National Research fund is in the process of developing a national research repository as part of its efforts to advance science, technology and innovation in the country.
Speaking during a stakeholder’s consultative workshop, Chief executive officer Professor Dickson Andala said the fund in conjunction with the British council has completed a comprehensive stakeholder mapping exercise. He said they have already identified 30 Kenyan universities and research institutions endowed with rich repositories on land, water and energy thematic areas.
‘‘24 out of the 30 targeted institutions have nominated us focal persons of which 15 focal persons have been drawn from private and public universities and 9 from research institutions. Data collection tools are ready, and training for data collectors will commence in October 2023.” Said Andala.
He said they have partnered with the Kenya Education Network (KENET) to install and customize D-space software and provide the necessary cloud infrastructure with commissioning of the National Research Repository scheduled for February next year.
According to Andala, , research outputs from projects funded by the National Research Fund(NRF) within the last ten years, focusing on three critical thematic areas of land, water, and energy will be relied on to kick start the project.
In the subsequent phases, NRF will collaborate with various stakeholders to enrich the repository with diversified research on the three areas.
An advisory committee of experts in various domains has been appointed to ensure alignment with international best practices with an open access policy drafted to guide the operationalization of the repository, adhering to international legal frameworks and standards.
