Geoffrey Banda

Dr. Geoff Banda is the Co-Director of Health and Innovation at the Innogen Institute (http://www.innogen.ac.uk/) and also a Lecturer in Global Food Security and Innovation at the University of Edinburgh’s Science Technology and Innovation Studies Group (http://www.stis.ed.ac.uk/). He is a multidisciplinary researcher on the social, practice and policy aspects of life sciences innovation, regulation and governance, especially emerging technologies. With early training in biological sciences (molecular genetics and microbiology) and research experience in rapid diagnostics of Salmonella using a biotinylated DNA-probe, as well as genetic fingerprinting in fish, he later gained food manufacturing quality assurance and laboratory management industrial experience. After postgraduate studies in biotechnology (virology and advanced plant genetic engineering) and research on copy number determination and differential expression of structural and regulatory genes involved in the sorghum proanthocyanidin production, he made a mid-career change and joined financial services industry. He gained experience as a corporate banker in credit risk analysis, relationship management, structured trade, export finance and transactional banking financing various industry sectors. He crossed over to Social Sciences and his doctoral studies were on finance, innovation and industrial development focusing on the financing of Zimbabwe’s local antiretroviral drug production. His post-doctoral work extended this research to local pharmaceutical production in sub-Sharan Africa. He also worked on an ESRC funded project on cell therapy and regenerative medicine commercialisation in the UK investigating business models, value chains and innovation ecosystems. He is currently involved in three research projects: Tackling Infectious Diseases for the Benefit of Africa (TIBA) http://tiba-partnership.org/ an NIHR funded collaborative project between the University of Edinburgh and 9 African research institutions in Botswana, Ghana, Uganda, South Africa, Kenya, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Tanzania, Diagnostic innovation and livestock (DIAL): towards more effective and sustainable applications of antibiotics in livestock farming. A collaborative research project between the Universities of Exeter, Bristol and Edinburgh, Improving root system architecture for enhanced drought tolerance and nutrient use efficiency in semi-arid agriculture of chickpea. A collaborative research project between the University of Edinburgh, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopian Biotechnology Institute at Ministry of Science and Technology, Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research and University of California-Davis.