Dr. Habtamu Lemma Didanna

Habtamu Lemma Didanna (PhD) is an Associate Professor of Dairy Science at Wolaita Sodo University (WSU). He is a graduate of Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. He conducted pioneering and original research for his MSc thesis and PhD dissertation on the performance of the Jersey breed and the intensification of dairy production in Ethiopia, respectively. He is the first ever Assistant Professor at Wolaita Sodo University. He has more than a decade of experience in teaching, research, development, and extension, including administrative roles as a director, registrar, and department head. He has been advising students and providing thesis supervision, connecting to funders, and examining postgraduate students; participating in research and community service projects; coordinating different committees formed for research, designing programmes, and conferences; and coordinating and managing programmes and projects with a results-oriented attitude and as a strong team player. He has participated in the research and extension activities of NGOs (FARM Africa, Ayuda en Accion Ethiopia, EIAR-AHI Ethiopia, WDA, SNV, Send A Cow). He has taken various professional development trainings and courses, including project development and consultancy, product quality and food safety, entrepreneurship, value chain analysis, and food systems for healthy and sustainable diets. He has authored and co-authored articles in reputable journals. He has also contributed professional articles to the Ethiopian Herald, The Capital, and Addis Fortune newspapers. He is a member of different scientific and professional societies. He attended various national and international conferences and workshops both in-person and online as a participant, committee member, presenter, chair, and rapporteur. His research interests focus particularly on interdisciplinary aspects of science that cover dairy food production systems, sustainable dairy intensification, food quality, consumption, and nutrition-sensitive interventions, farm/food animal biology and performances, value chains, the role of dairy in food and nutrition security, One-Health, livestock biodiversity, and climate-smart agriculture. He serves as a resource person for foreign researchers in their studies. He has international experience, such as at Wageningen University, University College Dublin, and Kenya. He has been participating in the review processes and editorial contributions of reputable journals, e.g., Food Research International (published by Elsevier Science) and the Journal of Dairy Research (published by Cambridge University Press). He is currently the founding editor-in-chief of WSU's Journal of Science and Inclusive Development.