MUBAS
MUBAS
School of Science and Technology
SOST
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Executive Dean, SOST
Dr Mphatso Kamndaya
The Office of the Executive Dean, School of Science and Technology provides the strategic academic and administrative leadership for the School of Science and Technology. Acting as the chief academic and operational officer, the Executive Dean reports directly to the Deputy Vice Chancellor and is responsible for leading the Heads of Academic Departments and Centre Managers within the school.

Mphatso Kamndaya holds a PhD in Public Health from the School of Public Health at the University of the Witwatersrand. He also received postgraduate training in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the same institution.


Kamndaya is a Cohort 1 graduate of the Consortium of Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA) and currently holds a CARTA re-entry Fellowship. He completed two post-doctoral research fellowships – one on the Wellbeing of Adolescents in Vulnerable Environments (WAVE) study at the Reproductive Health and HIV Research Institute (Wits RHI) and another on the Migration and Health Project Southern Africa (maHp) at the African Centre for Migration and Society (ACMS) both at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.


Kamndaya’s engagement with research on the well-being of adolescents in vulnerable environments included his doctoral research (completed in 2015) that explored context-specific measures of deprivation of material resources and links to risk of HIV acquisition among young people in Malawi and South Africa.


His research involves mixed methodologies, including cross-sectional household surveys and public policy analysis. With an explicit focus on generating research to inform improved responses to adolescent sexual and reproductive health (particularly for marginalized adolescents and residents of informal settlements), he is committed to developing ways to ensure that the voice of those affected is heard by policymakers and programme implementers.


He has a strong interest in impact evaluation and the ways in which research responds to the needs of society, and how research is translated and taken up into practice. Linked to this, Kamndaya has been involved in multiple longitudinal mixed-method impact evaluations examining the impacts of social protection programmes on adolescent well-being and health as part of the Transfer Project in sub-Saharan Africa with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Office of research.

Full Biography – Executive Dean, SOST
0111871637
mkamndaya@mubas.ac.mw

The School of Science and Technology offers a wide range of diverse academic programmes within its four departments. In total, there are over 41 programs, including certificates, diplomas, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees. The School achieves its commitment to the highest quality education by maintaining a rigorous focus on academic excellence through applied science research and using innovative and flexible technology-based instruction models to enhance our signature areas: industrial laboratory technology, food science and technology, industrial physics, environmental management and technology, software engineering, information systems and IT, Cybersecurity, Robotics engineering, artificial intelligence, public and environmental health sciences, mathematical and statistical sciences, consumer sciences and actuarial sciences.


Through teaching, research, and community engagement, the school’s rich and diverse research expertise and its current multicultural student-centered focus provide a firm foundation for its endeavors. It serves the needs and aspirations of individuals and society; producing graduates for leadership roles in science and technology.

Academic Members of Staff  

Educated in Malawi and abroad, the dedicated academic members of staff under this faculty do not only teach modules in their respective departments but also service departments in other schools at MUBAS. Notably, they conduct research that is both theoretical and practical. Also, they are actively involved in collaborative efforts with non-governmental organizations, Malawi government, foreign governments, and faculty at other universities. Research conducted by academic members of staff in this faculty has been published in national and international journals.  

Centres

The Centre for Water, Sanitation, Health and Appropriate Technology Development (WASHTED) is housed under this school. The importance and relevance of this centre to research and other collaborative consultancies cannot be overemphasized. It has a team of researchers assembled from virtually every school at MUBAS. Moreover, although the centre operates from the main campus at MUBAS in Blantyre, its impact has a national and global reach, as it is engaged in issues to do with access to potable water, sanitation, hygiene, and renewable energy & amp; technologies, to name a few.