Kenya Science Translation Hub
Kenya Science Translation Hub Inaugurates Multi-Stakeholder Committee to Drive Research Impact and Policy Translation
The University of Nairobi made history on Tuesday, March 17, 2026 by strengthening the link between research and societal impact following the inauguration of a multi-stakeholder committee under the Division of Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) through the Kenya Science Translation Hub.
The committee, formally launched by Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research, Innovation and Enterprise, Prof. Leonida Kerubo, brings together representatives from academia, government, research institutions, and industry. Its core mandate is to enhance the translation of research into policy and practice, with a strong focus on food systems and national development priorities.
Speaking during the inauguration, Prof. Thomas Ochuku, Director of Research, expressed optimism about the committee’s formation, noting that the initiative had been revived with renewed momentum. He emphasized the importance of sustaining the effort to ensure tangible outcomes that benefit society.
In her remarks, Prof. Kerubo highlighted a critical gap in the University’s research ecosystem—limited societal impact despite strong academic performance and global rankings. She underscored the need to bridge this gap by fostering commercialization of innovations and ensuring that research outputs inform policy decisions. She further noted that the committee’s multi-sectoral composition positions it well to deliver on this mandate, with support from the University’s leadership.
Kenya Science Translation Hub leads a Discourse on Theory of Change (ToC)
In an engaging virtual webinar, that piqued the researchers’ curiosity, the Kenya Science Translation Hub (KSTH), kicked off a discourse among researchers in Kenya on the Theory of Change. The virtual webinar, held on Friday, March 13, 2026, was a curtain raiser to an upcoming workshop for early- career researchers set off an interesting discussion on what ToC is. Is theory of Change really practical? Or is it wishful thinking?
In the Friday Morning meeting, Isabel Vogel, AgriFose 2030, spoke to over 100 researchers from the University of Nairobi, Embu and Maseno University on the Theory of Change (ToC).
Ms Isabel Vogel, started by introduction of research to impact and the Theory of Change approach. She set a challenge to participants to rethink what meaningful research truly looks like. she opened with a simple but powerful idea: research should not end with publications. Its real value lies in how it improves lives and contributes to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Early Career Researchers challenged to effectively communicate Research Evidence for Impact in Policy
In a week-long intense training, early career researchers from the University of Leeds and University of Nairobi went through a paradigm shift in how they communicate their research findings for impact in policy and practice for food systems. The training was conducted by the Kenya Science Translation Hub.
The training brought different experts on board; Government, Industry practitioners, Trans disciplinary experts and Communication experts who challenged the researchers in their language use, the placement of research findings in line with the policies and politics of the day, stakeholder mapping, the collaboration of experts from different fields and creation of messages to be communicated to the different audiences.
Universities Unite and Pledge to lead Policy Influence from the Front
On 15th January 2026, The University of Nairobi led by the acting Vice Chancellor hosted vice chancellors and hub leaders from partner universities for the Kenya Science Translation Hub. The meeting’s objective was to sensitize the Vice-Chancellors on this vehicle that would drive change in policies on food systems and enhance awareness to other internal stakeholders on the hub’s planned activities. The Hub, which is an initiative of the AgriFose2030, was launched in October 2025 at UoN, to foster a sustained culture of integrating science translation in curricula and research. The hub will also catalyse and increase the influence of research findings to inform policies especially in the areas of food systems.
The University of Nairobi has been implementing AgriFose2030 for the last 10 years. Speaking during the event, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Nairobi, Prof. Margaret Hutchinson highlighted the Hub as an institution that resonates with the University’s key mandate of transforming society through research findings. She reiterated that, the hub, will train a new generation of scientist who are informed about policy through specialized courses in systematic review, science translation and theory of change methodology which was developed by the AgriFose2030. The hub is also equipping researchers to clearly articulate how scientific evidence leads directly to better policies and better practices that ensure food security and better lives which translate science to impact.
Kenya Launches a Science Translation Hub to Bridge Research Output and Policy
Tuesday, October 28, 2025
‘Good News for Early Career Researchers and post-graduate students in the area of food systems as the Kenya Science Translation Hub will train them for the next one and a half years on how to translate their science findings to impact policies and increase food security in Kenya.’
This was announced during the Launch of the Kenyan Science Translation Hub that was established under the umbrella of the AgriFose 2030 programme on October 22, 2025. The University of Nairobi will lead the hub, in partnership with University of Embu and Maseno University.
The launch was part of the UoN Annual Research and Innovation week under the theme Science to Action. The launch was a groundbreaking initiative with an aim of transforming scientific research into actionable policies and sustainable practices.
