Makerere Institute of Social Research
Kampala, Uganda
Coordinating multi-year research projects, weekly seminars, and doctoral programs at East Africa's leading social research institute
Team Size
35 researchers and staff
Duration
16 months
The Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR) is one of East Africa's most respected academic institutions, producing critical knowledge on political violence, migration, gender, labor, and political economy. Part of Makerere University, MISR runs a rigorous MPhil/PhD teaching program, hosts the renowned Wednesday Seminar Series, publishes the MISR Review journal, and coordinates collaborative research groups across multiple disciplines. The Institute has produced 18 PhD graduates and operates with support from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).
The Challenge
Managing multiple long-running research projects simultaneously; each with fieldwork phases, drafting milestones, and publication deadlines; was creating coordination gaps. PhD students had limited visibility into seminar schedules, research fellows were missing collaborative touchpoints across working groups, and administrative staff struggled to track publication review processes alongside the weekly seminar calendar.
The Solution
MISR adopted TaskMate to bring research project milestones, seminar coordination, PhD program tracking, and publication workflows into a single platform; giving faculty, researchers, and administration a shared operational view.
Implementation
- Created research project workspaces with milestone tracking for fieldwork, drafting, and publication stages
- Built seminar series scheduling and speaker coordination workflows
- Implemented PhD cohort progress tracking with supervisory touchpoints
- Established peer review and publication approval workflows for MISR Review
- Set up cross-working-group visibility for faculty leadership
The Results
Research Projects Coordinated
Researchers & Staff
Seminars Coordinated / Year
Milestone Delivery
"Research at MISR is complex, long-horizon work. TaskMate helped us stay coordinated across projects, seminar series, and doctoral supervision without adding administrative weight. Our researchers can focus on thinking; the coordination happens in the background."
Key Taskmate Features Used
- Multi-year research project milestone tracking
- Seminar series planning and speaker coordination
- PhD cohort and supervisory progress tracking
- Publication review and approval workflows
- Cross-working-group visibility for leadership
Looking Forward
MISR is building a pan-African research network and will use TaskMate to coordinate collaborative projects and joint publications with partner institutions across the continent.
Ready to amplify your impact?
Join Makerere Institute of Social Research and other organizations across East Africa using Taskmate to coordinate their teams and reach more communities.