Prof. Mizeck Chagunda is a Professor and Chair, Animal Breeding and Husbandry in the Tropics and Subtropics and the University of Hohenheim, Germany. Mizeck earned his doctorate degree in Animal Breeding and Genetics from the University of Goettingen, German after obtaining an MSc and BSc from the University of Malawi. He has previous worked in different academic capacities at the University of Malawi, University of Goettingen, Aarhus University in Denmark, and SRUC (Scotland’s Rural College) in Scotland. While at SRUC apart from pioneering in several research innovations around dairy cattle production, Mizeck was in the founding group and lectured in the joint SRUC/University of Edinburgh Food Security MSc programme. Mizeck is currently an Adjunct Professor in the School of Life Sciences and Bio-Engineering at the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST), Arusha, Tanzania. Further, Mizeck is Chairman of the External Advisory pannel for the programme Supporting Evidence Based Interventions (SEBI) based at the University of Edinburgh.
Mizeck’s research interests are in improving biological and economic efficiency in livestock production systems. He achieves this through investigating novel phenotypes and difficult-to-measure traits, the environmental impact of livestock, and the use of technologies and data-driven decision-support systems, optimising animal breeding strategies and breeding goals. This includes methods for quantifying greenhouse gases (GHGs), applying life cycle analysis (LCA) and novel techniques for measuring methane from breath in ruminants. As an example of direct industry-relevant research, Mizeck was part of the BIOsens team (Aarhus University) that developed and tested models that ended up as embedded software for the commercial solution HerdNavigator®. Mizeck continues to supervise students at all levels including PhD and is an external examiner in several universities in Africa and Europe.