Vice President for Research and Technology Transfer
It
is my great pleasure to welcome all visitors to the Wolaita Sodo University
(WSU) official website from across the globe! WSU is located in Wolaita Sodo, a
green, beautiful, and culturally-diverse city with seven gates, hospitable
people, nearby tourist attractions (such as the Mochena-Borago Cave, the Mount
Damota, and the Ajora Waterfalls, to mention a few), and the seat for the
president of the Southern Ethiopian Region. Wolaita Sodo University is a young,
vibrant university established in 2007.
Since
2020, the university has been differentiated as an Applied Science University
(ASU), relating to its focus in Agriculture, Geology, Humanities, and
Engineering-Technology, which are identified on the basis of the intact natural
resources, cultural heritage, and indigenous knowledge in its catchment zones,
Wolaita and Dawuro. Quality education and innovative applied research are
sought to support Ethiopia’s ten-year (2021-2030) development plan while also
contributing to the attainment of elements of the United Nations (UN) 2030
agenda for sustainable development. In line with this and as one of the public
higher learning institutes, WSU shoulders the responsibility of producing
graduates with high academic caliber and skills for finding solutions to
development challenges and fitting into the global professional market. WSU aspires to be a technologically
transformed center of excellence in agriculture by 2030. To achieve the vision,
the university is also working in synergy and complementarity with multiple
national and international partners, including the VLIR-UOS (Belgium) and BRTE
(Ireland).
Office of the Vice President for Research and Technology Transfer (OVPRTT) is comprised
of three core directorates namely research affairs, community engagement as
well as University-Industry Linkage and Technology Transfer. The OVPRTT is accomplishing
its public purpose in facilitating the implementation of problem-solving
research, community engagement, and technology transfer across four campus
premises of the university, involving 62 departments in seven colleges and
three schools, with an academic staff profile of three full professors, 47
associate professors, 374 assistant professors, 652 lecturers, 66 assistant
lecturers, and 12 graduate assistants. In line with the reform agenda of the
Ministry of Education, the university is focusing on thematic research projects
involving multiple experts with inter-departmental, inter-college, inter-institutional,
inter-university, and international collaborations, geared towards solving
complex societal problems. Such collaborations would also help in: (i)
identifying the real problem to be tackled; (ii) avoiding duplication efforts;
and (ii) efficient use of research facilities and expertise. We promote
product- or service-oriented research projects, with a motto of Knowledge in Action!
Every
fiscal year, OVPRTT allocates seed money for winning project proposals from the
recurrent government budget on a competitive basis. The office motivates the
academic staff of the university to solicit additional funding from
non-treasury sources to complement the ever-limited government budget for
research and technology transfer. We have developed an automated portal (https://rtt.wsu.edu.et) for
efficient and transparent management of the research, community engagement, and
technology transfer undertakings of the university.
For further details, I kindly request you to keep
in touch via the following contact information:
Zewdneh Tomass Tonjo (PhD, Associate Professor)
Acting Vice President for
Research and Technology Transfer
Email: zewdneh.tomass@wsu.edu.et/ tomasszewdneh@gmail.com
Mobile phone: +251914510397