Prof. Ayiro (second left) joins LIAS fellows and  board members for a guided tour through the city of Lüneburg which also involved historic depiction tracing it's roots as medieval salt mining hub, architecture that dates to 1400 years old and churches that have existed for 700 years.

From June 5-16, the Vice-Chancellor Prof. Laban P. Ayiro was at the Leuphana Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture and Society (LIAS-CAS), and the Leuphana University of Lüneburg in Germany, on invitation to engage as an Associate Fellow and Expert in Research Methods and Statistics.  

A new institute that admitted its first cohort of research fellows in multidisciplinary fields this year, LIAS-CAS is dedicated to supporting international research fellowships to meet the challenges of a globalized present in an academic way.  It aims to enhance interdisciplinary cooperation, university integration, collaborations, and co-creation.   

To this end, Prof. Ayiro is not only there as an Associate Fellow but also as a key international liaison for North-South Research Collaboration and co-creation that LIAS-CAS seeks to establish.   

Upon arrival on June 5, the VC had dinner with directors, board members and senior fellows of Leuphana Institute of Advanced Studies in Culture & Society (LIAS-CAS).  The rest of his engagements are outlined below: 

June 6–8: the VC attended various LIAS public events that include lectures, workshops, and the official opening ceremony for LIAS-CAS.  

June 7: A lecture titled “Mixed Methods: The Interconnectedness of Research Possibilities in Qualitative and Quantitative Methods,” to post-graduate students and general research interest audiences from Leuphana University.  

On the same day, Prof. Ayiro met with Prof. Marcus Pietsch, a professor of educational science, educational leadership, and quality development Leuphana University under the German Research Foundation (DFG). They discussed possible research collaborations in the areas of educational leadership, mentorship, skills exchange among faculty. Future collaboration with the Leuphana University Faculty of education which Prof. Pietsch leads was also put in motion. 

June 8: Prof. Ayiro and Prof. Joern Fischer highlighted projects that Leuphana University and Daystar University could co-implement.  These include: forestry, bee keeping and finding a point of convergence in the crucial issue of green economy.  

June 13:  Prof. Ayiro led a colloquium for the LIAS fellows. In attendance was LIAS fellows, directors, board members, and Leuphana University professors in education research. He gave a talk titled: "Educational Research and Practice: An African Perspective towards North-South Multidisciplinary Collaboration and Co-Creation."  

Under this topic, Prof. Ayiro presented the current state of education research in East Africa, highlighting education research projects he has done and how such research is applied in the implementation of policies in education in Kenya, with special interest on the Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE), Political Economy Team-Adoption (PET-A Kenya, Non-Rise), done by Daystar University in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania and its impetus on Competency Based Curriculum education policies.  

On the same day, Prof. Ayiro met with the Leuphana University President, Prof. Sascha Spoun along with the Vice-Chancellor of Research and LIAS-CAS Co-Director, Prof. Erich Hoerl, in a meeting that sought to connect Leuphana University to Daystar University. 

June 14: Prof. Ayiro met with the Dean, Institute of Ecology and Professor in Research Methods and Statistics, Professor Henrik von Wehrden.  

The VC’s engagements in Germany have been made possible through the efforts of Daystar University Lecturer in the School of Communication, and substantive HoD Media Film Studies (MFS) Dr. Lydia Radoli, who is a LIAS Fellow. 

On Thursday, June 8, Dr. Lydia Radoli led a media intervention workshop on Trauma and the Visuals in Journalism, which brought together journalists from East Africa, EU, and researchers in the field of visualizing trauma. Also taking part in the hybrid workshop was the Dean School of Communication, Prof. Levi Obonyo who spoke on the context of complex newsroom production and management systems in East Africa. 

It is hoped that out of this engagement, there will be fruitful outcome to connect Daystar University with Leuphana University and create research collaborations in the European Union in general.  

The VC flies back on June 15, 2023. While away, the DVC ARSA Prof. Faith Nguru and the DVC FAP Prof Muturi Wachira served as Acting Vice-chancellors from June 5-12 and June 13-16, respectively.