Daniel Charles Pungu is a research assistant based at the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR)–Mwanza, where he works on multidisciplinary projects dedicated to enhancing public health outcomes through evidence–based research. 

Since 2019, Daniel has actively contributed to various research projects, including the ethnographic study of trust, risk and uncertainty in medicinal transactions in Sub-Saharan Africa, which NIMR implemented in collaboration with Oxford and Durham University, a novel approach to community-based HIV testing with traditional healers in Mwanza, and a sustainable schistosomiasis control project in Mwanza.

Daniel’s academic and professional interests include cyber sexual violence, medical pluralism, mental health, traditional medicine, global health, and more broadly gender power relations and how social fabric and social structures mediate an individual’s capacity to act independently,     thereby making them prone to illness and suffering.

            Before joining NIMR, Daniel taught at Teofilo Kisanji University–Tabora, where he        instructed courses in sociology, community development, and research, while also supporting students to develop their research projects. In addition, during that time, Daniel worked as an independent researcher on a part-time basis, contributing to various research initiatives.

            He holds a B.A in Sociology from Saint Augustine University of Tanzania, where he built a strong             foundation of social research methods, theory and analysis. He is currently pursuing a Master of   Arts in Sociology at the University of Dodoma, further deepening his expertise in sociological and          health research, with a focus on nexus of cyberspace and cyber sexual violence.  

Contact

Email: daniel.charles@nim.or.tz / daniel.pungu@outlook.com