Today we're listening to Dr. Wamuchiru, a lecturer at the University of Nairobi in Kenya and an urban and regional planner.

In this episode, Dr. Wamuchiru tells us how to prevent research papers from accumulating dust and being left for referee points, why informality is a key research topic for the future, how to deal with classes with Kenyan undergraduates fresh from high school, why young people should still become academics and more.

David Ehrhardt

Welcome back to AfricaKnows. Today we're listening to Dr. Wamuchiru, a lecturer at the University of Nairobi in Kenya and an urban and regional planner.

In this episode, Dr. Wamuchiru tells us how to prevent research papers from accumulating dust and being left for referee points, why informality is a key research topic for the future, how to deal with classes with Kenyan undergraduates fresh from high school, why young people should still become academics and more. Here is Dr. Wamuchiru.

Charity Mwangi

What do you love most about being in the academic space? Why not in any other space but in the academic space?

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

Well, I'll say the academia is where fresh ideas are breeded, so to speak.

And that is when you meet young and aspiring minds that want to explore, they are those who want to learn, those who want to experiment, and they're looking up to you to be their mentor. If it is in terms of nurturing these ideas from an early stage, then academia is the place. And that is what I love most.

And this goes back also to my inspiration.

When I wanted to do my PhD, I was looking up to professors and looking at the ideas that they have developed over time and putting myself in that path. Looking at when you're beginning your PhD, your idea is not yet well developed and you just want someone to hold your hand throughout.

And now I'm in that space where I have other younger ones who are looking up to me to hold their hands and bring them on the journey up to the time the ideas mature. So that is the space that I really enjoy. And that is one beautiful thing that I love about academia.

Working with young minds, fresh ideas and just being there to mentor them, to see that come to fruition.

Charity Mwangi

Yeah, it's a space where, it's a hub where you're able to nurture ideas that's quite powerful. And of course you're mentioning that you get fresh ideas.

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

Yes.

Charity Mwangi

So how do you tie research and community service in your perspective?

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

Yeah. As you know, research is supposed to be solving a societal problem.

Every research that is, that is funded, however deep it might be in academia, it is about a particular problem that is facing the society.

And so there is the need that, for example, if we are carrying out research on solid waste management, this is a case example which I have participated in.

How do you link all these issues that you are trying to analyze in terms of where the hotspots for solid waste dumping, for example, and how then do you initiate and involve the research participants who include your students, who also includes the stakeholders in the areas where you're carrying out your study, in terms of the residents, in terms of the business operators, and in terms of the governance structures, be it the local government or even the subnational level of government, how do you bring them together in this dialogue and make sure that you're also making an impactful outcome out of your research? So if the research is about these are the sources of solid waste and these are the ones who are contributing to illegal and haphazard solid waste.

At the same time, how do you involve them in trying to shape that behavioral pattern or of either sorting the the waste or either putting the waste to the rightful places and even organizing community cleanup projects that I have done severally. So this is how you tie you. You tie together the issue of research, academia and societal problem solving.

So that is just a basic example, but I could give others. Yeah, yeah.

Charity Mwangi

And it's quite important, that collaborative approach which the university is quite keen on.

Lately I see universities really coming on board to collaborate with the governance structures, as you're mentioning, and also other players within the sector and more importantly the communities that are directly impacted by the work that you're doing. And therefore it's very safe to use the word action research.

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

Exactly.

Charity Mwangi

That's what the university is embracing.

So perhaps to take you back a little bit, I could ask, given that you've shed light about your experiences in the academic space, what are some of the key aspects of your work that gets you to think or to talk?

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

Well, everything gets me talking. Yeah, everything gets me talking.

Because, you know, they say once you're in academia, basically if you're lecturing, you're like a preacher. You're ever speaking. Yeah, but I would say one of the issues or some of the aspects that get me talking is something that is a software.

It's not really perceived the hardware of what I really do in terms of the product that you do see, but what goes back in the background in terms of, in terms of equipping our students to be holistic. You know, it's just not about excelling.

It's not just about writing exemplary proposals and getting the first class honors and doing all the best, but it's that holistic kind of training so that once you produce your student, you're very proud that they are very equipped to go outside and be able to be useful even to others. So I think that is a software that I personally think it is quite interesting, especially when you work with the students organization, the students associations, because that is when you get to remove yourself from the classroom set up. This is also the time that you try to gel with your students. You try to understand other issues that are affecting the students.

Try to understand how do you come in to make sure that you are nurturing holistic human resource personnel. You know, how do you ensure that you also capacity build in your own way in terms of also directing them to where resources are.

