Kondwani obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Technical Education from the University of Malawi in 2004 and a Master of Science in Human Immunity in 2006 from the University of Liverpool. He was awarded the Commonwealth PhD Scholarship in 2007 and obtained a PhD in Tropical Medicine (Immunology) in 2011 from the University of Liverpool. His PhD included establishing the first Experimental Human Pneumococcal Carriage model in the UK. He re-joined the MLW as a postdoctoral scientist in 2011 and helped develop the MLW Immunology Laboratory. He later went to pursue his second postdoctoral training at Cornell University, investigating HIV infection of alveolar macrophages.
Kondwani was awarded the prestigious International Wellcome Intermediate Fellowship in 2015 and returned to MLW to establish his research group. He was appointed Lecturer in Immunology at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in 2017, and Honorary Senior Lecturer at University of Malawi (College of Medicine) in 2018. He is the current president of the Immunology Society of Malawi and a strategic committee member of the NIHR Mucosal Pathogen Research Unit. In 2019, he was awarded the prestigious MRC/DFID African Research Leader Scheme award. His research group focuses on a) understanding the impact of HIV infection on mucosal immunity in the respiratory and the gastrointestinal tract, b) T cell immunology, and c) immune regulation.
Kondwani is very passionate about training the next generation of scientists and engaging with the public. He established the “Science For All” initiative at MLW, which aims at inspiring primary, secondary and tertiary students to pursue biomedical and clinical science careers. He also runs a public engagement project, entitled “Science in Unusual Places”, which uses football as a tool to reach men with health-related messages. He is also a local PI on the “One-for-All, All-for-One” project, which aims at the development of innovative engagement resources that will be used to engage global South and North audiences on the herd immunity benefits of vaccines.