The Commission dates back to 1954 when Civil Service Commission was established by British Colonial Government following Holmes Commission Report, 1948; Civil Service Commission was advisory to the Governor in matters of appointments; At independence in 1963 it was enshrined in the constitution and renamed Public Service Commission; Independence Constitution had Regional PSC’s but abolished in 1964 following constitutional amendments; It is the oldest Constitutional Commission and its mandate has expanded over the years. The Commission then constituted of a chairman, a deputy chairman and fifteen members all appointed by the President. The Commission, since then, has handled matters of human resource management in the public service especially the civil service and local authorities. Constitution of Kenya, 2010 promulgated on 27th August 2010 reconstituted the Commission with a redefined and expanded mandate and a lean membership.

For appointment to this grade, a candidate must have:-

• Served for a minimum period of three (3) years at the grade of Assistant Director Research, CSG 7 or in a comparable and relevant  position in the wider public service;
• A Bachelors Degree in any of the following fields: Geomatics Engineering, Land Economics, Geospatial Information Systems, Geographical Information System, Environmental Planning and Management, Geospatial Engineering, Land Survey, Law (LLB) Land Administration, Geography, Photogrammetry, Urban and regional Planning, Computer Science/ICT, Software Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science or equivalent qualification from a university recognized in Kenya;
• Membership to a relevant professional body (where applicable);
• Met the requirement of Chapter Six (6) of the Constitution of Kenya; and
• Demonstrated managerial and administrative capability and professional competence in work performance and results

Duties and Responsibilities

Duties and responsibilities at this level will include:-

• Initiating formulation, implementation and review of research and innovation policies, standards, strategies and guidelines;
• Overseeing the development of research proposals and programmes;
• Spearheading research on land matters;
• Promoting and facilitating leading edge research including collaborating interdepartmental research in areas related to lands;
• Coordinating the acquisition of intellectual property rights;
• Overseeing generation dissemination of research information on land matters in liaison with the technical directorates;
• Overseeing the management of resource information center for lands matters;
• Coordinating development, implementation and reviewing of knowledge management framework for the lands sector;
• Initiating monitoring of legislations and administrative acts relating to or impacting on the lands sectors and make appropriate recommendations;
• Spearheading capacity building and transfer of knowledge to the society through outreach and collaborative research on land matters;
• Coordinating the establishment of a nexus between the Ministry, partners and relevant stakeholders on research and innovation;
• Developing modalities for collaboration with external consultants and research institutions;
• Overseeing development of strategies to ensure quality control of products and service in the land sector;
• Spearheading local and international partnership to enrich research and innovation programmes; and
• Initiating research and benchmark studies on best practices in land matters