Maasai Mara University

Maasai Mara University (MMara-U) is a public university chartered in 2013 under the Universities Act 2012, located in Narok County, approximately 150 kilometres southwest of Nairobi, at the gateway to the Maasai Mara National Reserve and the greater Mau-Mara-Serengeti ecosystem. The university is uniquely positioned within one of Africa's most celebrated biodiversity landscapes, providing an exceptional living laboratory for research, innovation, and community engagement.

Our vision is to be a world-class university committed to academic excellence for development, with a mission to provide quality education through innovative teaching, research, innovation, and community outreach. Our core values; Excellence, Innovation, Productivity, Accountability, Collaboration, and Equity (EXIPACE), guide all our activities.

Research Pillars and Niche

Drawing strength from our geographical and cultural setting, MMara-U has developed five distinctive research pillars known as the "Five Ms": the Maasai Mara Game Reserve Ecosystem, the Mara River, the Mau Forest, Maasai Culture, and Maombi kwa Wote. These pillars provide an interdisciplinary framework anchoring our commitment to research, innovation, and community outreach that is relevant, impactful, and solutions-oriented.

Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research

MMara-U is actively engaged in halting biodiversity loss through flagship projects such as the CurveBend project, a seven-year transdisciplinary research initiative funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). This project studies collective action at the landscape scale aimed at restoring biodiversity and promoting a nature-positive society across Kenya and Tanzania. Our researchers are also involved in The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) implementation, supporting biodiversity and climate-friendly land management in agricultural landscapes in Kenya.

The university has established an African Medicinal Botanical Garden and maintains woodlots and orchards that protect biodiversity while providing forage for pollinators and contributing to regional food security.

One Health Approach

MMara-U embraces the One Health concept, recognizing the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health. The Department of Animal Health and Production, in collaboration with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and Germany's Helmholtz Institute of One Health, conducts research on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance across One Health interfaces. Research on spatiotemporal patterns of AMR in shared human-animal waterpoints in the Maasai Mara Ecosystem is actively underway. MMara-U also collaborates with the University of Helsinki on zoonotic virus research and partners with the Africa Community of Planetary Partners for Health and Environment on One Health and Climate initiatives.

Living Labs and Community-Based Solutions

Our work on Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) has examined how wildlife-tourism-based schemes can support both conservation and local livelihoods in the Maasai Mara Ecosystem. We host community meetings and workshops on river and wildlife monitoring, and our research on riparian buffer zone conservation and PES implementation informs policy interventions at the landscape level. The university also leads Green Cover Concept initiatives, university-led community greening in arid and semi-arid landscapes.

Academic Programmes

MMara-U comprises seven schools: Education; Pure and Applied Sciences; Health Sciences; Business and Economics; Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences and Creative Industries; Natural Resources, Environmental Studies and Agriculture; and Tourism and Hospitality. Our market-driven programmes respond to national development priorities and emerging global trends, with a special focus on becoming a leading entrepreneurial university in the region.

Partnerships and Horizon Europe Alignment

We actively participate in Erasmus+ Networking Forums and have established collaborations to respond to Horizon Europe calls. Our current EU-funded OBCOMM project develops culturally sensitive climate change mitigation approaches among the Maasai people. MMara-U collaborates with the Narok County Government, NGOs, National Museums of Kenya, and international research institutions. Our location within the Maasai Mara ecosystem, combined with our research pillars and demonstrated capacity for transdisciplinary, community-engaged research, makes us an ideal partner for consortia responding to the Horizon Europe Nature Call, particularly on topics related to living labs for ecosystem restoration, biodiversity monitoring, One Health, and systemic approaches to transformative change for biodiversity.