Kenya Raises Research Licence Fees for First Time in 17 Years

Kenya is raising the price of doing research on its soil for the first time in 17 years, with sixfold increases for Kenyan and East African students and dollar fees for everyone else.

Researchers working in Kenya will pay more for a NACOSTI licence from 1 October 2026, when a revised fee schedule published as Legal Notice No. 160 in Kenya Gazette Supplement No. 214 of 21 August 2026 takes effect. It is the regulator’s first fee increase in 17 years, and it lands on everyone from Kenyan Masters students to foreign sponsors of clinical trials.

What changes for Kenyan and EAC applicants

NACOSTI, the National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation, licenses all research conducted in Kenya. Under the new schedule, Kenyan citizens and East African Community partner-state nationals pay the same rates — but those rates rise sharply.

A standard Masters licence jumps from KES 1,000 (about US$7.70) to KES 6,000 (about US$46), or KES 8,000 (about US$62) for expedited processing. A PhD licence rises from KES 2,000 (about US$15) to KES 10,000 (about US$77), or KES 15,000 (about US$116) expedited. Post-doctoral and individual researchers move from KES 5,000 (about US$39) to KES 15,000, or KES 20,000 (about US$155) expedited.

Institutional and commercial research carries the steepest bills: research institutions pay KES 30,000 (about US$232) standard and KES 50,000 (about US$386) expedited, while companies pay KES 50,000 and KES 70,000 (about US$541) respectively. Dollar conversions use the Central Bank of Kenya rate of about 129.45 shillings per dollar.

Dollar fees outside the EAC

Applicants from beyond the EAC — including the rest of Africa — are billed in US dollars under the revised schedule. A Masters licence costs US$400 standard and US$500 expedited; previously, researchers from the rest of Africa paid KES 2,000 (about US$15) and other non-African academics paid US$350.

At the top of the scale sit clinical trials, a mainstay of foreign health research in Kenya, at US$1,000. The tiered structure keeps Kenyan and EAC applicants on local-currency rates while shifting everyone else to hard currency.

The practical effect reaches beyond new applications. NACOSTI confirms that fees are non-refundable and that licence renewals — required when a project runs past its one-year validity — are charged at the same rate as new licences. Payments run through the NACOSTI research portal via the government’s e-Citizen gateway.

Why NACOSTI says it needs the money

The increase follows a stakeholder forum the commission held on 10 February 2026 at Kenya Utalii College with research institutions and students. NACOSTI argued that fees had remained unchanged for years — 17, by the Nation’s count — and no longer covered the cost of reviewing applications, monitoring compliance and running its research information systems.

The commission frames the revision as cost recovery for its regulatory mandate, balanced against affordability for Kenyan and African researchers. It has published no projection of how much the new schedule will raise, and as of mid-September no formal amendment to Legal Notice No. 160 has been gazetted.

Who feels the squeeze

Kenya hosts a large share of East Africa’s public-health, agricultural and social-science research, much of it foreign-funded. The sixfold rise in student fees hits Kenyan and EAC Masters and PhD candidates directly, while dollar pricing raises the cost of Kenyan fieldwork for universities, NGOs and trial sponsors abroad.

The change also fits a broader continental pattern of African states asserting control — and charging for access — over data and knowledge produced on their soil. Preferential EAC rates reinforce the bloc’s internal market for academic work while drawing a line between regional partners and outside actors.

What researchers should do now

Anyone planning Kenyan fieldwork should check their applicant category before paying, since fees are non-refundable. Applications filed before 1 October 2026 still fall under the old schedule, and multi-year projects should model renewals at the new rates.

Institutions running clinical trials or multi-site studies should budget the US$1,000 top-tier fee per licence year. For wider context on how access, influence and regulation intersect across the continent, see Africa: The New Scramble.

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