Prof Esron currently serves as Director-Postgraduate Studies, Research, Technology Transfer & Consultancy & Associate Professor- Department of Veterinary Medicine & Public Health, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Sokoine University of Agriculture.

He was the first postdoctoral research fellow at Southern African Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance (SACIDS) from 2009 to 2011. His research focused on resource mapping and application of mobile technologies in infectious disease surveillance across human and animal health sectors. He also an Associate Professor at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) in Tanzania from 2012.

He graduated in 1995 with a veterinary degree from Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) in Tanzania and in 1998 he was awarded a Master of Veterinary Medicine (MVM) degree of the same university. He worked as a research assistant attached to different research projects at SUA until 2000 when he was employed as an Assistant Lecturer. He pursued studies at the University of Reading in UK and awarded a PhD in 2002. He became a Lecturer at SUA in 2002 and maintained this position until 2009 when he was promoted to a Senior Lecturer position.

In 2007, he was awarded an African Research Fellowship by Rothamsted International and worked at Moredun Research Institute in Scotland (UK) for one year.Under the RF-funded project, Esron has collaborated with other key players in developing a one health surveillance strategy in three pilot study sites, namely the Ngorongoro, Kagera River Basin and Zambezi River Basin ecosystems. He has published more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed local and international journals as well as speaking in different local and international scientific conferences.

Research Projects Attracted and Managed

Ending Pandemics, United States of America. Phase 1.5 of the “Enhancing Community-based Disease Outbreak Detection and Response in East and Southern Africa”. Grant No. 17-41812, US $ 450,000. Project Leader. (March 2017 to May 2018).

Skoll Global Threats Fund, United States of America. SACIDS ICT tool development for enhancing community-based disease outbreak detection and response in East and Southern Africa. Grant Agreement No. 14-02688, US $ 450,000. Project Leader. (August 2015 to December 2016).

CORDS (Connecting Organizations for Regional Disease Surveillance). Organization of Inception Meeting and Technology Partner Support for SACIDS Mobile Phone. Grant No. 1010, US $ 164,032. Project Leader. (August 2015).

CORDS (Connecting Organizations for Regional Disease Surveillance). Organization of an Epihack Tanzania 2014 Event to design digital solutions for improved disease surveillance in southern and east Africa using mobile and ICT technologies. Grant No. 1003, (US $ 162,906). Project Leader. (November 2014 to February 2015).

European Commission Intra-ACP Academic Mobility Scheme on ‘Enhancing Community of Practice in One Health for Infectious Diseases through Post-Graduate Training’. Grant No.2012-3166/001-001- € 1,993,925. Mobility Coordinator. (2012-2017).

NORAD-supported project through Enhancing Pro-poor Innovation in Natural Resources and Agricultural Value Chains (EPINAV) programme on Increased market access of beef and milk from pastoral system through innovative value chain approaches in breeding, feeding and health in Kilosa and Gairo districts, Tanzania Tanzanian Shillings (TZS) 239,514,000 (equivalent to US $ 114,054.3). Project Leader. (2011-2015).

IDRC (International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada)-funded project on ‘Integrated Human and Animal Disease Control for Tanzanian Pastoralists Facing Settlement Challenges’ . Grant No. 107030-001, Canadian $ 1,462,100. Co-Principal Investigator (2013-2017).

The Rockefeller Foundation funded project on ‘Enhancing disease surveillance and response at point of outbreak/care in the animal and human health sectors of Southern and East Africa through the application of mobile technologies’. Grant No. 2009 DSN 305- US $ 899,530. Co-Principal Investigator. (2010 to 2013).

The Rockefeller Foundation funded project on ‘Analysis of Emergency Preparedness and Resource Mapping for emerging infectious diseases across human and animal health sectors’. Grant No. 2008 DSN 310-US $ 399,000. Co-Principal Investigator. (2009 to 2011).

ACP-funded project on ‘One Health National Networks for Enhanced Research in Infectious Diseases’. Grant Contract No. FED/2009/217075- € 935,850. Co-Investigator. (2010 to 2012).

The Rothamsted International African Fellowship on ‘Molecular genetic investigation of mastitis resistance mechanisms in Bos indicus Maasai and Boran cattle in Tanzania’. African Fellow. (Jan-Dec 2007).

International Foundation for Science (IFS) funded project No. B/3521-1 on ‘Evaluation of antimicrobial residues in milk and microbial resistance to the commonly used drugs in Tanzania’ (2004 to 2006). Project Leader.

