About Professor Isabel Apawo Phiri
Professor Isabel Apawo Phiri is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Blantyre Synod (UBS) starting from 2nd February 2023. She previously served as the Deputy General Secretary of the World Council of Churches from 1st January 2017 up to December 2022 when she retired. Before that, she served as the Associate General Secretary of the World Council of Churches from July 2012 to December 2016.
Professor Phiri was previously appointed Head of the Faculty of Theology at the University of KwaZulu Natal from 2005 to 2005. She was also appointed Dean and Head of the School of Religion Philosophy and Classics, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, from January 2012 just before she was appointed to work for the World Council of Churches in July 2012. She also worked at the University of Malawi and University of Namibia.
Prof Phiri is passionate about research. Her early research examined how Chewa women in the Church of Central Africa, Nkhoma Synod negotiated leadership positions in the church and society. Her research was inspired by the work of the Circle of Concerned African Theologians which was founded in Legon Ghana in September 1989. In 2003, she became a General Coordinator of the Circle up to 2007. The Circle promotes research and writing by women on issues that affect women in the church and society. Wherever she studied and worked, she established chapters of the Circle. During her time of leadership, the Circle focused on researching on how religion and culture fuelled HIV vulnerability of women.
Professor Phiri has a wide array of published work on gender, religion, the HIV and AIDS, Diakonia, Racism, climate justice, theological education from the perspective of an African theologian. She has authored/edited/co-authored twelve books. She has edited a peer reviewed Journal of Constructive Theology from Vol. l. 3, No. 2, December, 1997 to Vol. 16.No. 2. December 2010. It was renamed Journal of Gender and Religion in Africa, 19.1 Dec 2014. She has forty articles in peer-reviewed, internationally recognised journals. Eight articles in other journals. She has published thirty-five chapters in books and has twelve entries in reference books. She has also supervised and co supervised eighteen Doctor of Philosophy students and seventeen Masters degree students who graduated from the University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.
Professor Phiri was educated in Malawi, United Kingdom and South Africa. She received her B. Ed in Religious Studies and History from Chancellor College, the University of Malawi in 1981. Her MA in Religious Education was obtained from Lancaster University in the United Kingdom in 1983. Her PhD in Religious Studies is from the University of Cape Town in South Africa, obtained in 1992.
In addition, she obtained a Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in Modern Management for Non-Profit Organizations. The Certificate is awarded by the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Geneva, Switzerland, 2017. Furthermore, the Faculty of Theology and Religion, the University of Pretoria (UP) conferred to her Doctor of Divinity (honoris causa) in recognition of her significant contributions to academia, church and society in 2023. She also obtained a Certificate in Theology from the Zomba Theological University in 2025 as part of preparations to be ordained as a minister in the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian, Blantyre Synod.