About Us

Kavwanga Yambayamba is an Associate Professor of Animal Physiology, a founding member and Fellow, as well as the President of the Zambia Academy of Sciences. He is currently the Vice-Chancellor at Zambian Open University. Professor Yambayamba obtained a BSc (Agric.) with a Major in Animal Science from the University of Zambia (UNZA) in 1985. In addition, he holds a Postgraduate Diploma (Animal Science) from the Agricultural University of Norway, and MSc (1987-1990) and Doctor of Philosophy (1991-1996) degrees from the University of Alberta in Canada, specializing in animal growth and developmental Physiology. Professor Yambayamba has published extensively in both local and international journals, and in Conference Proceedings. In pursuance of his academic path as a lecturer and researcher, Professor Yambayamba has taught several animal production courses since 1986. His research and supervision of students has mainly centred on physiological/hormonal aspects of compensatory growth of tissues and organs in cattle, with special focus on mammogenesis; quality of animal products as affected by biochemical/physiological reactions, and strategies to enhance animal productivity of indigenous livestock. Lately, Professor Yambayamba has focussed more on human capital development, particularly the importance of nutrition on brain development and its nexus with socio-economic development. In this regard, he is leading a team of researchers focussed on stunting in children in sub-Saharan Africa. While at the University of Zambia, Professor Yambayamba served in various capacities, including Head of the Animal Science Department, Head of the Department of Food Science & Technology, as well Assistant Dean (Research) in the School of Agricultural Sciences. He also served as a Member of several University committees. From 2012 to 2015, Professor Yambayamba served UNZA as Registrar of the University, following which he went back into academics and briefly worked for the Zambian Open University where he served as Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences. He soon after relocated to Mulungushi University where he served as Dean of the School of Agriculture & Natural Resources for six years. At the national level, Professor Yambayamba is the Founding President of the Agricultural Institute of Zambia (AIZ) and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) of the National Biosafety Authority (NBA). He has previously served on several national and regional scientific committees.

Professor Imasiku Anayawa Nyambe, a Full Professor of Geology, at the University of Zambia, is the Vice-President and Fellow of the Zambian Academy of Sciences. He is the Coordinator of the University of Zambia (UNZA) Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) Centre, the 2022 O.R. Tambo Africa Research Chair – Water Conservation at UNZA, and the Technical Committee Member of the EV Battery Industry Zambia Council. Professor Nyambe is a member of the Geological Society of Zambia, a life member of the Geological Society of Africa, and a co-founder and Chairperson of Zambia Water Forum and Exhibition (ZAWAFE) since 2011. He was a member of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Council on the International Hydrological Programme (IHP) (2017-2021) and Vice President of the IHP’s Bureau Africa Region 5A (2019-2021). In addition, he has served on the International Union of Geological Sciences in various capacities, and on the Board of National Heritage and Conservation Commission and NGOs in the water sector in Zambia. He founded the Zambia Water Partnership in 2000, a Zambian Chapter of Global Water Partnership (GWP), further forming the Southern Africa-GWP in the same. He is a member of the Institute of Directors of Zambia. Prof. Nyambe worked in the mining industry for four years before joining the University of Zambia in 1987. He now has over 30 years’ experience as a geo-scientist undertaking research in the areas of geology, hydrogeology, sedimentology, environment and mining, Integrated Water Resources Management, and the use of basic Remote Sensing and GIS. In addition to the extensive teaching and research, Prof. Nyambe is a former Director of Research and Postgraduate Studies at the UNZA Directorate of Research and Graduate Studies (DRGS) where he formulated and implemented the Research and Intellectual Property Rights policies, and established three multi-disciplinary university journals (Journal of Law and Social Sciences, Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences, and Journal of Agricultural and Biomedical Sciences). His involvement in mining and environmental research earned him an award from Zambia Environmental Management Agency in 2012, a National Science and Technology Council’s Certificate of Achievement for exceptional contribution to research and innovation in 2016, and a Lifelong High Achiever Award in geology and hydrogeology in 2019. Prof. Nyambe earned a PhD (1993) in Earth Sciences (Sedimentology) from the University of Ottawa, Canada, a Master of Science (1989) in Geology from University of Windsor, Canada, and has a Bachelor of Mineral Sciences (B. Min. Sc.) (Geology) degree from the University of Zambia (1982). He was also a Fulbright Senior Research Scholar on Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, USA (1998-1999). Prof. Nyambe has published over 150 articles as book chapters, in journals, technical reports, presentation papers, posters and abstracts, and has travelled extensively, presenting at many conferences, fora, symposia, workshops and meetings all over the world.

