The outgoing Director of Research, Mbarara ZARDI, Dr. Halid Kirunda has worked with the public sector for not less than 24 years, 13 of which he was a livestock extension worker and 12 years as a scientist with the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO).
The Chairperson of the Advisory Committee of Mbarara Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute (ZARDI) Prof. Jane Kagoro has hailed the institute’s outgoing Director of Research, Dr. Halid Kirunda for exemplary work exhibited over the period he has been at the helm of Mbarara ZARDI.
She expressed hope that his successor, Dr. Robert Muzira will offer an equally excellent service given the exemplary work done by his predecessor Dr. Kirunda.
Prof. Kagoro was on Wednesday overseeing the handover ceremony at Mbarara ZARDI headquarters where Kirunda handed over office to Dr. Muzira after occupying the position for the last nine years.
In his message, the Acting Director Dr. Robert Muzira expressed gratitude to Dr. Kirunda for the excellent leadership displayed in the last nine years, and thanked him for the mentorship which has helped him and many others rise to bigger positions and roles.
Who is Dr. Halid Kirunda?
The outgoing Director of Research, Mbarara ZARDI, Dr. Halid Kirunda has worked with the public sector for not less than 24 years, 13 of which he was a livestock extension worker and 12 years as a scientist with the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO).
Before his handover on Wednesday August 27, 2025, Kirunda was the Director of Research at Mbarara ZARDI, after serving as Head of Department/Programme, Livestock Health Research at the National Livestock Resources Research Institute (NaLIRRI).
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He has also been a Principal Investigator of 4 research projects and Co-Principal Investigator of 2 of them. Dr. Kirunda holds a PhD in Epidemiology, MSc in Veterinary Preventive Medicine, Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine, a National Diploma in Dairy Science and Technology and a Veterinary Assistants’ Certificate. Based on the diversity of his knowledge and skills, Halid has been involved in research and planning of projects in a diversity of government programmes.
He has also taught at Makerere and Busitema Universities, thereby boosting knowledge so essential for development of science and technology in the country. Dr. Kirunda has provided expertise to National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) as an Assessor of Curricula developed by Public and Private Universities since 2010, Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (UNCST) in assessment of Biosafety and Biosecurity of Private and Public scientific establishments in the country and Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) in development of standards (as a member of Technical Committee 15 since 2010).
He has been a member of the Project Steering Committee of Presidential Initiative on Development of Anti-tick Vaccine in Uganda since 2017, and is also a member of Institutional Biosafety Committee of the National Agricultural Research Organisation, a post he has occupied since January 2017.
He is the Chairman of the Committee for Development of Standards and Guidelines for conduct of agricultural research experiments/studies of the National Agricultural Research Organisation, Chairman of the Science and Communication Committee of the National Livestock Resources Research Institute, and Chairman of Biosafety and Biotechnology Committee of the National Livestock Resources Research Institute.
From 2010 to 2012, Dr. Kirunda was also a member of the Avian Influenza Pandemic Influenza Project Committee, Makerere University Walter Reed Project, and is the Vice Chairman of the Task Force for Development of Guidelines on use of animals as research subjects in Uganda of the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology.
His consultancy services to Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has contributed to improvement of poultry production in Uganda, while his consultancy with SNV The Netherlands Organisation has been very beneficial in improving the dairy sub-sector in South Western Uganda
Halid has published up to 15 papers in peer-reviewed journals in just 10 years, 6 of them in 2014 alone. He is a Regional Advisor (Africa) of Global Alliance for Research on Avian Diseases and a Uganda’s representative of research on the Africa & Middle East Regional Network on Infectious Diseases of Animals and Zoonoses Research and a member of Africa Vaccinology Network.