Bagele Chilisa, is a Professor at the University of Botswana where she teaches Research Methods and Evaluation courses to graduate and undergraduate students. She has supervised more than 50 Masters and PhD dissertations and has served as external examiner for PHD thesis in the SADEC region. She is also author of the following textbooks that are used by graduate students internationally: Chilisa, B. (2011) Indigenous Research Methodologies. Thousand Oaks, SAGE (USA). Chilisa, B. and Preece, J. (2005). Research Methods for Adult Educators in Africa. Pearson and UNESCO.
Professor Chilisa has received numerous grants to carry out impact evaluation and intervention research on HIV/AIDS, gender, education, sexuality and assessment. She has received numerous grants to carry out evaluation research on HIV/AIDS, gender, education, sexuality and assessment from the following International Organizations: DFID (Department for International Development); FAWE (Forum For African Women in Education) UNICEF; UNDP, UNESCO, Economic Commission for Africa, World Bank, ILO, the National Institute of Health (NIH) USA and Spencer Foundation (USA).
The research has involved interacting with scholars from Sub-Saharan Africa and the rest of the world. For instance, the evaluation research on the pregnancy policy was the part of a larger project initiated by the Ministries of Education in Sub-Saharan Africa. Studies were carried out in Botswana, Mozambique, Kenya and Nigeria. The HIV/AIDS study was initiated by myself, two scholars from the United Kingdom and three scholars from the region. It involved studies in Malawi and Uganda. The study on gender school experiences was a collaborative effort with scholars from the University of Ghana, University of Sussex and the University of Botswana. The UNICEF study on Gender, HIV/AIDS and life skills education involved nine countries, namely, South Africa, Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana. The NIH and Spencer funded research involve collaboration with University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University and Harvard School of Public health.