Dr Daniel Akinyele: one of the three Nigerian academics given grant by Kigali based AIMS to do research on climate change
Three Nigerian academics, Dr. Daniel Akinyele, Dr. Ayansina Ayanlade and Dr. Adanna Hneri-Ukoha have been named by the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) as beneficiaries of research Grants in Climate Change Science.
Three other academics from across Africa, Dr. Lindani Ncube of South Africa, Dr. Timothy Dube of Zimbabwe and Dr Muhire Innocent of Rwanda were joint beneficiaries.
AIMS, based in Kigali Rwanda announced the grants today.
Dr Ayansina Ayanlade
“Climate change is affecting all facets of society, contributing to lower agricultural productivity, a greater burden of diseases, and forced migration, among other consequences. African scientists, like the selected grantees, have a crucial role to play in providing solutions to the challenges posed by climate change. The small research grants program hopes to facilitate the provision of such solutions,” said Prof. Wilfred Ndifon, AIMS Director of Research.
The AIMS Small Research Grants in Climate Change is part of the Mathematical Science for Climate Change Resilience (MS4CR) program which is made possible by a grant from Canada’s International Development Research Centre, with the support of Global Affairs Canada and administered by AIMS.
The six grantees were selected through a rigorous review and selection process. Their projects will include among others: developing localised ‘clean energy’ models for off-grid applications in rural communities.
This will increase access to a sustainable supply of ‘clean energy’, especially because such communities usually lack access to grid electricity or are unable to afford electricity.
Dr Adanna Henri-Ukoha
Additionally, off-grid energy reduces greenhouse gas emission through a reduction in the usage of hazardous fossil fuel-powered technologies (coal, natural gas, or petroleum) for energy production. Off-grid energy technologies can therefore significantly lower health risk, reduce energy prices and improve livelihoods.
Additional projects will investigate the effects of climate change on the yields of important cash crops (coffee and tea) in Rwanda, and how best farmers in Nigeria can sustainably adapt to climate change etc.
Over the next four years, 16 small research grants will be awarded to outstanding early career African researchers to fund projects that can contribute to strengthening climate change resilience on local and/or global scales.
One of the grantees, Dr. Daniel Akinyele is a Lecturer at the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, University of Lagos.
He received a PhD in Engineering (Renewable Energy) from the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand and had served as a Senior Engineer at the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), Abuja, Nigeria – the Federal Government of Nigeria’s Agency having the mandate to create science and engineering infrastructure in the country.
His other achievements include a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel and a number of publications and participation in scientific events. His research interests include renewable energy systems analysis, microgrid design and planning, energy efficiency, life cycle impact analysis and sustainability.
Dr. Ayansina Ayanlade is a researcher and Lecturer in the Department of Geography, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria and a Project Associate under the Urbanization and Global Environmental Change (UGEC) core projects of International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP).
Ayanlade completed his PhD in Geography in King’s College London, United Kingdom. His research interest is in land-climate processes, climate change studies, and application of Remote Sensing and GIS to land-atmospheric interactions.
He has also been a recipient of scientific awards including awards from the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF); the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA); the Climate Impact Research Capacity and Leadership Enhancement in Sub-Saharan Africa (CIRCLE), the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), Kenya.
His project aims to examine rural farmers’ perception of climate change and their adaptive capacities in Nigeria. The major goal of the study is to evaluate the key factors that determine rural crop and livestock farmers’ preference for selected adaptation technologies and consequently appraise whether particular perceptions of climate change/variability are consistent with climatic trend analysis. The research will explore spatiotemporal changes in climate, how to enhance sensitivities to climate change impacts and adaptive capacities of smallholder farmers through climate-smart agriculture.
Dr. Adanna Henri-Ukoha is a Lecturer at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. Adanna obtained a Ph.D in Agricultural Economics – Resource and Environmental Economics Bias from the Federal University of Technology, Owerri Imo State, Nigeria.
She has published extensively and received awards including an award from the Nigerian Association of Agricultural Economics (NAAE) conference in 2017 by the RAAF-ECOWAS-PASSANO project.
She has also participated in the highly competitive RUFORUM Academic Staff Exchange Fellowship program in 2017/2018 at Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) Malawi.
Her project will seek to identify the adaptation options used by farmers in Southern Nigeria and assess the cost-benefits of the adaptation strategies among other objectives. Data will be obtained through, focus group discussions, interview schedule as well as administration of a questionnaire to 300 cassava-based farmers in two selected states in Southern Nigeria.
Dr. Timothy Dube is a Senior Lecturer in Geoinformation Science and Earth Observation at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. Timothy holds a PhD in Environmental Science (specializing in GIScience and Earth Observation) from the University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. He is a National Research Foundation (NRF)-Rated Researcher and a specialist in GIScience, Global Position System (GPS) & Remote Sensing applications in solving climate change and environmental related problems.
His research interests are directed towards the use of both cutting-edge satellite and in-situ Earth Observation technologies coupled with machine learning techniques in tracking and understanding the impacts of climate change, and in monitoring water resources, vegetation, land degradation, land cover/use change and wildlife/livestock aspects.
Dr. Innocent Muhire is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Rwanda – College of Education. Innocent holds a Ph.D in Environmental Management obtained from the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.
His study will investigate the response of cash crops namely coffee and tea to ongoing changes in the climate over Rwanda. This study seeks to assess the expected impacts of projected changes in rainfall and temperatures on cash crops in Rwanda. It is hypothesized that a projected decline in mean rainfall and progressive increase in mean temperature for 2016-2050 over Rwanda may result in significant water shortage which should probably lead to the decline in cash crop yields if appropriate measures are not taken in due time.
Dr. Lindani Ncube is a Researcher at the University of South Africa (UNISA). Lindani holds a PhD degree in Geology from the University of Fort Hare, South Africa. Her research spans the area of geology (geological field mapping, core logging, sediments sampling, exploration, the building of geological block models etc.) and geochemistry (rock geochemistry, mineral geochemistry, mineralogy and petrography, provenance of rocks, geochemical assessment of solid wastes, water quality geochemical modelling, etc.
Her project will seek to establish sedimentary accumulation rate and provenance variation records since the Pliocene from the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) cores surrounding the Southern African continent to capture significant river evolution events. Furthermore, provenance and geomorphology studies will be conducted in the drainage areas of the Limpopo and the Zambezi Rivers to aid in interpreting the marine records. Finally, Southern African river evolution history and the Pliocene-Pleistocene climate change records will be studied to explore the effects of climate changes on fluvial erosion and drainage area adjustment
Source: NAN
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