Because you see there are students who look up to especially the young academia like myself, I'll say. And they also wondering how did you get there?

But this is something that they may not be able to answer in a class or they may not even be able to ask in a classroom setup. But you can see someone is really wondering about that.

And I have seen that from my personal experience where students during this social gathering they asked me how did you ensure that you get your PhD at a younger age? You know, because the tradition has been that you get your PhD at an older age. Older age, become a professor.

Yeah, and I still be is a gap because even during my time it's not like we were directed. These are the resources, these are the areas that you need to be checking.

So I get this to be my talking point and talking aspects that other than just directing them to do what the university requires me to do in terms of following the curriculum.

There's another extracurricular activity here that I need to step in and make sure that the students are aware of scholarships which which are available when they are issued. They are also aware that it's just not about being a student, but they need to engage in workshops. They also need to attend various talks.

There are lecture talks that are usually announced.

And it is good that our students start to learn and interact at these levels because there they are able to make other networks, start to engage with global debates at an early stage, start to engage in terms of arguing out their points of perspective in this kind of setups.

So I would say those are areas that I would want to remove them from those background hidden areas to become the forefront of what really nurtures a student. Yeah. Yes, absolutely.

Charity Mwangi

Because I think that's the only way to create a well rounded student.

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

Exactly.

Charity Mwangi

Who's a critical thinker, problem solver and also bold students who are ready to face the real world scenarios and come up with solutions. So how perhaps to take a different direction and look at the classroom briefly, how is your typical classroom like?

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

Well my classroom are different according to the various levels that I do teach. I will say like for the undergraduate, this is usually large group, I began with 85 students for one class. Yes.

Initially when I joined the university, I was dealing with very big numbers. 85, We came to 60s, we came to 50s and now we are doing average of 55 and 50 students.

So those are the number of students at least that typify undergraduate classes. And these, as you know, these are fresh from high school. So I will also say their level of maturity differs.

And so you also have to apply different style in terms of approaching them so that there is a good coexistence between the lecturer and the student. Then when it comes to masters, I will also say this.

There's a landscape that has changed or transformed over time since I joined the last eight years. My first typical master's classroom was mostly of older people compared to my age.

So I will get into a classroom and I'll find that most of them were civil servants or government employed persons who have come to get their postgraduate degrees.

And because of that, and by then you can imagine I was even younger than I am then, it meant that I had to also grow my skills in how do I go into adult learning? Because this is a different approach. You're dealing with adults.

What is the adult learning styles and approaches that will keep them interested and also keep them glued. And macule, this master's group are coming for evening classes.

So that means from 8 to 5 they have spent their energy at their workplace classes and now they're coming during the evening, 5 to 7, 5 to 8, when they're tired, you know, and this is the time you're getting in to do your lectures. So I had to shift and over time I would say that more younger and younger people actually freshly from their undergraduates, they're joining us.

Yes, exactly. So right now, even the current class that I do have, they are all young I would say they are all young.

Like they have maybe two years in between their undergraduate. Some are immediate, while some maybe will just have maybe a maximum of five years.

So I'm having younger population now for the typical master's classroom, in terms of numbers, mostly we've been dealing with 20.

Charity Mwangi

And what would you say is the key cause of the changing landscape in terms of the age groups?

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

Well, maybe, I’ll highlight three, which I will say I have not tested the hypothesis, but I'm just thinking maybe this is why we're having more younger people getting into a master's program. One, you've realized that quite a number of them have realized that academia is not for the old people.

Because I'm sure during our time all the professors were old gray hairs, you know. And you'll be like, academia is just for the old people.

So I think more and more younger generation are understanding they can advance their studies, they can step into these more advanced programs at an early age so that they can make their achievement at an early age. Secondly, I will also tend to think is due to the unemployment employment rate that is quite high.

So when somebody graduates with their undergraduate, they take some time before they get a placement in terms of, of job placement.

And so the thing, instead of wasting this time just looking for a job, I'd rather enroll for a master's program so that I continue to advance myself and use the time wisely. So I think that is also another reason that explains why we are having younger people.

Charity Mwangi

yeah.

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

Into this master's program. Now thirdly, I will also say, at least for our program, it is a matter of what is out there in the market.

What is there out in the market is that most of the job position are requesting for a postgraduate level qualification. You'll find that most job requirements require one to have undergraduate and master's masters.

And so they are realizing this early so that they already equip themselves with this master's degree so that they can compete for this high level job or mid level jobs to be with, you know, to be at par with what the market demands for them.

Charity Mwangi

Yeah, perhaps still in the conversation of your classroom and your typical classroom, what are some of the key challenges that you experience while teaching and how do you go about solving some of these challenges?

