UPCHAIN Marks One Year with First Annual Seminar

UPCHAIN is marking one year today.

Prof. Lone Dirckinck-Holmfeld, the project PI, has challenged PHD and MA students supported by the project, as well as the project implementers, to develop “different, inclusive green charcoal innovations” in response to environmental and energy demands, especially in northern Uganda.

“We see that green charcoal can make a contribution to the fight against climate change, how we can reduce carbon dioxide, and how we can achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. What we have learned in the first year is that there is a variety of green charcoal, there is a variety of production systems, and there is a variety of cook stoves,” said Dirckinck-Holmfeld.

Prof. Lone Dirckinck-Holmfeld

She was speaking during the first UPCHAIN annual seminar held May 10, 2023, at Gulu University’s new library, exactly one year since the project was launched.

Among UPCHAIN successes so far, she said, was the enrolment and commencement of studies for six PHDs, 10 MAs, and a postdoc. Other achievements include building collaboration with different partners, media coverage, conducting fieldwork, and starting a community of practice on green charcoal for Gulu City.

Prof. David Okello Owiny, the Gulu University Deputy Vice Chancellor in Charge of Academics, who officially opened the seminar, called for mindset change, even among the researchers, away from using black charcoal to using green charcoal.

Prof. David Okello Owiny

“The villages are very good at producing but they don’t use the [black] charcoal. It goes to cities that even have alternative sources of energy. There is a need for mindset change,” he said.

“Let’s do research with the community which we want to benefit from this research. We cannot keep cutting trees. Let the research we are doing transform the community,” he added.

The seminar was attended by the UPCHAIN sponsored PHD, MA students and a postdoc fellow, student supervisors, local government representatives, a representative from the Office of the Prime Minister, NGO representatives, as well as the managers and the Executive Board of UPHCHAIN.