Richard Ogutu-Ohwayo PhD.

Dr. Ogutu-Ohwayo is the Executive Directors and leader of the founding team of AFLANET. He holds BSc in biology from Makerere University, an MSc in fisheries and aquatic sciences from the University of Dar es Salaam, and a PhD from the University of Manitoba. He has over 40 years of research and administrative experience on the African Great Lakes. He has served as a research scientist, a program leader, a Director of National Fisheries Resources Research Institute, NaFIRRI (Uganda)F, an honorary lecturer at Makerere University, a Deputy Executive Secretary and head of projects and programs at the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization (LVFO) of the East African Community, and has held at least 12 other technical, academic and administrative responsibilities. He has undertaken at least 25 consultancies in different aspects of fisheries and aquatic sciences. He has published over sixty papers in refereed journals or as book chapters including the and has reviewed numerous manuscripts for international journals. He has initiated, developed, supervised and coordinated at least 12 internationally funded projects and grants of up to the tune of 29 million Euros. He is a member of at least five professional bodies, organizations and clubs. He has received at least five fellowships, scholarships and awards. He has supervised at least 25 graduate students and marked numerous MSc and PhD theses. He has attended at least 40 international conferences and presented papers, some of them invited, and organized many conferences especially on the African Great Lakes. He has been a visiting scientist and collaborated with research scientists in different parts of the world including the Freshwater Biological Association (UK) and Freshwater Institute (Canada) and universities in UK, USA, Canada and Japan. His research interest has mainly been on impacts, especially of species introduction into other lake ecosystems. He has built research capacity locally, regionally and internationally through mentoring scientists during. In 2018, Dr Ogutu-Ohwayo was elected the first international board members of the International Association of Great Lakes Research. He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Great Lakes Research. When Dr Ogutu-Ohwayo retired from formal employment in December 2009, he formed AFLANET – African Lakes Network to enable, especially African Fisheries scientists both in service and retired to provide information and data for conservation and sustainable development of African Lake.

Vianny Natugonza

Vianny Natugonza is a vibrant young fisheries biologist, with special interest in freshwater biodiversity and fish population dynamics. He currently works at the National Fisheries Resources Research Institute (NaFIRRI) as a research scientist, where he is keen to understanding interactions between fish stock dynamics, ecosystem functioning, data quality and management actions. He has led several projects aimed at rescuing freshwater biodiversity data and making it freely accessible by the general public. His position at NaFIRRI has helped him work on several other projects with national and international collaborators that have collected freshwater biodiversity information across the country, and his current interests are connected with creating tools for freely sharing these data. Some of the tools created to date include the online freshwater biodiversity data portal for Uganda (https://freshwaterbiodiversity.go.ug/), where he serves as the technical editor. He has contributed to fisheries science through multiple scientific papers and reports (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Natugonza_Vianny/contributions). Natugonza holds a Master of Science degree in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences of Makerere University, Kampala, and he is currently studying for a PhD in Ecological modelling at the University of Iceland. He has also undertaken specialized training in fish taxonomy (MRAC, Belgium), stock assessment (MRI, Iceland) and ecological modelling (University of Akureyri, Iceland).

Laban Musinguzi

Laban Musinguzi holds a Master of Science of Makerere University, Uganda. He is currently a research scientist (fish biology and ecology) at the National Fisheries Resources Research Institute (NaFIRRI). He started his research career at NaFIRRI, as research assistant and a graduate research assistant (voluntary) from 2013 to 2015. From November 2011- May 2013, He worked as graduate research assistant at the Department of Zoology, Entomology and Fisheries Sciences, Makerere University. Mr. Musinguzi headed the reporting committee at NaFIRRI. Laban is a member of a national biodiversity expert working group for “Connect: Mainstreaming biodiversity into the heart of government decision making”, a project of UNEP whose aim is to mainstream biodiversity information in government decision making especially in developing counties. Mr. Musinguzi has devoted his career to contributing to sustainability and resilience of inland fish biodiversity and fisheries resources in the African Great Lakes Region. As a fish biologist and ecologist, Musinguzi is engaged in research projects to address challenges to aquatic ecosystems including climate change, land use change and infrastructure development. He has acquired skills for biodiversity informatics, fish taxonomy, remote sensing and GIS. Current projects focus on sustainable land management, fish rescue and biodiversity informatics.

