Directorate Of Research Publication And Innovation(DRPI)

Dr. Harrieth Godwin Mtae (PhD)
Director DRPI

About the Directorate

The Directorate of Research Publication and Innovation (DRPI) at The Open University of Tanzania coordinates activities of Research and Development (R&D) and Science Technology and Innovation (STI). Its mission is to provide a conducive environment for research and promote the conduct of research that is in line with Tanzania’s National Research Agenda. In addition, the Directorate coordinates capacity building activities that enhance the University’s research and publication outputs and advance frontiers of knowledge.

MAIN FUNCTIONS

Promoting and coordinating sustainable research, publication and innovation culture within the university
Facilitating research collaboration within and outside the university
Advising DVC-Academic on policy matters in areas of research, publications and Innovations
Supporting staff in developing fundable research proposals by organizing seminars and workshops
Coordinating multidisciplinary research teams to develop large scale projects
Developing guidelines on the sourcing and effective administration of research funds
Searching funding opportunities and dissemination of information about funding
Ensuring that university research policy and agenda are implemented effectively and efficiently
Overseeing of relevant research ethics policy and operational procedures
Documentation of research database including archiving of data in retrievable (electronic data bases)
Overseeing and coordinating all OUT publications; journals, learning materials, text books etc.
Safe guarding the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) of the academic community of the university.
Generating income to the university through conducting research and publication, training workshops, sales of OUT publications and through research institutional fees obtained from external research projects.
Marketing of OUT research, publication and innovation capacity to wider community including research community, industry and government.

OUT RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES

The Open University of Tanzania is spread all over the country
It has 32 regional and study centres in both the mainland and the islands
Hence, well paced to conduct community development research projects.
OUT has coordination in universes in Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, and Ghana
Has signed MOUs with universities in Zambia, Ghana, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Ethiopia, South Africa, Namibia etc.
OUT has existing collaboration links with several universities abroad such;
Open University of UK, South Korea etc.
This creates a great opportunity for Internationalization of research activities at OUT
Above ALL: the unique Open and Distance Learning Mode of education Delivery. This creates an added advantage in ODL based research activities

OUT Research Capacity

OUT has highly trained manpower in education, natural and social sciences, business studies, agricultural sciences, natural resources and environment management sciences as well as law research.
This rich human resource includes a body of about 330academic staff with 114
More than50 ICT technicians
About 2,000postgraduate students and 10,000 undergraduate students