Grants Beneficiaries

Professor Azikiwe Peter Onwualu obtained B. Eng. Degree (1982) with First Class Honours and an M.Eng degree (1986) in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Nigeria.  The PhD degree (in Agricultural Engineering) was obtained from the Technical University of Nova Scotia (now Dalhousie University), Halifax, Canada in 1991.

He started his career as a Graduate Assistant in Agricultural Engineering in 1983 at UNN and with the PhD degree he resumed full time teaching and research at UNN in 1991 and rose through the ranks to Professor in 1999. He was Head, Agricultural Engineering Department, UNN (2000-2003), Director, Engineering Infrastructure, National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, NASENI, Abuja (2003-2005) and Director General/CEO, Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Abuja (2005-2013). He was a Visiting Professor at the National Universities Commission, Abuja (2014-2015). From 2016 to date, he is Head, Materials Science and Engineering Programme, African University of Science and Technology (AUST), Abuja where he is also Director, Academic Planning and Quality Assurance for the university. He is Co-Centre Leader, World Bank sponsored Pan African Materials Institute (PAMI), Africa Centre of Excellence in Materials and Focal Point, World Bank Sponsored Partnership for Skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology (PASET), AUST, Abuja.

Professor Onwualu has over 30 years of experience in research, development and innovation work leading to over 200 technical publications as books, journal and conference papers and policy briefs. He was: Coordinator, Science Technology and Innovation (STI) thematic group of Nigeria’s Vision 20-2020, Chairman, Committee of Directors of Research Institutes of Nigeria (CODRI) (2010-2013) and Chairman, Steering Committee, Pan African Competitiveness Forum (PACF), Nigeria Chapter (2008-2013). He is currently: Member, Board of Directors of African Technology Policy Studies (ATPS) network, Nairobi and member, National Research Fund (NRF) Committee of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) of Nigeria and Vice President, Nigerian Academy of Engineering.

Over 60 organizations have recognized Professor Onwualu with awards including: Presidential merit award, Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE); Individual Honours Award, Nigeria Society of Engineers, Abuja branch; Award of Excellence by Nigeria Institute of Physics, Most Distinguished Agricultural Engineer of the Year by NIAE and Professional Service Award by Rotary Club of Gwarimpa.  He is a Fellow of 12 professional bodies, including: Polymer Institute of Nigeria, Materials Science and Technology Society of Nigeria, Solar Energy Society of Nigeria, Agricultural Society of Nigeria, Nigerian Society of Engineers, Nigeria Academy of Engineering, Nigerian Institute of Management and Nigeria Academy of Science.

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Dr CAMARA Brahima, Maître de Conférences des Universités du CAMES à l’Université Félix HOUPHOUËT-BOIGNY Abidjan (Cocody) est né en 1973 à Mankono. Marié et père d’un enfant, il est actuellement le Directeur Adjoint de l’Unité Pédagogique et de Recherche de Physiologie et Pathologie Végétales où il focalise ses compétences sur la Phytopathologie et l’Agrophysiologie. Il a mis au point avec une équipe de chercheurs de nombreux biopesticides dont 6 sont brevetés : Neco 50 EC, Proraly 50 EC, Astoun 50 EC… A juste titre, en 2014, il a été colauréat de plusieurs prix dont celui du Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de Recherche Scientifique et surtout le prix d’Excellence décerné par la Présidence de la République de la Côte d’Ivoire en 2015 et les prix du Concours de l’Innovation Agricole Durable décerné par le FIRCA/FCIAD en 2017 et 2019. Il coordonne plusieurs projets de recherche sur les biopesticides actuellement.

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Dr. Damien Hanyurwimfura is currently Head of PhD Studies and Research and the Acting Director of the African Center of Excellence in Internet of Things, at the college of Science and Technology, University of Rwanda.