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

I will say let me begin from the postgraduate level. Now as you know, most of the postgraduate levels are self funded.

We mostly have either just one or two students who are on scholarship, but the rest are self sponsored, meaning they have to pay their own school fees. And we know the school fees is quite a huge amount for them to be able to raise.

So a number of them have to work to get the money to pay the school fees and cater for their needs. And at the same time they have to come and study. So that kind of work study balance affects their progression.

So you'll find that the postgraduate students will do well with the coursework. And then when it comes to the project cases level. Yes, we start now to have stagnation.

A number of them are dropping out or a number of them having different issues. But also by that level the school fees becomes challenging.

Cuz when you look at it, you, you, you try before they now do their project places, they ought to have been done at least with their school fees. But then the school fees is not up to date.

So that challenge and you ask a student, they will tell you I had to take some time off so that I can be able to work and get money.

And you realize the carrying out research, the data collection and even getting some research assistant to enable them do their field work for their thesis requires money. And that is the money that they are looking out for.

So that is the challenge experience, especially with the postgraduate level, that study and work balance makes their progression to be a little bit slow and sometimes it stagnates.

Charity Mwangi

Yeah.

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

Then we come to undergraduate. I will say for undergraduate is two things. It could be that for the undergraduate they are, they are free spirited. Yeah.

These are fresh spirited young generation Gen Z's who also believe they, they do not need to be given a lot of direction, you know, it is not a must, you know.

So I will say with some relaxation in mentorship when they are left to be to exercise their free spirit without adequate mentorship in terms of, of guiding them and just telling them why it is important to clear their studies, you'll find that quite a number of them do not do quality work.

And because of that quality work which can also be tied to another aspect of advancement in technology, there is now a lot of AI application and softwares that we do use to assist us in our literature review and even assist us in carrying out our research. But the way we use it, because there's no right guidance, how do we use it so that we can produce good research. But now we end up abusing them.

And this is very common with the undergraduate.

You are not able to, to ascertain and you are not able to, to differentiate an AI produced report and one that has not has been originally been produced by the student.

Charity Mwangi

Yeah.

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

And this usually comes by the time the student is submitting their report and they have not had an oral presentation of the report. So when they have an oral presentation of the same report and you look at what they submitted, there tends to be some .... A disconnect.

And that is when I say start to investigate how did we arrive at this report? They're very tech survey. But if they're not guided well on how to use this technology, then we are going to lose that.

And I see this is one of the issues that is affecting the, the young ones, especially at the undergraduate level. So there is also these issues of social media. The undergraduate, what I have also experienced experience in class.

They are mostly looking at their Instagram, you know, they are busy looking at other people's vlogs and all that. And this is time that they are wasting.

Yeah, they can use the same platform to learn something, to advance their knowledge and even get some of the answers that they do have.

But they are using it just for social purposes, which is making like using bigger proportion of their time on, I would say not advancing, you know, them in, in growth in terms of academics. So I see that is also one of the aspects that tends to take them a little bit behind.

Charity Mwangi

So how do you go about helping in addressing some of them, especially for these masters level?

Is there flexibility within the university that allows these students to still perhaps conduct field work and begin their projects and then perhaps pay later? How do you go about helping these students?

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

Well, I will say in terms of helping them, it's at different level there are those which are institutional issues, which means the university administration has to come in, and then there are those which you are able to do at your individual level.

But what I will say is this concerning the family work study balance for the postgraduate, we try as much as possible to accommodate them through blended learning. For them, we do not require that they are here physically at the university every day because of distance challenges.

Some of them are also hosted at different regions within the country and they're not able to come for the physical classes.

So we try as much as possible to accommodate them through blended learning, whereby we have online classes, we also have online workshops, we also have online discussion.

Even when you're supervising a student, it's not a must they come to, to your office, but you can always have a zoom meeting, you can always have this online discussion just to make sure that wherever the student is and also wherever you as a supervisor is, you're able to make progress. And even in terms of delivering lectures that they're able to, to sign in and be able to attend to their classes.

So at least for the Master's program, that is one way that we have tried to address their concerns. Because they give us these concerns early enough at every beginning of academic year, they raise this concern. I am working at this particular place.

It will be difficult for me to come to the university every day. And so that is one of the ways that we have tried to do to solve it.

Now, another thing that I have seen also working is if we as staff are able to put in research grants. Yeah, you try to include this element of scholarship within your research grant.

It has happened like I think it is three years ago, whereby the department lecturers, we came Together put in a proposal and we got funded. And within that we had a section whereby at least we support the field data collection. First of eight master's student.

