Moi University Lecturer Duncan Omanga on Tuesday became the first ever individual to win a research grant from Facebook in a competition that saw millions of applications worldwide.
As part of the Facebook Protect and Care projects, Dr Omanga will conduct an impact assessment study to determine how Kenyans lives have been affected by the social media platform.
Dr Omanga heads the Publishing and Media Studies Department at the University's School of Information Sciences.
Facebook will now award the lecturer a sum of $50,000 (an equivalent of Sh5 Million) to conduct the survey.
[caption caption="Dr Duncan Omanga"]
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"He will use the grant to run a project in Kayole, Umoja and Huruma Estates of Nairobi.
"He will probe the intersections of journalistic routines, community policing and Facebook and conduct an investigation of the life-worlds and discursive practices that locate criminal gangs, digital publics and the police service in one social media space," read a statement from the University.
A facilitated visit will see Dr Omanga report to Facebook's headquarters at Menlo Park, California.
Speaking to journalists, the lecturer stated that he was ready to do the research after his successful application.
He said his research will focus on how Facebook has helped in combating crime in some of the estates in Eastlands in Nairobi.
"I will have to pick two masters students to work with on this project and they will do a thesis on this subject," he told the Nation.
[caption caption="File image of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg sharing a meal with ICT CS Joe Mucheru during his 2016 visit to Kenya"]
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