Professor Sara Feresu - Vice Chairperson

Professor Sara B Feresu is the Vice Chairperson of the SIRDC Board. Currently she is the Director of the Institute of Environmental Studies (IES). She holds a BSc (Hons) degree in Biological Sciences and a PhD degree in Microbiology obtained from the University of Leicester in 1980.

She has been with the University of Zimbabwe since mid 1982 when she joined the Department of Biological Sciences as a Lecturer in Microbiology. She has been seconded to IES as Director since 2000.

Prof Feresu’s research interests include environmental and industrial microbiology, biotechnology, bio-safety issues and zoonoses. Prof Feresu has served on many national committees in the areas of Environment, Science, Health and Biotechnology/Biosafety. She was a member of the Research Council of Zimbabwe for seven years and has sat on many of its committees since 1991. She was a founding member and deputy chairperson of the Biosafety Board. She has been a member of the Medical Research Council. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe where she also chairs the Northern Region Local Committee and the Scientific Committee of the Board. She is a member of the Chinhoyi University of Technology Council. She is also involved in many national committees on the environment such as the Water Pollution Advisory Council, the National Committee on Sustainable Development, the National Biodiversity Forum, the National Genetic Resources Committee and the National Botanic Garden Fund. She is a Trustee and Deputy Chairperson of the Biotechnology Trust of Zimbabwe.

At regional and international level she was a member and chairperson of the Zimbabwe National Steering Committee for Leadership and Development Southern Africa Programme of the Rockefeller Foundation and is on the Board of Trustees of the International Foundation for Science.