“PhD Lunches” provide a platform for a researcher to present aspects of his or her research to other researchers for discussion.
The feedback given helps that particular researcher improve his or her work. It is a forum – attended by students, supervisors and other interested parties – through which peers can support each other by asking critical questions and making vital comments.
PhD lunches were first introduced in Gulu in 2015 by some BSU supported PhD students soon after they returned from their study stay in Denmark. They had attended such meetings in Denmark and found them very useful.
The idea, however, did not snap-up immediately. According to Sulayman Mpisi Babiiha, one of the pioneers, it was probably because at that time there were very few students at Gulu University pursuing PhD studies.
The idea was reintroduced in April 2019 by Julaina Obika of the Institute of Peace and Strategic Studies (IPSS) but it was interrupted by the closure of the university in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
On April 21, 2021, over a dozen researchers convened in the BSU hall at Gulu University to watch and listen to Jackson Abandu, a PhD student in the Faculty of Agriculture and Environmental Studies, present his work on “Evaluation Model of Mobile Banking: Structural Intervention and Consumer Response Analysis.” Among them was the Chair of the BSU Steering Committee, Prof. Charles Nelson Okumu, and the BSU Coordinator, Dr. Agatha Alidri.
“These meetings are for researchers or students to help each other. They also help us [supervisors] form groups of students who are working on projects with interconnections,” said Geoffrey Tabo Olok, the convenor of the first post-lockdown PhD lunch meeting, and one of Abandu’s supervisors, just before Abandu made his presentation.
What followed Abandu’s presentation was a very lively discussion, led by Dr. Nicholas Gregory Okello as the main discussant. Okello is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Business and Development studies and his PhD (conferred 2018) research was in Finance.
Abandu was grateful to the team for identifying gaps in his work.
“When you realise that there is a gap in your work do not wait for the viva. If the gaps stay you need justification for that. Don’t assume the external examiner will understand,” advised Alidri.
The PhD lunch meeting will be held at least two times a month.