UK Department for International Development (DFID) funded research project No. R7271 on ‘Optimising milk production in smallholder dairy farms in Tanzania (September 1998 to March 2002)’. PhD student and Field Coordinator

MSc (Elec Eng) – Eric Beda is the SACIDS Foundation Regional ICT Specialist

A systems expert with over 8 years experience and a Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering with a broad knowledge of IP security frameworks, Software Engineering, Finance and Statistical Techniques. Core expertise focused on web (LAMP) and mobile programming (Android, Kannel), Server management, system integrations, ICT solutions consultancy and design

He is spearheading all technical aspects for the Mobile Technologies for disease surveillance project. This is an inter-ministry project aimed at enhancing the capture and submission of disease occurrence in rural and hard to reach areas. Technically involves design, programming and deployment of mobile phones (androids) equipped with epiCollect that are used to collect surveillance data in the field. The data is later synchronized to a central server located at SACIDS and may be viewed at different levels in the governance framework

From 2006 up to 2010 he worked at the University Computing Centre (UCC) Ltd where he managed the University of Dar-es-salaam ICT infrastructure. Main duties included preparing and analyzing proposals for new services and future expansions of the University of Dar-es-Salaam ICT infrastructure. Preparing and planning budget estimates in retrospect to human and technical resources and overseeing all system related projects. Other duties include leading a group of university wide system administrators, ensuring systems conformance to set standards, managing warranties and service level agreements. Enjoyed a productive working relationship with suppliers, vendors and customers and was engaged in government tender evaluations.

Technically he was tasked with Server administration and management of University of Dar-es-salaam Servers, servicing over 10000 people. He designed, managed, deployed, configured and implemented mail exchange servers (Antivirus, Spamcheck, greylisting), Proxy servers, Domain name server (Authoritative ac.tz and go.tz server) and mail servers which are currently operational. All implementations were done using open source technology – a mixture of Redhat, Centos, FreeBSD operating systems. During this period he harvested extensive knowledge and experience in integrating open source technologies ranging from CMS systems, ERP, VoIP, database (MySQL) etc.

Professor Joe Brownlie qualified as a veterinary surgeon from Bristol University in 1967 and after a short spell in General Practice, undertook and was awarded a PhD in 1972 on “The isolation and characterisation of antimicrobial proteins from bovine milk”. After working at the Institute of Animal Health for 26 years, he joined the Royal Veterinary College in 1995 as Professor of Veterinary Pathology, and was Head of Department between 1996 and 2003.

He is currently appointed as the veterinary expert on the National Expert Panel for New & Emerging Infections and also Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Select Committee on Biosecurity in UK Research Laboratories. In 2005 he was appointed veterinary expert member of the Co-ordination Team of Prof Sir David King’s Foresight programme on Detection and Identification of Infectious Diseases’ Programme. He has been Veterinary Consultant to a number of organisations, most notably the British Cattle Veterinary Association (BCVA) during the 2001 FMDV Outbreak. During that time he was co-opted to the Chief Government Scientist’s Group as veterinary academic with detailed knowledge of the disease in veterinary species.

He is an internationally recognised expert and has worked with many governments i.e. Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Indian Subcontinent and the Middle East. He has initiated and Chairs the National Strategy Group for BVD virus Control and is committed to educate, co-ordinate and deliver a voluntary programme on BVD Control across the UK. His 3 pilot regional control schemes will be the basis for a future national programme. He has recently been made Chairman of Trustee’s of the Institute of Animal Health (IAH) and, in that position, will oversee, in the coming years, the redevelopment of the IAH as a national resource for veterinary science and surveillance.

BVSc(Hons) MMedVet(Path)(Pret)

Head of Department: Veterinary Tropical Diseases

Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria

Professor Hazel M Dockrell, BA (Mod), PhD is Professor of Immunology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Following postdoctoral work on malaria at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School London, she joined the LSHTM in 1985 and developed a research programme on the immunology of leprosy and then tuberculosis. Her current research interests include assays for protective immunity and biosignatures that could be used in trials of new TB vaccines or drugs.

She has collaborated with many overseas institutions including in Pakistan, Nepal, Mexico, Portugal, Uganda, The Gambia, and South Korea. Her group is currently funded by the TANDEM, NewTBVAC, TRANSVAC and IDEA EU consortia, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded GC6-2013 consortium and the EDCTP-funded AE-TBC consortium.

In 2011 she became Special Advisor to the Director on Overseas Programmes, with special responsibility for the research and capacity development projects run by LSHTM staff