So that is one way of helping them to cover the burden of finances.

And also in terms of just making sure that we have chipped in in a way, in terms of giving them some financial support, even if it's not full scholarship. But now that is where we are headed to.

How do we apply for more research grant that offers even full scholarship to quite a number of them so that they are able now to fully concentrate on their studies. Exactly. And keep them in school.

There is also this issue that is mostly institutional in terms of the student accommodation, which is also creating another problem at the undergraduate level. Because what we have realized over time, most of the students are seeking accommodation outside the university.

The university hostels that was able to get well during our time is no longer able to absorb the merging number of students who are enrolled at the university. So most of them are commuting from various points of the city.

And this means that they are having to commute in the morning during the peak hours, so they come late for classes. Especially if you have the morning classes, you will feel the brunt of it.

Because most of my classes actually the first ones in the morning and they get late. And when you ask them why are you late? They tell you, I was in traffic. And you ask them, so where do you seek your accommodation?

They are seeking accommodation from very far places. So this is something that we have taken as, as, as concerned lecturers.

And we have communicated the same to the university administration to look at ways of enhancing the student accommodation.

Either they get into partnership because of the cost, they get into partnership with other organization to at least see whether they can revamp some of the land that is not adequately used currently to put up some university hostels or even partner with other organization which are providing university host hostels at an affordable rate and make this recommendation to the student that if you're seeking accommodation, you don't need to go this 30 kilometers away, that these available hostel facilities near the university where you can seek out your accommodation and at least relieve the burden of long commute time. So that is also another information that we have made it to be there, you know, to be… We made this information to be made publicly to the students so that they know where to seek these hostile facilities. And of course, we have even been talking about these issues of AI and we are partnering with other organization.

There are quite a number of webinars there are quite a number of talks that are lined up for this semester. I can least to educate the staff and the students on how to use AI in research in a more positive manner.

So these are some of the initiatives that you are taking to make sure that we are at par with technology but also using it positively and addressing some of the issues. Yeah. So I think I can briefly mention that.

Charity Mwangi

Combining human intelligence are not abusing AI at the expense of human intelligence.

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

Yes.

Charity Mwangi

And of course I totally agree with you on the element of student accommodation. I think it's become quite expensive. You know, three years ago it was about 6,000 the most expensive hostels. Right now they are 40,000.

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

Exactly.

Charity Mwangi

It could be that perhaps university could even have rooms where students cannot afford the existing rates.

And I don't know that again as you mentioned, is an institutional issue that is way perhaps even beyond you but perhaps, you know, just changing direction a bit. How do you prepare students, you know, to be ready for the job markets?

Charity Mwangi

More specifically the undergraduate, because we think perhaps the masters are already working somewhere. But for the undergraduates, how do you prepare them for the job markets?

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

Okay, I will say for the undergraduate, and I will use this example of a research that I was running.

There is a research grant that I had applied together with my colleagues on urban transportation and how our urban transportation is friendly or unfriendly to persons with disabilities.

And our approach was action research whereby we understand the problem, we work with those who are affected, we work with those who are supposed to be implementers, we come up with a solution and we again implement the intervention to see how it is received and whether it is bringing out the outcome that is needed.

Now if you look through this kind of research that we did, you'll see that it is very practical oriented in as much as it has a lot of policy implication and of course grounding it theoretically. So in this kind of program we engage like four yearstudents. And this usually comes when they are at their level.

At for their level they're supposed to write their research project thesis. Yeah, A planning research project project and a development research project.

So when you have that kind of a design, it means that you're also making provision for practical learning so that you are able to engage your students through the problem identification.

How do you do they articulate these problems into solutions so that by the time they are able to graduate, you know that indeed they can be able to run a program, they can be able to be useful and they are ready made in terms of solving the issues that whatever agency places them into. So that is one way that I will say I try to, to use to make sure that we ground our students into employable persons.

Another aspect of making sure that they do have experience vis a vis the academic qualification is through short term projects and also through internship. You know, most of them will approach us for internship opportunities.

Charity Mwangi

Yeah.

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

And in as much as they maybe they will have graduated at fourth year level or even at third year level, then we give them this opportunity.

If I know of a consultancy that is doing, doing a certain project and they do require some project persons, I also negotiate for, you know, pro bono services but use it as a learning platform for them to be able to gain the skills throughout their project.

I have done that with several of the undergraduate students and this has been helpful so that by the time they are graduating they already had that practical orientation into how the world of practice looks like. So those are the two avenues that I can mention for now.

