Richard Edema is a senior lecturer at the Department of Agricultural Production Makerere University and Centre Director, of the recently established World Bank Centre of Excellence in Crop Improvement – Makerere University Regional Centre for Crop Improvement (MaRCCI). In the last nine (9) years), he over saw the development of this program into a model for regional capacity building in East Africa. He obtained his B.Sc (Agric. Hons.) in 1994 and M.Sc. (Agric.) in 1996 from Makerere University, and his Ph.D. in plant pathology (molecular virology) at the Ohio State University in 2001. His doctoral research focused on analyzing the genetics of virulence of the Maize Streak Mastervirus (MSV).
He has been involved in several research projects such as the AGRA and RUFORUM Regional Capacity building program, regional sorghum improvement program funded by BIOEARN, and research on validation of molecular markers linked to important traits of maize, cassava, and sorghum.
He has worked on capacity building in East Africa for biosafety and environmental impact assessments of transgenic plants. Recently, he initiated a new cowpea improvement program at Makerere University that has quickly gained recognition. He has also worked on capacity building in East Africa for biosafety and environmental impact assessments of transgenic plants.
He has trained over 50 MSc and PhD students. He has over 80 peer reviewed scientific publications to his credit. Dr. Edema’s training and research programs have attracted over US$ 11 Million to the University.