Government scientist Priver Namanya Bwesigye’s research career is focused on genetic engineering and Uganda’s staple food.
Geneticist Priver Namanya Bwesigye is head of the National Banana Program at the National Agricultural Research Organisation , an agency of Uganda’s Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries. She joined the organization, based in Entebbe, in 1994 as a research assistant. In 2010, she earned a PhD in biotechnology from Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, through a programme called Banana21, a collaboration between QUT and NARO.
I had a kind undergraduate supervisor, Doreen Kabasindi, who also worked at NARO as a botanist. She encouraged me to apply for the research-assistant post. It took me 16 years to go from my bachelor’s degree to my PhD because doing advanced training while also holding a government research position depends on the availability of funds. Much of that funding comes from donors and might be available when it is tagged to research areas of high interest. My interest was in biotechnology.Much of my work has been in the tissue-culture laboratory, where we grow bananas from plant cells because most edible bananas don’t have seeds to propagate.