanders.Prof. Umaru Garba Wali, a senior lecturer and researcher at NUR, said, “We have to rethink and redirect our research in such a way that the ultimate benefit of what we are doing go to the society – the Rwandan, African and global society.”