Dr. Elder Moonga, is a founding member and the Secretary General of the Zambia Academy of Sciences. Prior to taking up teaching of Medical Parasitology at Lusaka Apex Medical University in 2015, Dr. Moonga, was at Livestock and Pest Research Centre of the National Council for Scientific Research (NCSR), where he spent over 10 years, carrying out a wide-range of livestock research aspects that included: determining the constraints to improved livestock production in the traditional sector of Mumbwa District of Zambia; isolating Theileria parva lawrencei infective strains for possible vaccine development; improving the productive and reproductive performance of indigenous goats in the traditional sector; and isolating and transmitting Trypanosomes to elucidate their respective pathogenesis in the indigenous breeds of cattle. Additionally, he was part of the early team that carried out in-vitro validations of some Zambian traditional medicines for efficacy against HIV/AIDS and other opportunistic infections. In recognition of his contribution to livestock research, Dr. Moonga was promoted to Senior Scientific Officer in 2005 and continued undertaking various livestock disease control projects. Dr. Moonga rose to high prominence in 2008 when, after successfully bidding for the joint hosting of a Southern Africa Network for Biosciences (SANBio) livestock node by the National Institute for Scientific & Industrial Research and the University of Zambia School of Veterinary Medicine, he was appointed as NEPAD/Southern Africa Regional Coordinator of the Livestock Node. For 6 years, he promoted the regional utilization of the Zambian biodiversity and the promotion of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS), thereby improving the livelihoods of traditional farming communities. Over the years, Dr. Moonga has been involved in Cooperate Governance and Administration: having served as Head of the Livestock and Pest Research Centre, and serving on several boards of parastatal organisations and several national scientific committees. Dr. Elder Moonga obtained a Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Zambia in 1988 and a Master of Philosophy specializing in Parasitology and Immunology from the University of Reading in the United Kingdom in 1994. It is from this acquaintance that Dr. Moonga has published on adaptive climate change matters.

Alick Muvundika (PhD) is a researcher at the National Institute for Scientific and Industrial Research (NISIR) – a government research institute. He is an environmental scientist and an international expert in waste and climate change. Dr. Muvundika is an active researcher and his research interests are in water, energy, waste management, and climate change mitigation and has published papers in these fields. He has served on various environmental and climate change committees both locally and internationally. Currently, he is the chairperson of the Zambia Designated National Authority (DNA) – a body that looks at projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions into the atmosphere as required under the Paris Agreement of 2015. He is one of the many global scientists who participated in the preparation of the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) on climate change under the Intergovernmental Change for Climate Change (IPCC). Currently, Dr. Muvundika represents the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) on the Supervisory Body for the Article 6.4 Mechanism of the Paris Agreement. Dr. Muvundika obtained a BSc in Natural Sciences (Chemistry) from the University of Zambia in 1995. He also holds an MSc in Environmental Science and Technology from the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education in Delft, the Netherlands which he obtained in 2002. Dr. Muvundika was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in Environmental Science by the University of Central Lancashire (UClan), United Kingdom in 2015.

