Our Profile
The Gap We Address
Africa represents 15% of the world’s population but carries 25% of the global disease burden while producing only 2% of global research output. The continent has just 15% of the world’s health researchers, with an average of 20 per million people, the lowest globally compared to 244 per million in Europe. In Uganda, the figure drops further to 6 researchers per million (FTE). This severe imbalance highlights the urgent need for African-led, context-specific research to inform decision-making, strengthen health systems, and drive sustainable and inclusive health and development solutions.
SRF Research and Training Centres (SRF-RTC)
SRF Research and Training Centres Ltd (SRF-RTCs) is a non-profit research organization based in Uganda, dedicated to advancing Africa’s development through high-quality research, innovation, and capacity strengthening. Established as a mission-driven research and training organization, SRF-RTC designs and implements research, builds research capacity, and promotes collaborative partnerships across disciplines and sectors. It operates alongside the Soar Research Foundation (SRF) Limited, which provides sustainability through consultancy, training, project evaluation, and research dissemination services. Through its flagship programme, the Support Initiative for African Researchers (SIFAR), SRF-RTC mentors and trains students and young professionals, equipping emerging African researchers with the skills, experience, and leadership needed to drive sustainable development across the continent. SRF-RTC’s vision is a sustainable, healthy, and prosperous Africa driven by empowered African researchers, homegrown innovation, and research excellence. Its mission is to establish one-stop centres for health research, training, and innovation, with a focus on vulnerable populations and building human capital for sustainable health and development solutions. Its core goal is to improve health and development outcomes in Africa through strengthened research capacity and context-specific innovations. Located in Mbarara City, South-Western Uganda, SRF-RTC serves a region of approximately 5.4 million people across urban, peri-urban, and rural settings, including Nakivale refugee settlement. The organisation has multiple in-house units supporting end-to-end research operations, including clinical research, grant management, community engagement, regulatory affairs, data and laboratory management, pharmacy services, logistics and procurement, IT, training, innovation, and consultancy services. SRF-RTC works through a network of over 70 participant recruitment sites or health facilities and partners with accredited laboratories, guided by its established Community Advisory Board for contextual relevance. The Centre contributes to national research forums within the Ministry of Health, participates in continental research consortia like GLISTEN that promotes Clinical Trials in NCDs (https://glisten.squarespace.com/) and Partners with Uganda RedCross Society (https://redcrossug.org/?s=Soar+Research+Foundation), thus expanding its reach and influence. The SRF-RTC team is multi-disciplinary and experienced in epidemiology, implementation science, clinical trials (Phase I–IV), pre-clinical and diagnostic research, medical device studies, sexual and reproductive health research, and health systems strengthening. Staff also serve in regulatory bodies, ethics committees, and Ministry of Health advisory structures, supporting policy development and research translation. Our research fields of interest include: Public health, Antimicrobial resistance, Bioinformatics, Climate and health, Clinical medicine, Digital health, Environmental health, Epidemiology, Health economics, Health policy and systems research, Implementation science, Microbiology, Parasitology, Social and behavioural sciences and Veterinary and One Health sciences, etc
Our Work
SRF-RTCs operates as a one-stop center for research excellence with 8 core strategic components as listed above. (1. Research Design and implementation 2. Research training and Capacity strengthening 3. Private research services and consultancies 4. Community engagement and knowledge translation 5. Project evaluation, impact assessment, and scalability 6. Research Evidence synthesis and book production 7. Research regulation and policy 8. Research career inspiration and advocacy) The organization designs and implements its own research and also functions as a Contract Research Organization (CRO), partnering with other research organizations, individual researchers, the private sector, international organizations, donors, governments, industry, civil society, and academia to deliver tailored, collaborative, research-based solutions. (Click to download SRF-RTCs Brochure)
Our Vision
A sustainable, healthy, and prosperous Africa, driven by empowered African researchers, homegrown innovation, and research excellence.
Our Mission
To establish one-stop centres for health research, training, and innovation—focusing on vulnerable populations and building human capital for sustainable health and development.
Our Core Goal
Improved health and development outcomes in Africa through strengthened research capacity and context-specific innovations
Our Core Objectives
1)To generate and provide evidence-based solutions to the prevailing and emergent challenges of the vulnerable populations of Africa that include but not limited to health, climate, environment, economic, social and general well-being while emphasizing equity and fairness. 2) To contribute to the achievement of the development aspirations of African countries through promotion of Research and Development excellence, human resource development and Service delivery programs.
SRF Clinical Trials Coordination Centre
Navigate the future of clinical research with our state-of-the-art Coordination Centre. From initiation to implementation, trust our experienced team and robust infrastructure to elevate your clinical trials, ensuring excellence in every phase. (Click to read more)
Soar Research Foundation (SRF) Services
Through Soar Research Foundation, a registered for-profit arm of SRF Research and Training Centres (SRF-RTCs), we offer private research services with an aim of promoting research excellence and ensuring SRF RTCs’ self-sustainability. We provide high-quality research services, consultancy, and infrastructure to African researchers, institutions, and organizations. (Click to checkout all Services)
SRF Research Trainings & Capacity Strengthening
We aim at strengthening African research capacity through tailored, high-quality, and innovative training programs, fostering research excellence, ethical practice, and innovation. Vision: A continent of highly skilled, innovative, and ethically grounded African researchers. Mission: Equip researchers and innovators with cutting-edge skills, practical experience, and networks to advance African research excellence. SRF Research Training Centres transform research capacity in Africa through flexible, innovative, and hands-on training, mentorship, and collaborations, equipping African researchers to deliver impactful, ethical, and innovative research across disciplines.
SRF Community Advisory Board (CAB)
Our community advisory board supports our research projects but can also be utilized by researchers external to SRF. The SRF Community Advisory Board (CAB) is a strategic driver of SRF RTC’s mission, ensuring that research is community-centered, ethical, inclusive, and transformative. It bridges science with community realities, strengthening trust, accountability, and knowledge translation for a sustainable, healthy, and prosperous Africa. The Strategic goal of SRF-CAB is to foster community-driven, ethical, and impactful research that translates into sustainable health and development solutions for vulnerable populations in Africa. The CAB embodies SRF-RTC’s vision of a sustainable, healthy Africa by ensuring that community voices guide research, ethics are upheld, and evidence is translated into scalable, context-driven solutions. (Click to read more)
Support Initiative For African Researchers (SIFAR)
The Support Initiative for African Researchers, a program (established in June 2024) is a component of SRF Research and Training Centres (SRF-RTCs) Corporate Social Responsibility strategy. With a focus on accelerating Africa’s catch-up on its research and development aspirations. We focus on raising a large community of problem solvers through research career inspiration, research skills empowerment, and support. (Click here for more)
