UNIMA scholar clinches funds for pilot study

One of the reasons the University of Malawi enjoys a lot of prestige is due to its research profile. At any given time, there are various research projects ongoing, spearheaded by the institution’s researchers. One of such researchers is Prof. Nick Tembo of the Department of Literary Studies, who was in March, 2026, announced as one of the awardees of seed funds amounting to GBP10,000 to carry out the first phase of his research. The grant has been awarded by the Discovery Research Support Hub (DRSH), a Wellcome-funded initiative.

The funds have been provided for what is essentially an early-stage initiative examining men’s mental health and suicide risk in Malawi. “It focuses on what I call gendered pathways to suicide risk, using an integrated life-course and systems perspective,” Tembo points out. “The aim is to explain how gendered life experiences and system-level conditions shape men’s vulnerability to suicide, and to identify entry points for gender-responsive prevention. At the moment, the focus is on pilot data collection to refine research questions, test methods, and generate preliminary evidence for a larger study.”

Tembo came up with the study due to his ongoing academic interest in trauma studies. He intends to use the project to extend his interest into applied research by examining how trauma is operationalised within mental health systems in low-resource settings.

The project has gone through approximately two years of conceptual development. The next stage will involve conceptual refinement and preparation, and fieldwork in Blantyre, Mangochi and Ntchisi, among other activities. The seed-funded phase will run for around two months, while the research prepares for the next phase. During this period, the researcher will gather data on men’s mental health, using tools such as interviews with various stakeholders including mental health professionals, public health researchers, policy specialists and others.

The research has the potential to improve the understanding of men’s mental health challenges and suicide risk factors, as well as opening up the field to other academics who would want to conduct research in the area.