Our Team

Salule Masangwi, PhD

Statistician, Associate Professor

Salule Masangwi, PhD, is an Associate Professor with the University of Malawi. He joined the University of Malawi in 2003. Salule leads interdisciplinary faculty teams to develop and implement research with international agencies such as the Scottish Government Fund, SHARE, DfID, Welcome Trust, DAAD, and the European Union. He has a PhD in Applied Statistics and a Master of Science  in energy statistics and modelling. He has served and continues to serve as a senior statistician, researcher, and/or  line manager  for a number of projects including the Scotland Chikwawa Health In initiative  2010 to 2016; the  Malawi Renewable Energy Programme (MREAP)  2012 - 2015, the Sustainable Off-Grid Energy for Rural Villages 2015 to 2018, Academic Initiative for Renewables 2016 to 2019, Impact of community-based WASH and food hygiene interventions on diarrhoeal disease incidence in children under five 2016 to 2019 and the Health Research Capacity Strengthening Initiative  2013 to 1015. 

Bagrey Ngwira, PhD

Epidemiologist, Senior Lecturer

Bagrey trained as a medical doctor at the University of St Andrews (Scotland), University College London (clinical training) and University of Malawi -College of Medicine (CoM). In 1997, he joined the Karonga Prevention Study as an Assistant Field Director. He completed his epidemiology degrees at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the University of Liverpool. He is currently A Senior Lecturer in the department of Environmental Health. His research address the most pressing health-related challenges facing Malawi today.

Bernard Thole, PhD

Engineer, Associate Professor, Dean of Applied Sciences

Bernard started his career as a chemist, but completed a PhD in Water Resources Engineering at the University of Dar es Salaam. His research addresses topics such as water defluoridation technologies in Malawi & Tanzania; service delivery in water, sanitation, health & education in Southern Africa; and faecal sludge management. . Dr. Thole is the author of 15 journal papers , 7 conference papers and a book chapter. He is fluent in English, Chewa, Swahili with an understanding of French, Tumbuka, and Sena.

Chifundo Tenthani

Energy Physicist, Senior Lecturer

After completing his BSc. In Environmental Science and Technology at the Polytechnic, Chifundo completed an MSc at Makerere University in Uganda. Chifundo’s interest is in renewable energy technologies with a particular focus towards solar. He has been involved in a number of research and valuation projects that examine various market features of solar energy in Malawi. He managed the Energy and Petroleum (EnPe) and helped to develop the curriculum for a proposed BSc in Industrial and Environmental Physics.

Elizabeth Tilley, PhD

Engineering Economist, Senior Lecturer

Elizabeth worked as a researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) where she developed and tested sanitation technologies for low-income countries. She completed her PhD field research in collaboration with the eThekwini Water and Sanitation Unit (EWS) in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Currently, her teaching and research maintains a focus on the water and sanitation issues that are relevant for the sub-Saharan context. She works on the SOWATT, SHARE and Sanitation for Small Cities projects. She lectures on water, sanitation and solid waste management and supervises graduate students with similar research interests.

Kelvin Mbizi Tembo

Electrical Engineer, Lecturer

Kelvin’s main research interest is the feasibility of ‘off grid’, community-based energy projects. Specifically, he is interested in how to identify and promote technically-appropriate, economically-viable and scalable solutions for sustainable rural ‘off grid’ modern energy supply to support the development needs of Malawi. Kelvin works on the MREAP project.

Kingsly Lungu

Environmental Health Pracitioner, Senior Lecturer

Kingsley has more than 32 years of theoretical and practical experience in all facets of Environmental Health. He lectures and researches on topics as diverse as construction management and food inspection. He is the former Departmental Head and the current coordinator of the newly approved Masters in Environmental Health Program. Currently, Kingsley leads the WATERSPOUT (Water - Sustainable Point-Of-Use Treatment Technologies) Project funded by the European Union Horizon 2020.

Theresa Mkandawire, PhD

Civil Engineer, Associate Professor, Dean of Engineering

Theresa completed degrees in environmental engineering in Malawi and the US (Oklahoma State University, and finished a PhD in Arts and Society at the Leeds Metropolitan University (UK). She has over 10 years experience working with donor-funded projects in water and sanitation. As Secretary and Treasurer of the Malawi Water Partnership, a network of water and water-related institutions, she has been involved in a wide range of consultancies including capacity needs assessment, situation analysis and project documentation. She is the first Vice President of the Malawi Institution of Engineers, the Vice chairperson of the Water Resources Board and the Team Leader of the World Bank’s Skills Development Project at the Polytechnic.

Tracy Morse, PhD

Environmental Health Practitioner, Research Fellow

Tracy is an environmental heath practitioner and research fellow with the University of Strathclyde who has been based in Malawi since 2000. Tracy currently leads a number of research projects in Malawi including the Scotland Chikwawa Health Initiative, SHARE II and WATERSPOUTT. She is also the University of Strathclyde liaison in Malawi. Since 2000, Dr Morse has managed projects, consultancies and research in Malawi amounting to over £1.7 million GBP at national and regional level. Her work includes community intervention projects, research into use, and policy reviews.

Khumbo Kalulu

Civil Engineer, PhD student

Khumbo’s research addresses various aspects of faecal sludge management. Specifically, he is interested in sludge management, biochemical degradation, and the health impacts of sludge management on unplanned areas. His work is funded by the Water Research Commission of South Africa under the Sanitation Research Fund for Africa Project and the Consortium of Advanced Research Training in Africa. Before his PhD, he spent more than 12 years working with NGOs doing evaluation and consultancy.

Kondwani Chidziwisano

Environmental Health Practitioner, PhD Student

Kondwani is an Environmental Health professional. He completed his degrees in Environmental Health in Malawi (University of Malawi) and UK (University of Strathclyde). He has over 10 years’ experience working with Ministry of Health and NGOs in the fields of sanitation and hygiene as well as health and safety. He is currently a PhD student in SHARE research project where he is developing behaviour change interventions to promote food hygiene and safety for the under five children in rural areas.

Save Kumwenda

Environmental Health Practitioner, PhD Student

Save’s research is titled: “pathogen survival in EcoSan latrines and the associated health risks in Malawi”. His research interests relate to the safety of new technologies used in environmental health and using the generated knowledge to improve and re-design them for effective results. He is an expert on Ascaris enumeration and analysis; his dissertation will quantify the effectiveness of environmental conditions on Ascaris survival. He is supported by the Consortium for Advanced Research & Training in Africa; he plans to defend in 2017.

Temwa Msiska

Lawyer, Research Manager

Temwa Msiska joined the WASHTED team as Research Manager in September 2016. She previously worked for a research capacity building consortium spanning five countries. Her qualifications are in Law and Master of Business Administration. She is passionate about generating and sharing knowledge with others to improve the lives of Malawians.