Apart from of course engaging them in my individual research work just to be there as a personal mentor as we carry out research that is within my docket even up to the time they graduate and afterwards. Yeah, keep them engaged. Exactly.

Charity Mwangi

And of course I know the University of Nairobi, more specifically the Department of Urban and regional Planning, which is very tight teach, is quite robust and active in collaborating with institutions to ensure that the students get short term internships as part of their long holiday break activities.

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

Yes.

Charity Mwangi

And that really orient them well to the career space or to the professional space. And of course I can proudly say I'm part of that beneficiary.

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

That's good.

Charity Mwangi

Students who are linked to the students who are linked to the practice space. And your own. And of course that has defined my career trajectory to date.

And maybe the other question, how do you teach students to engage with complex problems?

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

Yeah, well, you know, the level of, how do we call it? The, the different. The, it's called the Bloom's taxonomy, whereby you engage your students at different levels.

So for me, I usually ask myself, at what level is a university graduate supposed to be? They're supposed to be developing a model, for example, they're supposed to be formulating a plan at that level, isn't it?

They're supposed to be coming up with an innovative and creative way of solving an urban problem, problem or original problem. So if that is the level, then it means that I have to inculcate in them the critical thinking level.

This is not the time just to acquire knowledge for understanding sake.

We are supposed to move the understanding of that Knowledge to the level of critical perspective, critical interpretation, critical analysis for them, now to be able to innovate and develop and formulate a solution.

So once I understand that and I introduce to them this Bloom's taxonomy and I tell them, at this level, it's not like your high school where you are trying to even cram issues. At this level from early, you have to have this critical analytical lens. And how do you ensure that happens?

Now it is just not a matter of me getting into a classroom and lecturing through my PowerPoints or even just through my notes or giving them handouts and giving them articles to read. It is a matter of making sure that I present to them a scenario. Making sure that they are able to break down this scenario in smaller groups.

So that means I'm just not doing mainstreamingly lecturing, but I am putting them into a seminar like environment.

Charity Mwangi

Yeah.

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

Whereby I put them into three people or four people. The maximum I have is five people per group.

I present with them a problem, be it the issue of urban transportation, be it the issue of informality, be it the issue of climate change, Each of those groups are supposed to break that down with some structured question and guidance. And in that smaller group, then it means everybody is able to participate and everybody is able to give their inputs.

And you're able to see that from that class discussion of smaller groups.

How then do they make that presentation in terms of how they have understood and what they are coming up as the analysis and what they are presenting as a solution?

So this is one of the setup that I have highly recommended even to my colleagues that it's just not about issuing handouts, making sure that at the end of every theoretical courses and units, let's have a practical side of it to translate it into very practical issues.

That way they are able to look at an issue, theoretically, conceptualize it, come up with analytical framework of looking at the issue, but even breaking it further into very practice oriented issues and aspects. And they're able to model this even as you move on with other aspects of your unit.

So I think this is one of the areas that I believe has shown a lot of potential and I'm happy with it.

Charity Mwangi

Just simulate real life situations.

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

Exactly.

Charity Mwangi

In these spaces so that students are not very theoretical but are dealing with real case scenarios. And of course everyone has a chance at bringing in their unique solutions. And that's the beauty of this teaching.

You know, every solution is, is valid with a bit of guidance here and there.

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

Yes. Yeah.

Charity Mwangi

So perhaps moving a little bit to the element of research. Maybe I would ask you, how do you really come up with your research topics and even the methodological approaches and your methodological approaches and what you find valuable about this?

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

Yeah, one of the direction that we do use is where is the funding for this research? And you see some of this funding come with an already predefined topics, you know.

So for example, for example, right now there's a lot of funding that is going to climate resilient issues. There is also funding that is going to transitioning in from one form to the other.

You know, like for example, moving to renewable energy, if I may give that as an example. So there are calls when you try to analyze, they are moving towards funding research that is looking at particular aspect of a predefined area.

Now there are others which are flexible and this I can also give an example in terms of how do I make sure that my research is also helping to capacity build and train our university staff and students. Where is the gap? So for example, if I have identified there is a gap in terms of Ph.D. supervision.

And so my aim here is to ensure that we have a workshop that discusses PhD supervision aspects. And so then I will get a topic out of that, I will write a proposal out of it and seek funding for that.

There is also the issue of how do I encourage more and more people to write their research proposal within maybe six months or one year? Because I have realized a lot of, a lot of students take like even two years to write a PhD to write a proposal.

Writing a research proposal is the most difficult phase that I have seen.

Charity Mwangi

Yeah.

