Howest's postgraduate in sustainable energy together with Ghent University's Bio-Science Engineering's RE-SOURCE LAB, responded to an impactful innovation initiative by the Centre of Excellence in Waste Management, a promising research group within the Makerere University Agricultural Research Institute in Kabanyoro (MUARIK). It proposes a waste-processing biogas production for milk cooling in Uganda's non-electrified rural areas, in order to research a trade-off with the usual solar energy. This concept also creates employment as a bonus (more than pure solar solutions). Howest runs two complementary designed projects to that end. On the one hand, as co-promoter of Ghent University in a north-south research focus through a VLIRUOS Short Initiative. On the other hand, Howest as promoter of an investment project, empowered by the province of West Flanders' Wereldhuis in order to realize a local appropriately dimensioned small-scale digester. This biogas digester maintained by MUARIK, will serve both as a research instrument and as a durable lever for national upscaling.
Link: https://mak.ac.ug/accommodation-student-housing/kabanyolo
Contact: bart.leenknegt@howest.be
Status: site visit by Howest Outreach in August 2025 (on MOU targets such as infrastructure and internships)
