Ishmael Kosamu graduated with Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Malawi majoring in Environmental Science and Technology; a Master of Science degree in Environmental Science and Technology from UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education in the Netherlands; and a PhD from Leiden University in the Netherlands. He has over twenty (20) years of dedicated academic leadership and research at the University of Malawi (including over seven years at Associate Professor level) as well as responsible, exceptional and effective scholarship at University of Malawi’s Polytechnic (including heading the Department of Physics and Biochemical Sciences from 2007 to 2010, mentoring several staff members on research and academic publications, networking, sitting on various leadership committees, PhD thesis supervision and examination (currently PhD External Examiner for the University of Cape Town), high impact peer-reviewed scholarly publications in journal across the globe, outreach activities and consultancies.

He is currently the Dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences at the University of Malawi. He is also a Lead Author of Chapter 3 of the Global Biodiversity Assessment which was conducted by The Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) under United Nations, whose final report was launched in May, 2019. He has previously been a Visiting Fellow United Nations University (Japan) – 2009; START Advanced Institute Fellow (Netherlands) -2007; OPCW Associate Fellow (Netherlands) – 2007; Visiting Researcher - Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (EAWAG in Switzerland) – October 2003 – March 2004; Fellow - LEAD Southern and Eastern Africa (LEAD-SEA)– Cohort 17.