Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs)
Agroforestry and ethnobotany scientist and Fellow of the Uganda National Academy of Sciences, leading academic planning, research governance and quality assurance since May 2025.
Prof. Jacob Godfrey Agea was raised in a rural community in Northern Uganda, an upbringing that shaped his lifelong commitment to rural development, food security, environmental sustainability and community transformation. He is a Fellow of the Uganda National Academy of Sciences, an honour for outstanding lifetime contributions to science and national development.
He has served as the first Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs) of Muni University since May 2025. He sits on the University Council and Senate and chairs the Senate Board of Graduate Training, Research and Innovation; the Academic, Quality Assurance and Gender Mainstreaming Committee; the Rewards and Sanctions Committee; the Students Affairs and Disciplinary Committee; and the Muni University Research and Innovation Fund (MUNIRIF).
Beyond Muni
Nationally he serves on the Competence-Based Education and Training (CBET) Taskforce of the Ministry of Education and Sports. Internationally he represents Uganda on the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and is an Adjunct Research Scientist at the African Institute for Capacity Development.
At Makerere University he was Head of the Department of Extension and Innovation Studies and Director of the Continuing Agricultural Education Centre, Kabanyolo. He contributed to Uganda's National Agricultural Extension Strategy and to the conceptualisation of Operation Wealth Creation.
Research and innovation
His research covers agroforestry, ethnobotany, food security, climate change adaptation, edible insects, indigenous fruit trees, biodiversity conservation and rural livelihoods, with projects funded by the Danida Fellowship Centre, RUFORUM, NARO, DFID, the Carnegie Corporation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Makerere University's Research and Innovations Fund. Among his innovations is the commercialisation of EMPAFU wine, made from Canarium schweinfurthii, which shows the economic potential of indigenous trees for rural communities.
He has carried out consultancies and capacity-building for ministries, universities, NGOs and international agencies, and has published widely in peer-reviewed journals, books, curricula and policy documents.
About the office
The Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs) develops and implements academic strategies, policies and regulations; oversees the design, review and quality of programmes and their compliance with the National Council for Higher Education; establishes systems for admission, registration, progress and timely completion; supervises the Academic Registrar's Department, the Library, Quality Assurance and Graduate Studies; and chairs the Senate committees on admissions, awards and ceremonies, graduate training, research and quality assurance.