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

And so because of that I've also taken the initiative to think how do I ensure that I try to chip in in terms of coming up with the relevant topic for our research that still covers this component of writing PhD proposal. So I will say my inspiration comes from various angles. As I've said, it comes from where the funding is coming from.

It also comes from the gaps that have experience in the course of my service at the university. It also goes with what I am passionate with, you know.

And so there are also those fundings which, which come and they are not predefined in terms of the area that you're supposed to be carrying out your research on.

So these are the ones that I'll say they are very flexible in terms of now advancing capacity building and also in terms of filling some of the gaps that have experienced in the course of my service at the university.

Charity Mwangi

Yeah, and, and of course you've mentioned that I don't know, perhaps there is no measure.

But you know, I don't know whether a lot of the research that comes your way is the one that is already predefined in terms of it has, is already a research topic. And what is needed is just for you to research in these areas or whether most of them are open in nature.

And perhaps just a little bit of what's your opinion on this research that is already usually predefined. Do you feel that it addresses some of the key challenges that you have observed as a researcher and as an academician?

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

Well, I will say in terms of balancing, I try to balance because I think a bigger chunk of the research that I do, and this I do in partnership with my postgraduate and even undergraduate level comes from within ourselves, you know, and this means we also dedicate our personal resources in carrying out these researchers. They may not be of a bigger scale as compared to the researchers that are funded, they're of smaller scale, but they have policy implication.

And we have published several policy brief for the government to be informed on what areas they need to redirect their policies. So I will say that constitutes the largest part of the research that I am in. Since I already have an experience.

My PhD was already predefined and I will say I had my original PhD. That was what exactly I wanted. But because I did not not have funding to self fund my PhD, I had to forgo that and fit within this predefined one.

At the end of the day I will ask myself, you know, did the means justify the end or the end justify the means? Was I able still to articulate my ideas? Was I still able to articulate some of the problems that are facing our country,our cities?

Was I still able to make some recommendation areas of intervention? Yes, I did. So I will say each of them have different implications.

The good thing about the funded researchers is because of scalability and also the issue of wide experience, because some of them come with exchange learning and also some of them come with external supervision, meaning that you are also gaining from other expertise.

It also comes in the sense that the teams are usually constituted to be multidisciplinary, meaning you're getting experts who are not only urban planners either you're getting environmentalists, you're getting sociologists, you're also getting legal minds into the team. And so this opens up a lot of opportunities for growth.

Especially in this era where we are seeing we are dealing with very wicked problem, we are dealing with very complex problems where a single discipline is not able to tackle fully. And so it involves a multidisciplinary, a multi stakeholder approach for you to be able to address some of these issues holistically.

So that is the advantage that comes with funded research and even the ones which are predefined.

And I will also say for our context, because we know that here in Kenya, research is not funded that much, we have very limited opportunities to fund research, and especially research that is in the social sciences, you'll find most of the research is being directed to natural sciences, and that means that you have to look for opportunities over and above what is available locally. So I will say opportunities are there.

You just need to also grow out of your comfort zone and also learn how to network with people from other disciplines so that even if there is a predefined topic that you think it is not applicable in your area, Once you have this kind of this kind discussion, you realize everybody has a stake in whatever topic that comes. And this is why I would say it has advantages, especially in the scale of research that you do.

Charity Mwangi

Yeah, I think that's quite useful and perhaps still related to that and as we approach the close of the podcast is what are some of the methodological approaches, or rather, what would you say are your methodological approaches to research?

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

Yeah, well, I will say that I'm very flexible in terms of applying the right technique, the right method for different kind of research. Not every research requires key informant interview, for example. Not all researchers require action research, for example. You know, there's some.

There's some research which are just to explore. And I like to do that, especially with my students when we are exploring a new area, you know.

And so I would say that I adapt and I'm also able to be open in terms of what exactly is the objective of the research? What exactly is the question that I'm trying to answer with a particular research?

Can that question be answered just by reviewing literature and doing some content analysis in terms of understanding the trend and the issues that are popping up from this literature, even without going to the field?

Because I have come from this school of thought whereby I have been traditionally trained that for research you always have to go to the field to collect data. And you say that I'm doing data collection. Yeah. And in this sense, data collection is implied, that you are in a certain field, a specific location.

Charity Mwangi

Yeah.

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

And you are engaging people in trying to get some empirical evidence.

Charity Mwangi

Yeah.

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

But after some time, and even in my growth as an academian and as a researcher and as a scholar, I've realized some of the questions that you need to answer, they don't need you to really go to the field and do all that.

