Blessings Chinsinga is a Professor of Political Economy of Development at the Department of Political and Administrative Studies (PAS) at the University of Malawi since April 2014. He holds a PhD in Development Studies obtained in October 2005 from the University of Mainz, Germany through the Centre for Development Research (ZEF) domiciled at the University of Bonn. He attained his Master of Philosophy degree in Development Studies in July 1998 at the University of Cambridge, St. Edmunds College and his Bachelors' degree at Chancellor College, University of Malawi in August 1995. He joined PAS in March 1996, rising to Senior Lecturer in July 2002 and Associate Professor in July 2006. He has served in various administrative, managerial and leadership capacities as Acting Head of PAS; founding Coordinator for the Master of Development Studies Programme; Deputy Dean of Social Science for two consecutive terms; and as Deputy Director and Director for the Centre for Social Research (CSR), which is the research arm of the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Malawi. He served as Deputy Director and Director for the CSR between January 2013 and September 2021. He is widely published in his areas of expertise both locally and internationally in reputable publication outlets. His main expertise and areas of interest include political economy of development; politics of policy processes and political economy analysis; policy analysis and institutional development; rural livelihoods, food security and poverty reduction; democracy, governance and decentralization; and local level politics and development. He also runs a biweekly column in the Sunday Times, Talking Political Economy and he is IPOR's cofounding Senior Partner. 

Mwayi Masumbu is a Senior Research Associate at IPOR with over eleven years of social science research experience as a field work Research Assistant, field team Supervisor, Project Manager, and Team Leader. Mwayi holds a Master of Arts in Development Studies and Bachelor of Social Science from the University of Malawi. 

In the over seven years he has worked at IPOR, Mwayi has managed multiple research projects on higher education, agriculture, ethnicity and development, local development, behavior change, climate change, political participation and representation, and media habits, among other research areas. His expertise spans proposal writing, obtaining ethical research clearance, training field workers, planning and managing research projects, data analysis, and report writing.

Over a period of six years, Mwayi has engaged both the National Committee on Research in the Social Sciences and Humanities (NCRSH) and University of Malawi Research Ethics Committee (UNIMAREC) to obtain research ethics approval for various IPOR projects, and also provided guidance to colleagues, local and international students and partners on how to obtain such approval. Mwayi’s research areas of interest include development actors and processes, migration, public opinion polling, citizen attitudes on government, and social welfare. Before taking up the roles of Senior Research Associate and Team Leader for IPOR’s Research Section in October 2023, Mwayi served as Research Associate from July 2016 to September 2023.

Mwayi’s eye for detail has been instrumental in both his proactive approach to the various assignments he has taken part in, and ability to troubleshoot and take corrective measures to remedy challenges identified. The various project and task teams that Mwayi has been part of have afforded him the opportunity to learn from the best in various areas of social science research while contributing and honing his skills and competencies. Underpinned by organizational values of hard work and professionalism wherever he has worked, Mwayi strives to produce high quality work on each assignment given to him.

Steve Chilundu is a Communications Officer at IPOR and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from the Blantyre International University, Malawi. Prior to joining IPOR in 2023, Steve had worked with both the public and private sectors where he amassed more than 10 years’ work experience. He has planning, communication and analytical skills accumulated through his work over the past decade of professional work experience. Steve is open to learning and sharing with others and prides himself of being a team player. Steve also has considerable experience in community mobilization, public relations, social media management, advocacy, development, and stakeholder engagement from grassroots, national and international levels. During the period he worked as a mainstream journalist, Steve participated in the National Research Dissemination Conferences by various public and private sector players. Some of the dissemination of research results that he attended and reported on include; National Statistical Office’s Integrated Household Surveys (IHS); Demographic Health Surveys (DHS); Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS); Annual Economic Survey (AES); the World Bank’s Malawi Economic Monitor (MEM); and Afrobarometer surveys, among others. Steve has also organized dissemination events for IPOR and other research-oriented organizations. His employment at IPOR has been a platform for him to fully utilize his skills regarding organizing and reporting research findings in the most effective way in print and electronic media, including social media. With his practical experience in the print and electronic media sectors, Steve has a strong network of colleagues necessary for wide publicity and circulation of research findings. 

