Overview
Dr. Rose Tafadzwa Masekesa is a Lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe. She has been professionally attached to the university since 2008 and is a holder of different degrees in Crop Science, Plant Breeding and Plant Biotechnology.
Career
Dr. Masekesa lectures in the University of Zimbabwe’s Department of Plant Production Sciences and Technologies within the Faculty of Agriculture, Environment and Food Systems. She has been with the University of Zimbabwe since 2008 where she started off as a Graduate Teaching Assistant. After attaining her Master she was taken up by the university as a Researcher and Lecturer and it is in this work that she continues.
Education
In 2005 Dr. Masekesa got her Bachelor of Science Degree in Crop Science from the University of Zimbabwe. Three years later in 2008 she attained her Master of Science Degree in Plant Breeding. Being an innate researcher she undertook training in Next Generation Sequencing and Omics Technology with Ohio State University in the USA in 2012. She then did a D.Phil. in Plant Biotechnology in 2019 with the University of Zimbabwe. Recently, she under took training programes; one with the Swedish University of Agriculture in Bioinformatics and Computational Analysis, and another with Uppsala University, Sweden in Metabolomics Analysis.
Achievements
Dr Masekesa’s interest as a researcher is founded in Plant and Bacterial research, Virology and Bio-processing. Through her work with the University of Zimbabwe she is involved with plant and bacterial genome editing. She is also involved with virology research and bio-processing of indigenous plants in Zimbabwe. Dr Masekesa is not only a Board member of the Research Council of Zimbabwe but she is also an Impartiality Committee Member of the Standards Association of Zimbabwe. She has also showcased innovations in Plant Bio-processing at several fairs including the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) and the Harare Agricultural Show.