Right now we are having a lot of technological advancement, even in terms of having satellite imageries for certain areas, for certain settlement. You can do your quantitative spatial analysis just to understand even the issues of urban sprawl.

You know, you want to understand the extent that we, that we are having land use cover change. You know, once you get this satellite imagery, you are able to do your special analysis from your desktop.

You don't need to go on the ground unless it is really necessary now to go and, and you have full funds, you know, full funds to, to carry out that empirical verification.

Yeah, but in terms of even trying to do triangulation and you look at the kind of literature that is emanating, for example, still in this area of urban sprawl, you're able to use this literature, you're able to, to use some of the statistics from previous studies, and then you're able to acquire the latest image, do your special analysis and still understand and be able to direct indeed. Are we having a urban sprawl in this area or are we not? And even at what, at what speed, you know.

So I will say I'm very flexible in terms of the methods, in terms of the approaches that I do use. Sometimes there are also some methods which have been least applied.

For example, there's some traits that you want to understand and it requires somebody with institutional memory, maybe somebody who has lived during and through different political regimes in our country.

Charity Mwangi

Yeah.

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

Somebody who has understood the transition from even previous government structure to the current evolved structure. And this person is able to engage you in a very deep conversation that is able to answer the, some of the, the questions. Exactly.

So I will tend to think that this issue of being closed that you have to arrive at 120 respondents, for example, whereas there are two or three people who have already given deep insight into that.

But also depending on the methods that you have have proposed to use and informed by the research question that you intend to solve, I will tend to speak from this school of thought that not everything necessarily requires that you have the calculation of sample size of 120, when maybe you just need three. There is also the issue of, you know, utilizing informal workshop setups.

You know, sometimes you want to get an issue quickly, depending also on the duration of the research. There's some research that you require results very quickly.

Charity Mwangi

Yeah.

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

How do you ensure that you adapt your methods to get this information quickly?

Sometimes we just organize a quick round of table, a quick round of workshop whereby we have the specific target population just to engage in this rapid conversation around the questions that we want answered. And you get your results just at one sitting or even in a three day workshop.

Charity Mwangi

Yeah.

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

So does that mean also you have to go…? So I will say there are so many formats of methods and approaches where I deem suitable.

Charity Mwangi

So I know you mentioned in our dialogue and in our conversation, the words partners has come up very much often, but maybe I would want to ask you, how important is collaboration for you in research?

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

Collaboration is the key. You know, I don't think there's any research that I have done without collaborating, whether I am with a student.

We are in a partnership, you know, we are in a collaborative effort to make sure that this research is conducted from the beginning up to the end.

Most of the research also that we have gotten through research grants, it is through a collaborative effort, even just from submitting an application which is bringing in partners from Mozambique, partners from South Africa, partners from the Netherlands, partners from Germany, all together in terms of making sure that we, we are learning from each other, we are having cross pollination of ideas, we are also making sure that we are having a mix in the team and different context. And we are also mobilizing resources from different partners, bring a certain level of resources. So I will say collaboration is key to research.

And if you are to make also your research impactful, it means that you need collaboration from the civil society organization, you need collaboration from the grassroots level, you need collaboration from the academic institution, government institution, and also the institution that is funding this. So collaboration is the key moving forward. This output that is coming from the research, it's going to be implemented.

What if you've not involved the person who's going to implement the output of your research, you know? Yeah, that is why we explain to them. Exactly.

Charity Mwangi

You have to try getting their buy in.

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

Exactly.

And that is why most of the research remain just as publication or they just remain accumulating dust, you know, because it did not see the daylight of actual implementation.

And I would say this should be the way forward, that the government has to be involved at all levels, either the national, regional, sub national level up to the local level, the civil society have to come in.

We have to engage even the research participants from where we are carrying out this study and the academic institution and any other collaborator that is relevant in any kind of research setup. Because we do not want ideas just to be left for publication and earning, you know, referee points, you know, for promotions and all that.

We also want to have impactful research. Exactly.

Charity Mwangi

Impacts on the ground. And of course, I know you. You've really emphasized the power of collaboration and why it's very important.

Are there scenarios of where you face challenges, the collaboration journey, and how has that been like for you?

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

Of course, collaborations come with their share of challenges. There is the issue of power imbalance that usually comes up, you know, there is usually the lead partner and then there are other support partners.

And in as much as we understand support partners are very crucial. They always seem to take like the lesser powerful position, you know, and sometimes it creates conflicts.

So I will say in terms of managing power and how do you balance that for the fruitful outcome of that? Collaboration is a crucial skill, especially for the lead partner or even the project lead.

They have to have very good skills in making sure there is good interpersonal skills amongst the team members. There is equal and clear roles and responsibilities of each partner who is coming on board.