Eliphaz is Resource Mobilization Officer at IPOR with seven years’ experience in conducting research from different sectors. His role involves coordinating proposal development and research work. He holds BSc in Agriculture Economics from the University of Malawi, Bunda College of Agriculture (now Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources – LUANAR). Eliphaz is currently studying Masters of Arts Economics at the University of Malawi. Eliphaz has worked with various institutions (both local and international) as a research associate, field supervisor and research assistant. He has experience in project management and coordination of various projects aimed at social protection, governance, gender, poverty reduction, rural livelihood, food security and building resilience. He has rich professional experience in monitoring and evaluating development projects, evidence-based programming and rural development with focus on Economic Empowerment, Agribusiness, Trade, Food Security, Climate Change and Natural Resource Management. He has impeccable leadership, coordination and managerial experience. He recently worked as a co-researcher on a baseline study and rapid impact assessment by Oxfam on a project known as Supporting Girls and other Vulnerable Children Education in Malawi. His experience is widely recognized by international organizations such as Plan International, UNDP, Save the Children, World vision, FEDOMA, Christian aid including the Government. He has done a number of professional courses, which include Enhancing Child Protection in Agricultural Societies obtained from Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources in 2014 and Food security and Poverty Measurement from SADC and Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources in 2015. He recently attended a short course training on Proposal Development by the Institute of Public Opinion and Research - IPOR.

Mervin Kadzuwa is a passionate data scientist with a Bachelor of Science degree in Statistics from University of Malawi obtained in 2022. He is currently a Research Associate in the Data and Communication Department at IPOR, where he has been involved in a variety of research projects as project manager. He is also experienced in Data collection tool programming, and Server management. Mervin is committed to staying up-to-date with the latest trends and developments in data science and has a keen interest in data analytics, data management and research in technology. Before joining Institute of public Opinion and Research, he worked for high level research institutions and organizations, namely; Save the Children International as an enumerator. To further advance his career, Mervin plans to pursue a Master's degree in Data Science. He is dedicated to pursuing academic excellence and applying his newfound knowledge to real-world problems. Mervin believes that data science can be used to solve some of the world's most pressing problems, and he is committed to making a difference in any way he can.

Loveness Soko is a Research Associate at the Institute of Public Opinion and Research (IPOR). She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Statistics from the University of Malawi, and has skills in STATA, SPSS, EXCEL, R, Survey CTO, SurveyToGo, and KoBo Toolbox for data collection, entry, analysis, and interpretation. She is also proficient in both qualitative and quantitative research methods, project monitoring, and evaluation.Loveness has experience in managing research projects, coordinating data collection, conducting data analyses, designing questionnaires, and report writing. She has worked on several projects, including Metaketa V, Notre Dame Project, GESD and Gender, Deliberation, and Natural Resource Governance, among others. Loveness is hardworking, self-motivated, trustworthy, and a fast learner. She is able to work under pressure with minimum supervision, has excellent organizational and time management skills, and is able to prioritize her work. She is a professional, ambitious, accountable, and approachable individual

Jauloss Gaddi is a holder of Bachelors of arts degree in Public Administration from the University of Malawi. During his period studying Public Administration, he gained intellect and skill set in different administrative and managerial areas like strategic planning and management, public policy formulation and analysis, law, finance management, human resource management and other areas of organized social life. His area of interest is strategic management, public policy, public finance management, Economics and governance and democracy. Over the years, he has had hands on deck experience in planning, coordination and management gained through internships at Ntcheu District Council and Institute of Public Opinion and Research (IPOR) and in research and data collection and analysis gained working as Research Associate for Institute of Public Opinion and Research. He is equipped with analysis skills in STATA, SPSS and Excel. As a research assistant for IPOR, he worked on the MPs study in 2021 and worked on the Higher Education Portfolio Assessment in 2022-2023 in different capacities. He has good written and verbal communication skills that help in completing multiple tasks to achieve project goals. What he doesn’t have in experience, he makes up for in intuition, innovativeness and creativity.

