Animal reproductive physiology is Liveness’s main research agenda at Bunda College, where she is a senior lecturer. Her goal is to increase livestock productivity, improving livelihoods in rural Malawi where more than 85 percent of the population resides. Smallholder farmers are the targeted beneficiaries of her research and outreach programs. Banda has led internationally funded livestock research projects funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), the International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA) and the Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA). With a $12,000 grant from IFS, she completed a two-year study on the productivity of Malawian goats under smallholder farming systems. Specifically, her work involved reducing kidding intervals through estrus synchronization and artificial insemination, improving animal nutrition for increased conception rates and milk yield. She has since published two papers on this topic. Banda is currently the deputy team leader of a three-year project on diary entrepreneurship funded by the Agricultural Research and Development Program (ARDEP) under NORAD. The project aims to improve the dairy herds of smallholder farmers through the use of artificial insemination and breeding with exotic bucks to improve milk production.