Dr. Bugwesa Zablon Katale is a Director of Research Coordination and Promotion at the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH). He has served as a Principal Research Officer at COSTECH. He holds a Bachelor Degree in Veterinary Medicine, MSc in Medical Parasitology and PhD in genetic epidemiology of tuberculosis at human-animals interface of the Serengeti ecosystem, northern Tanzania.

He has also participated in the Wellcome Trust (WT) supported postdoctoral research on genomic epidemiology of multidrug resistance tuberculosis in patients and genomics of antimicrobial resistance through support of SACIDS-ACE Centre of Excellence under the World Bank. Currently, Dr Katale is a European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnerships (EDCTP) fellow on Clinical application of whole genome sequencing in multidrug resistance tuberculosis patients in Tanzania- TMA2018CDF-2363.

He serves as a member of Board of Directors and committee member at Tanzania National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), Ifakara Health Institute (IHI) and Board of Governors at International Centre for Genetics and Biotechnology Engineering (ICGBE).

The Commission has developed platforms for data sharing in Higher Learning (HLIs) and Research and Development (R&D) Institutions in the country. COSTECH in collaboration with Dares Salaam Institute for Technology (DIT) developed a biodiversity online portal data, the Tanzania Biodiversity Information Facility (TanBIF) which is a consortium of biodiversity universities, research institution such as Mweka Wildlife College, Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute and Tanzania Forest Research Institute provides open access to country biodiversity data and information. COSTECH also hosts repository that collect, preserve and disseminate electronic copies of innovation and scholarly works created in Research and Development (R&D) and Higher Learning Institutions (HLIs) and serves as a gateway for dissemination of information among stakeholders in Science, Technology and Innovation.

With this, Bugwesa Zablon Katale will provide technical expertise in the development of an open access framework.