Research Affairs Directorate

Since its commencement in 2015, the directorate of research affairs has been committed to excellence in research activities in multi-dimensional research designs. Thanks to the current leadership and vibrant academic staff of our university, our directorate is now managing to be one of a leading university in applied science.

The directorate has crafted research agenda/thematic areas which are highly guided by policy concerns, recurrent problems of people in our catchment area and beyond, by individual faculty members’ research interests and projects by sponsors. However, there is a need to strengthen and diversify our thematic areas vis-à-vis the changing needs and demands of our people. While individual scholars would continue to have the freedom to choose topics for research, there is a need to expand the frontiers of knowledge in order to keep with the emerging challenges.

Our directorate expects more research that understands the changes at global level particularly in new concerns on agriculture, health, humanities, geology, tourism, fisheries and sustainability of natural resources. In this context and a direction put forward by ministry of science and higher education of Ethiopia, WSU in general and our directorate in particular will dig out on the above mentioned and many more applied research areas persistently.

The vision of RAD in the next decade is to further develop as an Institute of high international standing and join the league of world class centers of excellence in applied research in agriculture and health disciplines. This vision, despite its challenge, can be achieved by strengthening the present areas of research, diversifying the research focus of the university, mobilizing resources and enhancing our researchers’ capacity in tune with the changes in research paradigms, technologies, emerging trends of the world of research, the intellectual ambience of openness to ideas and plurality of perspective.

In driving our directorate towards the abovementioned vision, we will play key roles in creating collaborations, providing time and space for the very best creative and scientific thinking to take place and to foster partnerships and networks which will engender growth. A number of our academics are already known for their cutting-edge research in their individual fields of expertise; and their convergence at the center is beginning to stimulate new and insightful research which will serve to enrich the intellectual life of the University.

Within the spirit of interdisciplinary, collaborations with University faculty and international visiting fellows, we believe we will be realizing the overarching vision of the University to be a leading applied research-intensive university in Africa, and recognized internationally for its quality, relevance and impact – developing people, creating knowledge and making a difference locally and globally. In the process of doing so, we have excellent support from the vice president of research and community service, Dr.Mesfin Bibiso and unequivocal support of president of our university, Prof.Takele Tadesse.

I look forward to your continued involvement in the activities of the directorate as we move steadily into the future.

Thank You!

Dr.Eyob Eshetu Bekele 

(DVM, MVSc, Associate Prof),

Director, Research Affairs Directorate,

Wolaita Sodo University