Olokotum Mark

Mark Olokotum is a Research Officer (Fish Biologist – Stock Assessment Scientist) at National Fisheries Resources Research Institute (NaFIRRI). Mark holds a joint Master of Science in Environmental Sciences – Limnology & Wetland Management from UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education (The Netherlands), Egerton University (Kenya) and University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences – BOKU (Austria); Master of Science in Zoology (Fisheries & Aquatic Sciences) and Bachelor of Science in Fisheries and Aquaculture of Makerere University. He is currently study for a PhD at Makerere University Institute of Environment and Natural Sciences (MUIENR). At workplace, he is engaged in planning and implementing priority constraint research in fish stocks to generate regular information on their trends. This is required for periodic advice on the management of fisheries resources. Updating the current knowledge on the ecological state of northern Lake Victoria under the Water Sources in Africa (WaSAf) project. Additionally, he is involved in aquatic biodiversity and ecological assessment of rivers and wetlands for human development including hydro-power plants. Over the years, he ensured the “Ecological good status/potential” and compliance of the seismic activities within national legislation and the Environmental Management Plans (EMPs) during oil and gas exploration along the River Nile and northern Lake Albert. Assessment of fish biology and ecology in pollution hotspots under the Lake Victoria management, and impacts of climate change on aquatic productivity and fisheries. Mark also brings vast knowledge required for threat assessments and habitat characterization gained during his trainings.

Rwezawula Philip

Mr. Philip Rwezawula hols a BSc. in Fisheries and Aquaculture Makerere University Kampala and a Diploma in Fisheries Management and Technologies from Fisheries Training Institute Entebbe. He is currently pursuing an International Master’s of Science in Aquaculture study at Ghent University, Belgium. He has worked as a Fisheries and Aquaculture Research Scientist in the National Fisheries Resources Research Institute (NaFIRRI) of the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) Uganda since 2013 up to date. Has expertise in aquaculture site suitability assessments and surveys, aquaculture system designing (cages, tanks and ponds), experimental designing, data collection, report writing and farm layouts, Best Management Practices (BMPs), marketing aquaculture products through value addition, seed multiplication and genetic improvement, extension services to farmers, fish taxonomy, biodiversity studies with special interest in Haplochromine cichlids, data digitization and publishing.

Jessy Lugya

Jessy Lugya: Information and data mobilization, Manager Jessy Lugya is a fisheries scientist with special interest in Ecosystem Approach to Aquaculture. He is currently serving as a volunteer research assistant at the National Fisheries Resources Research Institute (NaFIRRI). Jessy holds of a BSc (Hons) in Fisheries and Aquaculture from Makerere University Kampala and he is currently pursuing an International Master of Science in Aquaculture at the University of Ghent, Belgium. Jessy joined fisheries research in 2016 as a volunteer Research Assistant at the Aquaculture Research and Development Centre (ARDC) – Kajjansi before moving to NaFIRRI headquarters in Jinja. During this time Jessy has participated in a number of projects which have improved his expertise in various research aspects and increased his interest in conserving the conservation and management of fisheries resources. Jessy was a project manager in a regional project titled “Promoting Environmentally, Economically and Socially Sustainable Cage Aquaculture” (PESCA) on the African Great Lakes. This project developed tools for best management practices in cage aquaculture including a mobile application called “NARO Cage Aquaculture” which can be accessed through https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cage.culture.nafirri.uganda. The project also established the African Great Lakes / Cage Aquaculture Network (AGL/CAN) among other outputs. Jessy has also been involved in mobilization of freshwater biodiversity data for two projects: “Increasing Capacity for conservation of threatened fish species through data mobilization and training”; and “From the lab to the World: Unlocking Uganda’s freshwater biodiversity data for sustainable development” which is developing a fresh water biodiversity data portal for Uganda.

Agnes Nabuufu

Ms Agnes Nabuufu is a computer programmer with special interest in cyber security.she has diverse knowledge in programming for desktop, web and mobile platforms. she is dedicated to meeting customer requirements with innovative solutions that maximize efficiency and exceed capability targets. she is always ready to face challenges, creative, good at thinking outside the Box to solve problems given, flexible, hardworking and honest .Agnes holds a degree in Information Technology from Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) where she has worked as an assistant lecturer from 2014 to 2015 She worked as a Quality Assurance Manager in Airtel Uganda in 2015. She has worked as a volunteer Information Technology Specialist at the National Fisheries Research Institute since 2017. During this period, she has accomplished a number of tasks including designing a mobile application and video tutorials for the project entitled “Promoting Environmentally, Economically and Socially Sustainable Cage Aquaculture” (PESCA) on the African Great Lakes. She has also participated in developing a data portal for the project entitled “From the lab to the World: Unlocking Uganda’s freshwater biodiversity data for sustainable development”. She has been involved in developing and will be responsible for management of the website of AFLANET.