Kalule Okello David, FUNAS (PhD)
Kalule Okello David (PhD) is a Principal Research Officer, Plant Breeder-Geneticists with over 20 years of applied Plant Breeding and Genetics with the Uganda National Agricultural Research Organization. He holds a BSc in Agriculture, Masters of Science in Crop Science, and a PhD in Crop Science in Agriculture all from Makerere University, Uganda. His research interests include Groundnut Varietal development, Seeds Systems, Conservation, Gender, and Climate Smart Agriculture. He has released and commercialized 15 groundnut varieties which are freely shared throughout Africa, Haiti and the USA. He also leads the network of groundnut breeders in Eastern and Southern Africa Together with fellow 10 National Groundnut Breeding Programme belonging to the Groundnut Improvement Network for Africa (GINA), they created a pool of core germplasm representing diversity of groundnut in Africa fully genotyped, phenotyped and nutrient profiled available for sharing globally.
Dr Okello is a Gender–responsive Researchers Equipped for Agricultural Transformation (GREAT) Fellow and a certified Gender Trainer. To date, he has supervised to completion of 18 Masters and 2PhD students. Currently, he is handling 3 Masters and 4PhD students. He is a frequent mentor and examiner of many graduate students across many local and International Universities
Dr Okello has published 5 Manuals, 6 book chapters, 4 brochures, 3 animations and over 60 papers in referred journals. He belongs to many scientific professional organizations and is a frequent editor and reviewer of many journals.
He successfully managed over 30 projects (National, Continental and Global in scope) from an array of development partners including the European Union, Rockefeller Foundation, IFAD, BMFG USAID, and African Union.
He is a Fellow of Uganda National Academy of Science (FUNAS), a body which provides Science Advisory to the government. Owing to his expertise and experience, Dr Okello serves on many Boards