Chisomo Magawa is a Research Associate at IPOR for Training and Programs. Chisomo has a Bachelor’s of Arts in Political Science with Credit from the University of Malawi with minors in Development Economics and has ambitions to further his studies. Before Joining IPOR he was doing Internship at M’mbelwa District Council from 2019 to 2021 during school holidays in the Administration and Human Resource Department. He also worked as a Revenue Collector intern in 2022 for Edingeni sub-office of M’mbelwa District Council in Mzimba, Malawi. For IPOR, He worked first as a Research Assistant in October 2021 on a telephone survey. He also worked as a Research Assistant in June 2022 on Citizen Satisfaction survey under the Governance to enable service delivery program (GESD). He then joined the institution as an intern in August 2022 and from that time he has helped in management of different projects at the institution and has also worked as a Research assistant on Strengthening Higher Education Access in Malawi Activity (SHEAMA) Project. He also worked as a Research Assistant for Associate Prof Boniface Dulani in Environmental Corruption Deep Dive series with the Basel Institute of Governance. In addition to working with IPOR he also works as a Tutor in the School of Law Economics and Governance at the University of Malawi.

Edson is an enthusiastic Research Associate at IPOR, endowed with a strong academic background in economics and statistics. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Social Science (Economics) with a distinction from the University of Malawi and is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Economics at the same institution. His strengths are rooted in quantitative research methods and applied econometrics. His research interests encompass microeconomic modelling, impact evaluation, and spatial econometrics. On the technical front, he possesses data analysis skills and has gained experience working with various statistical software, such as STATA, R, EViews, GRETL, QGIS, GeoDa, and Microsoft Excel. Looking ahead, Edson aspires to further his academic pursuit by aiming for postgraduate studies, specifically a PhD in economics.

Happy Kayuni is Professor in University of Malawi's Political and Administrative Studies Department and holds a PhD (Political Science) from University of the Western Cape. Currently he is also Dean of the Faculty of Social Science. His main competence and professional expertise are in the following areas: political governance, public administration and management, gender and international development policy. He previously worked as Programme Manager for Women's World Banking-Malawi Affiliate. He also holds a Master of Public Administration degree (MPA) Distinction from the University of Stellenbosch obtained in 2004.

During his studies, he won several awards such as the South African Embassy Study Bursary Award (during the second year of his studies in the University of Malawi), Stellenbosch's Postgraduate Merit Bursary Award (at the completion of his honours degree), School of Public Planning and Management's Student of the Year Award (DUK-Student 2005) and the prestigious PricewaterhouseCooper Award for being the best MPA student. He has co-edited books and authored (or co-authored) over fifty peer reviewed journal articles and book chapters as well as over a hundred research/consultancy reports and conference papers. In relation to training programmes, Happy has facilitated numerous Team Building programmes for various local governments and ministries in Malawi. He has also been involved in training Malawian members of parliament under the Democracy Consolidation Programme. Happy is also a trained SADC-PF Elections Observer. Happy co-facilitated and co-drafted the Malawi Community Development Policy.

He also assisted in the drafting of the Malawi Refugee Policy and the Malawi NGO Policy. Apart from University of Malawi where he is employed, Happy Kayuni has also taught (as part-time lecturer) in several tertiary institutions in South Africa and these are University of the Western Cape, Cape Peninsula University of Technology and Bellville Business College. Currently he is also Faculty Affiliate in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Initiative Programme at Centre for Development and the Environment (SUM), University of Oslo, Norway. He is external examiner (in public administration and governance) in the following universities: University of Fort Hare, University of Pretoria, University of Johannesburg, University of Free State and University of Kwazulu-Natal.

Email: hkayuni@cc.ac.mw

Amanda Lea Robinson is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Ohio State University. She earned a PhD in Political Science from Stanford University (2013) and a BA in Biology from Appalachian State University (2005). Her research focuses on the ways in which identity and culture defined by nationality, ethnicity, race, and gender influence political behavior, and how political processes affect identity change, primarily in Africa and among the African diasporas. She has been conducting research in Malawi for over 12 years. 