Angela Gono-Bwalya is a Senior Lecturer and Researcher in the Department of Pharmacy, School of Health Sciences at the University of Zambia. She is a lecturer in Pharmacognosy and Pharmaceutical Chemistry. Her research interests are in Indigenous knowledge systems (IKS), Ethnobotany, Phytochemistry, and Drug discovery processes from medicinal plants. Dr Gono-Bwalya started her career in 2000 as a Herbarium Research Officer for the Southern Africa Biodiversity Network (SABONET), which was housed at the University of Zambia Herbarium (UZL). She has worked at the University of Zambia since 2004, initially as a Lecturer and Researcher in the School of Medicine, Department of Pharmacy. During her professional journey at the University of Zambia, she has held different portfolios such as; Assistant Dean for Postgraduate studies in the School of Health Sciences, Vice-Chairperson and later chairperson of the University of Zambia Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee (UNZAHSREC), and a member/reviewer of other committees namely; the University of Zambia Biomedical Research Ethics (UNZABREC) and Journal of Agriculture and Biomedical Sciences (JABS). She is also an expert reviewer of Pharmacy programs for the Higher Educational Authority (HEA), Zambia. Dr Gono-Bwalya is a Natural product Scientist and a Commonwealth Scholar. She obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology and Chemistry in 2000 from the University of Zambia. In 2001, she pursued a Bachelor of Science Honors degree in Plant Taxonomy and Systematics from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. Thereafter, obtained a Master of Science degree in Medicine at the same University in 2003. She was awarded a PhD degree in Pharmacognosy by the University College London in London, UK, in 2015.

Dr Shawa (Ph.D.) is a Senior Technical and Partnership Specialist at the Africa Union Commission under Health Systems, Diseases and Nutrition in the Directorate of Health and Humanitarian Affairs (HHS). She is the lead for TB, NTDs and the CHWs workers initiative and possesses expertise in disease control programs with over 15 years of extensive experience in public health policy formulation and integration of efforts to promote preparedness for epidemics as well as address other public health concerns. Dr. Shawa was instrumental in establishing the Africa CDC as a senior project officer. She was responsible for coordinating activities in the regional collaborating centres including in Central, Eastern and Southern Africa. She was also responsible for coordinating various technical activities at HQ including the development of the first Africa CDC five-year strategic plan. Before moving to Africa CDC, She worked under the ADIS, TB Malaria and other infectious disease units in the Department of Social affair and was involved in policy development and advocacy and was part of the core team that developed the Catalytic Framework to End HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria by 2030 and also the revision of the Africa Health Strategy (2016-2030). Before joining the African Union, Dr. Shawa served in different capacities at the national level including as a program officer, Laboratory Coordinator and health researcher in programs under the Ministry of Health of Zambia and was the principal investigator for the first epidemiological survey on the occurrence and control of Lymphatic Filariasis in Zambia, where the finding of the research provided the basis for the implementation of integrated neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) control program in the country. She was also part of the team that undertook a country-wide mapping on Lymphatic Filariasis and other NTDs. Dr Shawa holds a PhD in Parasitology from the University of Zambia in collaboration with the University of Copenhagen and an MSc in Infectious Diseases from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a BSc from the University of Zambia. She is also a Member of the ARISE Technical Advisory Group and an alumni of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Prem Jain is a Professor in Physics at the University of Zambia where he holds the UNESCO Chair in Renewable Energy and Environment. He showed exceptional vision in recognizing the importance of Renewable Energy and Climate Change about 40 years ago and introduced these disciplines in the Department of Physics, University of Zambia. In 1989 he founded the Energy and Environment Research Group (EERG) at the University of Zambia and continues to lead its activities. In 2018, he founded the Solar Energy Centre (SEC) of Excellence at the University of Zambia and has been leading its activities. He is the recipient of the SIDA Salary Supplementation Award in the 1990s, the Labour Day Award for 1996 and the Presidential Golden Jubilee 50th Independence Anniversary Medal in 2014. Prem Jain served the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Renewable Energy and Climate Change. As UNDP (Namibia) Chief Technical Advisor to the Government of Namibia, he founded and accomplished the Namibian Renewable Energy Program during 2004-06. As UNDP (Zambia) Technical Coordinator, he founded and spearheaded the Climate Change Facilitation Unit (CCFU) activities in Zambia during 2009-12.

To be updated.