People

Professor Dinar Kale, Principal Investigator

Dinar is Professor of Innovation and Development at The Open University (UK). He works in the area of innovation management in healthcare technology industries with extensive research on industrial innovation, industrial-health policy linkages and health access in developing countries. He is a director of the Centre for Innovation, Knowledge and Development (IKD), an inter-faculty research centre focused on interdisciplinary international development and innovation research at The Open University. Prof. Kale has researched and published extensively on issues that influence innovation and development of healthcare industries based in low-middle-income countries. Over the years, Prof. Kale has published in leading journals in the area of Business Studies (BS), Development Studies (DS) and Innovation Studies (IS), such as the British Journal of Management, Research Policy, World Development, Industrial and Corporate Change, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Innovation and Development and Technology Analysis and Strategic Management.

Professor Theo Papaioannou, Co-Investigator

Theo is Professor of Politics, Innovation and Development at The Open University (UK) and Co-Director of the Innogen Institute (The Open University and University of Edinburgh). His research is in the areas of politics and public policy with focus on inclusive technologies for global development. Over the years, Theo has addressed both normative and empirical questions around innovation systems, IPRs, governance and diffusion of health and energy technologies. His research has been supported by a range of funders, including the EU, the ESRC, The Leverhulme Trust and the British Academy. He has published research findings at top academic journals such as Research Policy, World Development, Progress in Development Studies, Journal of Responsible Innovation, Innovation and Development, Science and Public Policy, Critical Policy Studies and International Political Science Review. His books include Inclusive Innovation for Development: Meeting the Demands of Justice through Public Action, Routledge 2018; (with C. Lyall and J. Smith) The Limits to Governance: The Challenge of Policy-Making for the New Life Sciences, Ashgate (2009).

Dr Pallavi Joshi, Postdoctoral Research Associate

Pallavi is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Development Policy and Practice group at The Open University. Her research explores the interlinkages between public policy and the health industry, particularly focusing on how research, policy, and practice can effectively drive inclusive innovation and development. Her doctoral research examined how health, industrial, and science and technology policies influence the development of inclusive innovations, using case studies of AI-based MedTech innovations for early cancer detection by Indian startup firms. She has a strong background in policy research. She gained valuable experience during a PhD secondment with The Open Innovation Team (OIT) in the UK, where she contributed to evidence synthesis for policy projects, developed a policy masterclass for undergraduate students, and provided research inputs on training for storytelling for public policy. Her policy experience also extends to India, where she held research positions, including at the Indian Council for International Economic Relations (a think tank based in New Delhi) and the Competition Commission of India (the competition regulatory agency of India).

Professor Rebecca Hanlin, Co-Investigator

Rebecca is Professor of Innovation and Sustainable Development at the University of Johannesburg. She is a science, technology, and innovation policy expert with an emphasis on promoting innovation and business development opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses in Africa at the DSI/NRF Trilateral Research Chair in Transformative Innovation, the 4IR & Sustainable Development in the College of Business and Economics. She has a strong background in managerial positions overseeing personnel and budgets in the private sector in Africa prior to returning to academia. Rebecca has also managed a number of research related responsibilities at The Open University and is providing innovation and development advice to the AfricaLics network of innovation scholars in Africa.

Rebecca has over 20 years of experience working in developing countries from Cuba to Nigeria. In Africa she has predominately lived and worked in Tanzania and Kenya.

Professor Ann Kingiri, Co-Investigator

Ann is Director, Research & Innovation at the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS), a development policy think tank, working to harness applications of STI for sustainable development. She is an STI policy and development researcher with a focus on inclusive and sustainable development in Africa. She has a PhD in Development studies from the UK. She has over 20 years of experience working with the public, private sector and development partners in the area of innovation and development particularly targeting Africa.

Emeritus Professor Maureen Mackintosh

Maureen Mackintosh is Emeritus Professor of Economics at The Open University, UK. She is a development economist specialising in markets in health care and medicines. Her research has focused on local manufacturing of pharmaceuticals and other health-related commodities in Sub-Saharan Africa, and on commercialisation of health care in low- and middle-income countries. 

Recent research projects include  Innovation for Cancer Care in Africa (ICCA), an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) (UK) funded East Africa-India-UK research collaboration led by The Open University, investigating ways to link innovation in the industrial and health sectors to improve access to cancer care in Kenya and Tanzania; and an earlier ESRC-funded collaborative project, with Tanzanian and Kenyan colleagues including Dr Mercy Karimi Njeru of the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) and Dr Ann Kingiri of ACTS, on Industrial productivity, health sector performance and policy synergies for inclusive growth.

Recent open-access publications include Banda, G., Mackintosh, M., Njeru, M. K., Makene, F. S., & Srinivas, S. (2024). Cancer Care in Pandemic Times: Building Inclusive Local Health Security in Africa and India (p. 359). Springer Nature; and Mackintosh, M. Mugwagwa, J. Banda, G. Tunguhole, J. Tibandebage, P. Wangwe, S. Karimi Njeru, M. (2018) Health-industry linkages for local health: reframing policies for African health system strengthening. Health Policy and Planning.

Dr Geoffrey Banda

Geoffrey Banda is Senior Lecturer in the Science, Technology, and Innovation Studies group at the University of Edinburgh and Deputy Director of the Innogen Institute. He has a background in natural sciences (Biology and Biotechnology) and social sciences (Finance, Innovation and Industry Development). His industrial experience spans quality assurance and microbial safety of food in the food-manufacturing sector, as well as banking spanning corporate, transactional, and retail banking. His research interests lie in local African pharmaceutical manufacturing, food and health security, innovation and risk management, and health systems strengthening.

Professor Julius Mugwagwa

Julius Mugwagwa is Professor of Health Innovation and Public Policy at University College London, Department of Science, Technology Engineering and Public Policy (UCL STEaPP). He also serves as Global Health Thematic Director for the UCL’s Global Governance Institute. He has worked in veterinary research, pharmaceutical R&D, quality assurance, and harmonisation of medicines regulatory systems in Africa. He is an accomplished scholar and published author in the areas of global health, health innovation, and health system strengthening, buttressed by his research and teaching interests in the governance and development implications of technologies and innovations.