Blessings Chinsinga is a Professor of Political Economy of Development at the Department of Political and Administrative Studies (PAS) at the University of Malawi since April 2014. He holds a PhD in Development Studies obtained in October 2005 from the University of Mainz, Germany through the Centre for Development Research (ZEF) domiciled at the University of Bonn. He attained his Master of Philosophy degree in Development Studies in July 1998 at the University of Cambridge, St. Edmunds College and his Bachelors' degree at Chancellor College, University of Malawi in August 1995. He joined PAS in March 1996, rising to Senior Lecturer in July 2002 and Associate Professor in July 2006. He has served in various administrative, managerial and leadership capacities as Acting Head of PAS; founding Coordinator for the Master of Development Studies Programme; Deputy Dean of Social Science for two consecutive terms; and as Deputy Director and Director for the Centre for Social Research (CSR), which is the research arm of the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Malawi. He served as Deputy Director and Director for the CSR between January 2013 and September 2021. He is widely published in his areas of expertise both locally and internationally in reputable publication outlets. His main expertise and areas of interest include political economy of development; politics of policy processes and political economy analysis; policy analysis and institutional development; rural livelihoods, food security and poverty reduction; democracy, governance and decentralization; and local level politics and development. He also runs a biweekly column in the Sunday Times, Talking Political Economy and he is IPOR's cofounding Senior Partner.

Michael Chasukwa holds a PhD (Political Science, Political Economy of Development) from the University of Leeds, MA (Political Science) and BA (Public Administration) from the University of Malawi. He is the Professor based at the Department of Political and Administrative Studies and incumbent Head of Department. His research and teaching interests include development cooperation, political economy of development, institutions, public policy, local governance and agricultural policies as they relate to land, youth and development. He is a trained social scientist with knowledge and skills in qualitative and qualitative social science research.

He has carried out consultancies on development, decentralization, governance, agriculture, youth, social accountability with both international and local organizations such as the World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organisation, World Vision Malawi, GTZ-Malawi German Democracy and Decentralization Programme, Overseas Development Institute and Malawi Economic Justice Network, Irish Aid, Catholic Commission of Justice and Peace and Tilitonse. Dr Michael Chasukwa is an Associate Professor at the University of Malawi and Head of the Department of Political and Administrative Studies, University of Malawi. Currently, Prof. Michael Chasukwa is also a Postdoctoral Fellow and an Erasmus Visiting Scholar at University of Leeds (United Kingdom) and University of Verona (Italy) respectively. He has published in both local and international peer-reviewed journals including International Journal of Public Administration, Journal of Peasant Studies, Agrarian South: the journal of Political Economy, Insights on Africa, Journal of Public Affairs, Journal of Development Effectiveness, Africa Review, and Journal of Asian and African Studies.