Hi everybody, I recently moved to Southampton to start a new research position in the School of Geography and Environmental Science. I’m working under a Global Challenges Research Fund project called Building REsearch Capacity for sustainable water and food security In drylands of sub-saharan Africa (BRECcIA), which entails working with partner universities and research institutes in Malawi, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa and Niger. It is a hugely diverse and multi-disciplinary team and my research focuses on the impact and efficacy of capacity building activities of the project, mainly looking at researcher development.
Before joining the University of Southampton, I was working at Bangor University on a teaching and research contract in close collaboration with the World Agroforestry Centre. Over the past 10 years, I’ve been involved in a wide range of international research and development projects in Sub-Saharan Africa. My main area of expertise is taking a knowledge-based systems approach to the study of local agro-ecological knowledge and its utility in natural resource management. I’m continuing to study for a PhD in Agroforestry part-time, with fieldwork already carried out in Kenya and Uganda exploring the roles that trees play in smallholder farming systems and meeting livelihood needs.
I’m looking forward to meeting more of you over the next months and years to come!