Next Generation Initiative opens doors for Charles Katulamu to research abortion in Uganda

November 21, 2024

Contact: Jon Meerdink ([email protected])

ANN ARBOR — Charles Katulamu values interdisciplinary collaboration. He found it at the Institute for Social Research.

Katulamu, who studies abortion in Uganda, considered several other options when making his decision for his Ph.D. program. In the end, only the University of Michigan and ISR gave him what he was hoping to find.

“Other options would not have given me the direct interdisciplinarity I was looking for in my research,” he said.

With help from the Population Studies Center’s Barbara Anderson, Katulamu was able to access the International Scholar Sponsorship for his Ph.D., setting to work on two independent studies concerning abortion in Uganda.

“One of these studies has involved looking at the transition into adulthood and how fertility intentions of young people who have completed university studies interplay with their socioeconomic realities and aspirations,” he said. “For the other, I ran a survey and two qualitative sub-studies to understand how abortion happens in a country where it is restricted.”

Katulamu conducted these studies with help from the Next Generation Initiative, which funded aspects of his research that might otherwise have been inaccessible, like airfare between the United States and Uganda that allowed him to conduct critical field research.

The research he’s done while affiliated with ISR has put him on firm footing to reach his next goals: a postdoctoral opportunity and, ultimately, a faculty position, both of which will allow him to continue his research on abortion and the many factors associated with it.

“I’ve checked all the boxes on my list that I had when I was coming in as a trainee, and I am ready to move out there,” he said. “The support and training from ISR and the Next Generation Initiative has not only been able to support me as I complete my educational milestones, but it has also prepared me to continue with my scholarship.”

For more on ISR’s Next Generation Initiative, click here. See the links below to read more about other scholars involved in the Next Generation Initiative.

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