Call
for Applications

The 2025 Practical
Transformative Value
Chains Development and Education

Deadline Extended

4th November

Launched in January 2024, the Practical Field Lab (PFL) is an off-campus experiential learning curriculum where faculty and students engage in learning through problem-solving at the intersection of multiple systems of knowledge and practice.

The class is organized around a problem which local students are embarking on solving. Students will be placed into these projects to work under mixed teams of academic and non-academic instructors, with very clear matching of their skills and career goals to specific examinable practical deliverables.
See all Projects

The 2025 PFL builds upon a successful pilot composed of DeKUT and MIT students and faculty in January 2024. Entitled “Calabashing: Innovating with Gourds,” it focused on one organic material—the gourd, an icon of African culture as a lens into innovation.

The Practical Field Lab is  designed to

  1. Equip participants to translate academic knowledge into skills for turning problems into opportunities for interdisciplinary creativity and problem-solving

  2. Create synergies between traditional African practices of science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Our focus is on building fish value chains, climate adaptation and mitigation, and rural industrialization.

Directors: Prof. Chakanetsa Mavhunga (MIT) and Prof. Ndirangu Kioni (DeKUT)

Host: Origin Labs, Dedan Kimathi University of Technology (DeKUT), Nyeri, Kenya

Dates: January 4th-31st, 2025

Deadline for Applications:  Nov 1st, 2024

Notification by: Nov 15th, 2024

Course Fee: $1750 (inc. tuition, admin, accommodation, food, and field transport) excludes airfare.

Program: Mon-Fri 8-4:30pm, Free Weekend

The PFL has two tracks or intakes: the field class in January and the internship between June and August.

Tracks

The Field Class

The Field Class is four weeks long in January and takes place in Nyeri, Kenya, and coincides with academic calendars across Africa and the world. Diverse teams of academic and non-academic instructors will guide students in hands-on learning through problem-solving at carefully scoped problem-sites. The class counts as 12 units or can be taken for no-credit because this is team-based hands-on work, all participating students are required to perform 42 hours of field-based work regardless of whether they are doing it for credit or not. This requirement cannot be varied. For 2025, the Field Class will only be offered in Nyeri (Kenya). From January 2026 onward, the Field Class will be conducted in Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Namibia between June 1st-August 31st. This Call for Applications is for the Field Class January 4th-31st 2025 only.

Internship Program

The Internship Program is 8-12 weeks long between June 1st and August 31st in Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. (Longer stays are possible on a case-by-case basis). The program is designed for vocational, technical, and polytechnic college and university students, as well as youth without formal qualifications but with proven and verifiable practical experience. The students will embed in the ongoing projects where they will be assigned specific responsibilities and performance assessment. The Call for Applications for this Internship Program will be announced in February 2025.

Featured Projects

🇰🇪 Design + develop auxiliary systems for large-scale water recirculation and cleaning in fish rearing ponds

🇰🇪 Design + develop auxiliary systems for large-scale water recirculation and cleaning in fish rearing ponds

Field Class Fish Value Chains 🇰🇪 Kenya
Show project
🇰🇪 Making + installing an automated fish feeding mechanism to control fish overfeeding and underfeeding

🇰🇪 Making + installing an automated fish feeding mechanism to control fish overfeeding and underfeeding

Field Class January 🇰🇪 Kenya
Show project
🇿🇼 Design a business model for and launch a venture that makes low-cost machine-tools for dredging silt and sand to rehabilitate rivers

🇿🇼 Design a business model for and launch a venture that makes low-cost machine-tools for dredging silt and sand to rehabilitate rivers

Internship July -August Rural Industrialisation 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe
Show project
🇿🇼 Design a business model for and launch the animal feeds and organic fertilizer pelletizing venture, targeting local crops and farm waste

🇿🇼 Design a business model for and launch the animal feeds and organic fertilizer pelletizing venture, targeting local crops and farm waste

Internship July -August Rural Industrialisation 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe
Show project
🇰🇪 Design + develop shoe sole molding machine

🇰🇪 Design + develop shoe sole molding machine

Field Class January Rural Industrialisation 🇰🇪 Kenya
Show project
🇿🇼 Venture to train, supply, + manage staff to run projects and maintain homes of diaspora-based citizens