Email: robinson.1012@osu.edu

Gowokani Chijere Chirwa works at the University of Malawi, Chancellor College, Economics Department. He is an Economist who was trained at the University of York, UK and was based at the Center for Health Economics. His main research interests are Health Economics and Global Health Economics. He focuses his research on low-and middle-income countries and it involves the micro econometric applications in the economic evaluation of public health interventions; the measurement of socioeconomic inequalities in and determinants of health; econometric decomposition methods; empirical policy impact evaluation; and the usequasi-experimental methods. In addition to this, he is an expert in both qualitative and quantitative surveys and he has also been a consultant for various institutions such as the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), WHO, ODI, UNICEF, among others. For more information, visit his google page, Google Scholar, ResearchGate, ORCiD

Email: gowokani@gmail.com & gchirwa@cc.ac.mw

Edister S. Jamu is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Malawi. He lectures organizational and social psychology, psychology of motivation, coaching and mentoring, and qualitative research methods among others. He is current Head of Psychology Department and Faculty of Social Science Postgraduate Programmes Coordinator (MA and PhD in Development Studies Programmes). He obtained his PhD in Business and Economic Studies (Work and Employment Relations) from the University of Leeds, UK; MSc (Industrial & Organizational Psychology) and Graduate Diploma in Science (Psychology) both from the University of Western Australia; and Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology and Demography) from the University of Malawi. He is a qualitative researcher whose research interests focus on organisation studies, talent management, higher education, digital technologies, and disability studies among others. He has experience in team building, leadership and management training, evaluation studies, mapping activities, and strategy development. 

Email: ejamu@cc.ac.mw

Francis Kibirige is the Managing Director and co-founder of Hatchile Consult Ltd, a social research company based in Kampala, Uganda. Over the last 20 years, Francis has been engaged in development research in Uganda and elsewhere in Africa through the Afrobarometer (www.afrobarometer.org). Hatchile Consult won the bid to become the Afrobarometer national partner institution in Uganda, and Francis the co-National Investigator. He is part of a team of resource persons who provide technical assistance to Afrobarometer network partners in survey sampling, overall quality assistance and analysis/reporting.

Over the past 20-years, he has handled and been part of a team of consultants on over 100 national social surveys in governance, finance, health, agriculture, markets and education working with private, public and donor-supported projects, employing both qualitative and quantitative methods. Some of Francis published (and co-authored) works include understanding citizen's attitudes towards democracy in Uganda, how delivery of electoral, political and economic goods impacts support for democracy in Uganda and understanding support for electoral law reforms in Uganda. His forthcoming publications titled: Glimmer in the Dark: Civic Education and Voter Turn Out in Developing Countries and Out of Fear or Reason? Understanding Determinants for Presidential Tenure choices in Africa, builds on work done with election observer missions.

Jimmy Kainja is a lecturer in Media, Communication and Cultural Studies at the University of Malawi. Before joining the University of Malawi Kainja taught Sociology and Media Studies at London Metropolitan University between 2010 and 2012, following completion of his postgraduate studies at the same University. Kainja's areas of academic and research interest are communication policy and regulation, journalism, freedom of expression, new media technologies, disinformation and misinformation, and the intersection between media, democracy and development. Kainja is also an adjunct researcher at the Institute of Public Opinion and Research (IPOR).

Among other assignments and engagements, Kainja was a recipient of the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) 2020 - 2021 research fellowship. During the fellowship, Kainja studied disinformation, misinformation, data protection legislation, and access to information in Malawi. Since 2019, Kainja has been a contributing researcher to Freedom House's Freedom on the Net annual report, focusing on Malawi. He is also a contributing researcher to CIPESAs State of Internet Freedom in Africa annual report, focusing on Malawi. Kainja is a founding member of Africa Blogging, an online platform featuring a plurality of voices and views supporting democratic culture and debate in sub-Saharan Africa, which he co-edited between 2015 and 2019. He is currently researching communication surveillance and privacy concerns in Malawi, for the University of Johannesburg's Media Policy and Democracy Project.

Abel Oyuke holds a Master's Degree in Development Studies from the University of Nairobi. He has an elaborate track in development practice and research spanning close to 20 years. Between 2003 and 2010, Mr. Oyuke worked on development programming and policy with among other institutions Action Aid International and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA). During this period, he also taught as part time lecturer at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in Kenya before joining Africa's premier research network, Afrobarometer in 2011 where he continues to work as a senior manager. Mr. Oyuke has special expertise in research methodologies and survey management. His areas of interest include democracy and governance, social protection, informal economy, local development and socio-economic analysis. He has consulted for and provided collaboration leadership to many local and international development and research organizations. Mr. Oyuke is a director and co-founder of IPOR Kenya.