UNAS Fellowship Programme:

Uganda National Academy of Sciences (UNAS) is an honorific and service organisation. The UNAS fellowship program is an initiative to honour and acknowledge scientists who have become nationally and internationally renowned in their respective field(s) are identified and honoured by the Academy. The fellows are divided into UNAS, Honorary and Foreign fellows.

The Constitution recognises three categories of Fellows: UNAS-Fellows, Foreign and Honorary Fellows. Foreign Fellows are elected from amongst scientists who are not citizens of Uganda, but who are of the same calibre as Fellows of the Academy. They enjoy the same rights, privileges and have the same obligations as UNAS-Fellows except the right to vote or to be elected Officers of the Academy. Honorary Fellows on the other hand are elected by the General Assembly from amongst persons of eminence or highest standing in society who have made outstanding contributions to the objectives of the Academy. Such Fellows are ex-officio. Fellows are inducted annually during the General Assembly. Currently, UNAS has fellows 43 members from various areas of study field.

The Nomination Process

The brief procedure for electing members to the UNAS fellowship:

1) Existing UNAS fellows will nomination and seconded a candidate by filling Nomination Forms,
2) The nomination forms are forwarded to the Fellows Advisory Committee, for vetting
3) A Fellows Advisory Committee consisting of 5 evaluators then makes recommendations on the candidates to the Council.
4) The Council, based on the recommendations, then elects successful applicants to the fellowship.
5) The secretariat the writes to the successful candidates of the offer and requests them to prepare for the induction

While nomination shall be a continuous process, , the Council shall only consider nominations that are received at least six months before the next General Assembly.

Nomination Procedure

Any two (2) Fellows of the Academy shall nominate a potential candidate by completing the requisite Nomination Form and addressing the nomination to the President.

Nomination Format

A nomination shall be on the pertinent Nomination Form and shall among other things include:
. A concise statement on the most significant contribution to sciences of the candidate
. Reasons why the candidate meets the criteria for being a Fellow

The above statement shall be accompanied by:
. Candidate's curriculum vitae
. Names of 5 referees
. List of 12 most outstanding publications of the candidate.

The Vetting Process
Once a potential Fellow has been duly nominated, a Fellows Advisory Committee shall assist the President to vet the nominees. The Committee shall inter alia take into account individual qualifications of the candidates, the overall balance between disciplines, age, gender and other equity considerations before preparing a short list of candidates for submission to the Council

Election Process
Council shall elect the appropriate number of Fellows using a secret ballot and the elected new Fellows shall be inducted in a manner and following a method and procedure approved by the Council (as reflected in the Induction of Fellows Guidelines).

All Scientists with an internationally renowned status, including those in the Diaspora are invited for membership.

The rights, privileges and responsibilities

New Fellows Lectures
The Academy inducts new Fellows to its Fellowship each year during the Annual general meeting. As part of these celebrations, each new Fellow and Foreign Member is invited to give a short presentation of their work to their peers in the fellowship. During the induction process, new Fellows give an acceptance speech, and given a cretificate as an indication of formal enrollment These are the presentations are made available on the online - the first time that those outside the fellowship have been given access. Current UNAS Fellows.