🇿🇼 Venture to train, supply, + manage staff to run projects and maintain homes of diaspora-based citizens

Internship July -August Rural Industrialisation 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe
Show project
🇰🇪 Design + build fish rearing pond with a greenhouse cover

🇰🇪 Design + build fish rearing pond with a greenhouse cover

Field Class Fish Value Chains 🇰🇪 Kenya
Show project
🇰🇪 Develop + deploy IoT device to measure and subsequently enable control or intervention of pond water parameters

🇰🇪 Develop + deploy IoT device to measure and subsequently enable control or intervention of pond water parameters

Field Class Fish Value Chains 🇰🇪 Kenya
Show project
🇰🇪 Design + build auxiliary system for cooling a trout fish hatchery unit, for water recirculation, and cleaning

🇰🇪 Design + build auxiliary system for cooling a trout fish hatchery unit, for water recirculation, and cleaning

Field Class Fish Value Chains 🇰🇪 Kenya
Show project
🇰🇪 Design a business model for and launch a venture that makes food processing and musical equipment from gourds

🇰🇪 Design a business model for and launch a venture that makes food processing and musical equipment from gourds

Field Class January Rural Industrialisation 🇰🇪 Kenya
Show project
Let’s collaborate

Apply now for
the 2025 Practical Field Lab.

Apply Now

Deadline Extended for Applications: 
4th November 2024

Field Class Fish Value Chains 🇰🇪 Kenya

🇰🇪 Design + develop auxiliary systems for large-scale water recirculation and cleaning in fish rearing ponds

  • Country

    🇰🇪 Kenya

  • Dates Available

    January

  • Opportunities

    Practical Field Lab

View Project
Field Class January 🇰🇪 Kenya

🇰🇪 Making + installing an automated fish feeding mechanism to control fish overfeeding and underfeeding

  • Country

    🇰🇪 Kenya

  • Opportunities

    Practical Field Lab

  • Dates Available

    January

View Project
Internship July -August Rural Industrialisation 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe

🇿🇼 Design a business model for and launch a venture that makes low-cost machine-tools for dredging silt and sand to rehabilitate rivers

  • Country

    🇿🇼 Zimbabwe

  • Dates Available

    July - August

  • Opportunities

    Internship

View Project
Internship July -August Rural Industrialisation 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe

🇿🇼 Design a business model for and launch the animal feeds and organic fertilizer pelletizing venture, targeting local crops and farm waste

  • Country

    🇿🇼 Zimbabwe

  • Dates Available

    July - August

  • Opportunities

    Internship

View Project
Field Class January Rural Industrialisation 🇰🇪 Kenya

🇰🇪 Design + develop shoe sole molding machine

  • Country

    🇰🇪 Kenya

  • Dates Available

    January

  • Opportunities

    Practical Field Lab

View Project
Internship July -August Rural Industrialisation 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe

🇿🇼 Venture to train, supply, + manage staff to run projects and maintain homes of diaspora-based citizens

  • Country

    🇿🇼 Zimbabwe

  • Dates Available

    July - August

  • Opportunities

    Internship

View Project
Field Class Fish Value Chains 🇰🇪 Kenya

🇰🇪 Design + build fish rearing pond with a greenhouse cover

  • Country

    🇰🇪 Kenya

  • Dates Available

    January

  • Opportunities

    Practical Field Lab

View Project
Field Class Fish Value Chains 🇰🇪 Kenya

🇰🇪 Develop + deploy IoT device to measure and subsequently enable control or intervention of pond water parameters

  • Country

    🇰🇪 Kenya

  • Dates Available

    January

  • Opportunities

    Practical Field Lab

View Project
Field Class Fish Value Chains 🇰🇪 Kenya

🇰🇪 Design + build auxiliary system for cooling a trout fish hatchery unit, for water recirculation, and cleaning

  • Country

    🇰🇪 Kenya

  • Dates Available

    January

  • Opportunities

    Practical Field Lab

View Project
Field Class January Rural Industrialisation 🇰🇪 Kenya

🇰🇪 Design a business model for and launch a venture that makes food processing and musical equipment from gourds

  • Country

    Kenya

  • Dates Available

    January

  • Opportunities

    Practical Field Lab

View Project