Professor Kondwani Jambo is a Research Group Leader at the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Programme (MLW) and a leader in Immunology and Infection at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. His research focuses on infections and immunity relevant to populations in low- and middle-income settings. He holds a Master of Science degree in Human Immunity (2006) and a PhD in Immunology (2010) from the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom. He completed postdoctoral training at MLW and Cornell University (USA). He is a former recipient of the prestigious Wellcome Intermediate Fellowship (2015) and currently holds the MRC African Research Leader award (2020). Professor Jambo is the current president of the Malawi Immunology Society.

Augustine Choko (PhD) is a public health epidemiologist who is passionate about identifying interventions to increase the uptake and engagement in public health services for underserved and marginalized populations in Africa. His work has been in HIV, TB and Schistosomiasis, and currently leads the training and development committee at the Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Research Programme in Blantyre, Malawi.

Aubrey Chalira Phiri is the Chief Operating Officer of the Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Research Programme (MLW). He is an accomplished executive with over 25 years of leadership experience in finance, operations, and organizational management across Africa. He has held senior leadership positions, including Chief Operating Officer at Partners in Health (Malawi), Global Chief Financial Officer at Living Goods (Kenya), and Chief Finance and Operations Officer at the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). Before these roles, Aubrey built a distinguished career in the financial services sector with Standard Bank Group, serving as Senior Finance Manager for East and West Africa, and later as Finance Director in Botswana and Zambia. He also worked with Engen Petroleum Limited in Kenya and South Africa, where he was Senior Business Controller overseeing operations in East Africa and Southern Africa respectively. A Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA), Aubrey also holds executive education credentials from the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business.

Professor Henry Mwandumba is the Director of the Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Research Programme (MLW), Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases and Head of the Mucosal and Vascular Immunology Group at MLW. His research focuses on understanding the immunopathogenesis of HIV-associated illnesses, particularly tuberculosis, HIV and vascular diseases to improve patient outcomes

Stephen has conducted clinical and translational research in the UK and Africa since 1993. As Director of the Malawi Liverpool Wellcome programme (2015-2022), Stephen led with a vision of “research to benefit health and training the next generation of researchers. Starting in Edinburgh in 2025, Stephen hopes to build collaborative links in translational experimental medicine especially the use of human challenge studies to accelerate vaccine development.

Professor Janelisa Musaya serves as the Deputy Director at Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Research Programme as well as a Professor in Parasitology under Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHES). Professionally trained in Parasitology and Research Ethics, her research interests revolve around Neglected Tropical Diseases, of which she is the current Group Head of the Neglected Tropical Diseases Group under MLW. Her current research areas are in understanding the transmission dynamics of Trypanosomiasis and Schistosomiasis. A recipient of the Wellcome Trust Co-Investigators award, Janelisa also serves as an Investigator in several consortia and has interests in removing the gender gap in science research.

David Lissauer is Professor of Global Maternal and Fetal Health at the University of Liverpool. His research is focussed on maternal infections and improving the quality of maternity care in Africa. He work including a wide range of approaches from translational research to clinical trials and implementation science.

Professor Alfred Maluwa holds a PhD in Quantitative Genetics, which he graduated from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway, in 2006. He is currently working as Director of Research and Outreach at the Malawi University of Science and Technology. Professor Maluwa has 31 years of experience as a researcher, of which 9 years have been in research management. He has over 55 publications.

Deborah Nyirenda is a Social Scientist with expertise in community engagement, qualitative and bioethics research. She is currently the Group Head for the Community Engagement and Bioethics Research Group at Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Programme and a Career Track Lecturer in Global Health Qualitative Research Methods at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

Dr. Jen Cornick is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Liverpool, based in Malawi. A bacteriologist and genomic epidemiologist, she investigates antimicrobial resistance, bacterial transmission, and outbreak dynamics through a One Health lens. Her work directly informs public health responses while driving international collaborations to expand laboratory capacity and train the next generation of scientists across low- and middle-income countries.

With a total career span of 31 years spread across the private and INGO sector (Insurance, Telecommunications, Manufacturing, and Medical Research), he has twenty-five years of HR experience across all fields, most of which he has spent at a senior management level, 18 years. He is an alumnus of the University of Malawi, where he did his degree in Public Administration. Currently with MLW in his 10th year, where he is heading the HR function, which oversees training, compensation, benefits, and shared services. He has sat in various committees across all the industries he has worked which has ensured a healthy and wide understanding of issues across a wide spectrum aside from his area of practice. A key personal desire is to develop a team which is able to grow and take further challenges in the future within the institution or outside.

Dr Brighton Austin Chunga is a Water Resources Engineer with more than 15 years of experience. His research focuses on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), water resources engineering, hydrology and hydrogeology, system dynamic modelling, hydrological modelling and groundwater development, irrigation engineering, GIS and Geoinformatics, water resources management and water allocation in climate change.

Yamikani Ndasauka is an Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Malawi. He is an interdisciplinary scholar bridging philosophy, applied ethics, psychology, public health, and cultural studies, focusing on African perspectives. Ndasauka’s recent book, ‘Technology, the African Mind and Culture: Philosophical Perspectives’ (2024), provides a philosophical investigation of technology in Africa, articulating conceptual foundations and analyses rooted in African worldviews and communitarian values. Ndasauka has led numerous research projects, exploring topics such as the mental health dimensions of COVID-19 and anti-doping frameworks in sports. His work aims to integrate traditional African values and worldviews into modern discourse on sustainability, ethics, and development. He also serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Humanities.