Dr. Julia Bulya Kigozi, PhD (Mak); MSc. Agricultural Engineering (University of Pretoria, SOUTH AFRICA)., BSc. Agricultural Engineering (Mak)
Senior Lecturer / Dean – School of Food Technology, Nutrition and Bio-engineering, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Makerere University
Julia serves as the Dean of the School of Food Technology, Nutrition and Bio-engineering, Makerere University (Uganda) and is also staff in the Department of Agricultural & Bio-systems Engineering. Julia Kigozi, is an Agricultural Engineer, specializing in the training and research of Food Process Engineering related courses.
She is a senior lecturer at Makerere University, the leading public University in Uganda and currently serves as the Dean, School Food Technology, Nutrition and Bioengineering, Makerere University. Her research focuses on Agro-processing Solutions including; post handling of crops, design and optimization of food engineering operations, design of food processing equipment and Food processing plant design.
She has 51 published papers and 1 patent to her name. She has over 10 years’ experience consulting in this area and has been involved in the design and construction of several agro-processing equipment, product optimization and food process design. She has worked with communities in the post-harvest handling of fruits, grain and Mukene fish (Silver fish). She now runs a project in which MSME’s in the Agro-processing industry are empowered to meet the capacity and quality of products for the local and export markets.
She is also the founder and managing Director of Jazi Agro-processing Solutions Ltd, a company that provides solutions for the agro-processing industry in provision/procurement of agro-processing equipment, design, setup and management of processing facilities, optimization of food products and training of agro-processors to meet quality and capacity for the market.
She has won several project awards including the following:
- Principal Investigator- Awarded Projected Funding to set up a “Common User facility for packaging”, by Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation, amounting to 2.7 Billion Uganda Shillings. 2023
- Principal Investigator-Awarded Consultancy to Set up and procure equipment for a Sweet potato processing plant under SPVCDTTP project funded by Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (334,000,000 Ugx) – November 2022
- Awarded for (Phase 2) Research Grant (Principal Investigator), Empowerment of the Agro-Processing Industry to meet the Quantity and Quality Standards for the Local and Export Market; a Programme Enhancing the Practical Skills of Students in Makerere University. Funded by RIF, Makerere University (Totaling to 169,800,000 Ugx) October 2022
- Consultancy to train 60 participants on the “Implementation of two pilot field trainings in harmonized EAC standards for the EAC/ SEAMPEC program, Regional Industrial value addition (implemented by GFA), funded by GIZ (Totaling to 3,910 USD)-2022
- Co-Investigator, Research project on Unlocking the potential of phage-infused and bee waxed Nang-nang (brycinus nurse) market products, funded by MoSTI, Government of Uganda.(Totaling to 140,000,000ugx)-2021
- Awarded Consultancy to develop a Snack bar from sweet potatoes and beans. Funded by Harvest Plus. (7800 USD)-2022
- Awarded Research Grant (Principal Investigator), “Exploring the Use of Indigenous Medicinal Plants to
- Strengthen the Resilience of Communities to Covid-19”. Funded by BioInnovate Africa Programme (Totaling to 40,000 USD)-2021
- Awarded Research Grant (Principal Investigator), “Developing Innovative Technology for the Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises’ (MSMEs) in the Food Processing industry”. Funded by CAES-ISP (Totaling to 20,000 USD)-2020
- Awarded Research Grant (Principal Investigator), Empowerment of the Agro-Processing Industry to meet the Quantity and Quality Standards for the Local and Export Market; a Programme Enhancing the Practical Skills of Students in Makerere University. Funded by RIF, Makerere University (Totaling to 223,000,000 Ugx)- 2020
- Research Grant (Co-investigator)- Optimization of the extrusion processing conditions for a banana composite flour enriched with Amaranthas and soya grain, for weaning children 6-24 months; Optimization of the process for the production of Tomato Ketchup enriched with carrots and mangoes; Optimization of the extrusion processing conditions for a banana-based composite flour for weaning children 6-24 months; Quality evaluation of solar dried pineapple during processing and storage, Development and optimization of the production process of a nutrient enriched snack bar and Optimizing the processing conditions and formulation of a banana-vegetable instant soup flour. Funded by RELOAD project.
- Research Grant (Co-investigator)- Design, Fabrication and performance testing of a Refractance window dryer. Funded by BIOINNOVATE project-2019-2022
- Awarded Research Grant (Principal Investigator): Design and construction of Agro-processing equipment (Batch Pasteuriser, Soy-milk extractor, Fruit pulper, Cocoa dehuller, Mulondo chopping machine, Soya roaster, Soya steamer, Funded by the Food Technology Business Incubation centre under the government of Uganda (totaling to 22,000 USD over 4 years)-2018
- Awarded- Research Grant (Principal Investigator): A study of the drying kinetics, quality and shelf- stability of dried Rastrineobola argentea (silverfish) under varying processing and storage methods & Development of Shelf stable Fish sausage and Crackers, Funded by World Fish. (28,665 USD)- 2018
- Awarded Consultancy (Consultant): Development of value-added products from Sorghum, millet and pigeon pea/ Funded by ICRISAT. (16,850 USD) -2018
- Awarded Consultancy (Co-Investigator): Technical Inspection and Verification of Agricultural Equipment and Machineries/ World Vision Uganda. (1,500 USD)