Everybody understands, you know, and there is also the issue of regular meeting.

You know, whenever you have regular meeting, regular discussions, it really helps with a very big project and where we have different collaborators so that they are very much aware of what is happening. And of course a way of tracking the progress.

You know, that is a calendar which, whether you are the lead, whether you are the supporting partner is following. So that is very crucial in terms of managing these collaborative projects.

And of course another thing is about where the bigger chunk of the funding goes, you know, because I've also had instances where the supporting partners perhaps are getting the lesser share of the funding, yet they're the ones who are supposed to be in the field, yet they're the ones who are supposed to be doing the bigger chunk of the work, whereas the project supervisors get the bigger chunk of the funding and quality check. But in the actual, you know, implementation of the project, it. It is felt like they just are coordinating or so to speak.

So I think in terms of balancing also the funding will is one of the area that I've seen conflicts and if it can be resolved early enough so that you allocate adequate funding for each project component that will enable the collaboration to run smoothly.

So these are obvious issues, but I believe in every kind of a setup there is a mechanism to resolve in case conflicts arise.

Charity Mwangi

Absolutely. And there's always room to make it better.

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

Exactly.

Charity Mwangi

Of course, as you mentioned, it's very important to also have a risk mapping just to anticipate this could be the likely challenges and addressing them before her perhaps as we close the interview is, maybe want the audience to know, what are some of the topics you would advise the next generation of PhD students to focus on?

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

Well, I can have a few suggestions and not to impose on them.

Charity Mwangi

Yes.

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

But I will say, say a good topic is one that is one that is well informed by the context, the local context. So for the upcoming researchers and for the upcoming doctoral students, I will throw this to them.

What exactly it is that they are confronted with on a day to day basis?

Sometimes we look for topics from very far away places which are even in different contexts, not the context that we do experience on a day to day basis.

I will tell them to look around them, look at their society, look at the organization of spaces where they are living, where they are working, they are transitioning from one space to the other. What exactly confronts them and challenges that them on a daily basis. That is actually where the topic lies on, you know. Yeah.

So instead of just giving them directly the topic, I will tell them those are the pointers at the end of the day. We, especially Kenyans, have been grappling with certain problems for a very long time without resolving them fully.

Charity Mwangi

Yes.

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

And one of the issues that I can mention is still on the issue of urban informality. Informality that cuts across the economic sector, the housing sector, informality that cuts across the transportation sector, even our governance.

You know, we are just not running the city with the, you know, the legal structures. There are also other structures which have come and they play a crucial role in terms of how business is being conducted. Exactly. Yeah.

So this is one of the area that we have been grappling with for 50 decades or even more.

So I will still say it is still a fertile ground for a possible PhD topic to be able to, to address one of this area in a very creative way and just to see what have we been doing wrong all these years.

Looking at the volume of researches and productions of publication from this area, what exactly are we still missing that we haven't yet found for us to resolve the issue of informality across various dimensions and sectors, as I have pointed out. So I think that is where I can leave it at.

Charity Mwangi

Yeah, that's quite powerful.

Perhaps the last question for me, I know this one was on topics, but now in general, what advice do you have for the next generation of PhD students and young researchers who are looking to join either the academic space or even the research space?

Elizabeth Wamuchiru

Well, I will say they should occupy this mansion of academia. I am lonely when I look around and I'm surrounded with lesser and sometimes no younger researchers or no young academics.

So I will tell them to occupy this mansion. The opportunities are there for growth. And as I stated I earlier, it's just not about being in classroom teaching.

Research is also very practice oriented. And you see we are also doing consultancy as a university where we are able to become government advisors and advisors to so many other programs.

So they should feel that academia is no longer traditional in the sense that it ties you just to classroom, but it is opening up and there are quite a number of opportunities that they should be able to come and occupy so that we grow in numbers. In 10 years to come, I will no longer be referring myself as a young academic or as a young researcher.

And yet I have seen since I was employed, that is eight years ago, I have not seen any new recruitment. And like is it that the young ones are not a applying for these opportunities? So they need to come in numbers. The opportunities are there.

They will be able to apply their ideas, their creativity, their innovative ideas in a very good environment where this can be nurtured and even be innovated and patented.

You know, if someone has to go all the way into innovation and you know, even attending some of the ideas or even the products that come out of research. So this is a very good environment for young researchers. And I would say opportunities are there, they should grab it.

And I will be happy if I see the numbers growing and starting to change also from the older generation to the younger generation, shaping the future of academia in this country.

David Ehrhardt

Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Africa Knows.

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