KIU, Western Campus – Ronnie Ssonko (second right), a third year student of Mechanical Engineering at KIU Western Campus, had always been bothered by the perception that students from private education entities are always fed with theoretical content and can therefore not cope with the practical world.

On September 20th, 2023, he decided to act on something he had always wanted to do – form a students’ club at KIU Western Campus that would spearhead research and innovation. Collaborating with colleagues like Joseph Lubega Kisembo, a third-year Pharmacy student, he started up the Mind Hub.

 “We created the Mind Hub to concentrate on innovation and research because we are scientists and we need a platform to air out our ideas and to connect our minds together,” Ssonko says.

“People do projects in class and have nowhere to showcase them because they only present them to lecturers to get marks but if they presented them to their fellow students, they would start coming up with new ideas to implement them,” he adds.

He notes that he was aware that the university promoted innovation and research through its Directorate of Research, Innovations, Consultancy and Extension (D-RICE) but he wanted to encourage a student-based approach to embrace research through activities organized by the Mind Hub Club.

He says such activities include collaborations with faculties and schools from other universities to do research activities, mentorship programs coordinated by successful alumni, showcasing projects from KIU in exhibitions, organizing research competitions with other universities, among others.

“We want to create an eco-system of research, where we create groups so that we can create a strong culture of research because we are mostly a science-based university,” he notes.

“Our target is that in 5 years to come, the Mind Hub KIU will connect all people from different backgrounds to be able to solve national and global problems,” he reveals.

He states that they want to attract people who can support their projects as investors and also compete for research grants so that they can find solutions to real societal problems like unemployment.

The Mind Hub, whose motto is “Connect, Build, Innovate” hopes that it can help maintain an environment where research and innovation are top of the agenda so as to create a progressive and self-sustainable future for everyone.