The Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (NAS) is the largest of its kind in Africa. This diverse faculty is renowned for its expertise in forestry and agriculture, food systems, biotechnology, life sciences, and mathematical and statistical sciences.

Our broad range of disciplines allows us to tackle interdisciplinary societal problems by finding solutions to complex issues in modern society such as the sustainability of food production and food security and cures for poverty-related and infectious diseases such as Tuberculosis, HIV/ AIDS and Malaria. This is achieved through targeted research, and appropriate training focused on the latest technology and innovation.
 

The Faculty is the largest of its kind in Africa. This diverse Faculty is renowned for its expertise in forestry and agriculture, food systems, biotechnology as well as life sciences and mathematical and statistical sciences and our international rankings underline this.  

Niche research focus areas in NAS:

AGRICULTURE: Wide-ranging expertise in crop breeding, pre- and post-harvest applications, crop pests and pathogens, animal breeding, animal welfare, agricultural economics and extension, food production, consumer adoption, sensory evaluation, African crops, food systems and food security. 

BIG DATA AND DATA SCIENCE: Bioinformatics and computational biology, mathematical modelling in bioengineering and biosciences

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES: Hazards modelling, environmental modelling, sustainable environmental management  and biodiversity conservation 

INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Human (Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, malaria) and veterinary diseases (ticks and tick-borne diseases, rabies, Helminths, African Horse sickness, bluetongue disease, etc)

PHYSICAL SCIENCES: Radio astronomy, biophysics, green chemistry, drug discovery, separation science, renewable energy

BIOPROSPECTING AND BIODISCOVERY: Traditional medicines, natural product drug discovery, medicinal plant science