He received his Bachelor degree of Engineering in Computer Engineering and Information Technology from University of Rwanda (Former KIST) in 2005. He obtained his Master degree of Engineering in Computer Science and Technology and Ph.D. degree in Computer Science and Technology from Hunan University, China in 2010 and 2015 respectively.

He has been selected to participate in Postdoctoral Researchers’ Networking Tour 2018 organized by DAAD, Germany on the theme: Artificial Intelligence Coming of Age – Research and Development in Germany, September 23rd to 29th 2018.

He has demonstrated an active interest and aptitude for research and has developed a strong record in research since 2010 when he was doing his master’s studies.

He is a member of technical program of conferences such as IEEE smart world congress, 4th International Conference on Data Management, Analytics & Innovation, the 5th International Conference on Dependability in Sensor, Cloud, and Big Data Systems and Applications.

He has published and co-authored more than 20 research papers in leading international journals and conferences.

His research interests covers most aspect of data mining, machine learning, Network security, watermarking, Internet of Things, hate speech detection and recommender systems.

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Prof. Karimuribo is a One Health Epidemiology Professor at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Morogoro, Tanzania. In July 2017, he was appointed the Director of Postgraduate Studies, Research, Technology Transfer and Consultancy (DPRTC) at SUA for the first term which ended in June 2020 and extended for second term ending June 2023. In addition to administrative duties, he serves as academic member of staff in the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Public Health at the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. He also works with the SACIDS Foundation for One Health which operates as a university institute with regional responsibility. He graduated in 1995 with a veterinary degree from SUA and in 1998 was awarded a Master of Veterinary Medicine of the same university. He pursued studies in Veterinary Epidemiology at the University of Reading in UK and awarded a PhD in 2002. He began his academic career as an Assistant Lecturer at SUA in 2000 and in 2002 was promoted to the Lecturer position and later to Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor in 2009 and 2012, respectively. In 2018, he was promoted to a full professorship.

In 2007, he was awarded the UK-based Rothamsted International African Fellowship to work with the Moredun Research Institute (MRI) in Edinburgh-Scotland as a visiting Research Fellow. At MRI, he was trained in molecular epidemiology focusing on genetic characterization and analysis of host genetic factors affecting the infectivity of trypanosomes and subclinical mastitis in zebu cattle. Between 2009 and 2012, he worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in a Rockefeller Foundation-funded SACIDS project on resource mapping for epidemic disease preparedness and emergency response. Since 2012 he has been leading a SACIDS strand focusing on One Health cross-cutting issues including disease surveillance. Since 2012, thanks to the Canadian IDRC for research grant to SACIDS, he led a team of epidemiologists and IT programmers to developed One Health disease surveillance systems and tool “AfyaData”. Later, the financial support from Skoll Global Threats Fund enabled my team to remain focused on our vision.

He has managed several grants to support this work either as PI or co-PI.  His research career has focused on One Health cross-cutting issues. To date, he has received and managed 21 research grants from different grantors and published 109 articles in peer reviewed journals. He is a member of Tanzania Veterinary Association, Community Animal Health Network and Participatory Epidemiology Network for Animal and Public Health. He has supervised 24 post-graduates (MSc and PhD) students as well as two Postdoctoral Research Fellows.

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Prof. Francis Wanjala Nyongesa is an associate professor at the Department of Physics of the University of Nairobi, Kenya.  He holds a Master of Science in Physics and a PhD in Physics, obtained in 2000 from the University of Nairobi. He is currently serving as the academic chair of the Department of Physics of the University of Nairobi.

He is an accomplished scholar with proven track record in research and training as demonstrated by his publications in peer review journals, supervision and mentorship of post graduate students. He is a recipient of the Third World Academy of Science (TWAS) Award for young scientists for his contribution in scientific publications in physics. He has also received several fellowships including USHEPiA fellowship, the Abdus Salam Young Student Fellowship (Trieste, Italy) and the U.S-Africa Materials Institute (USAMI) visiting fellowship at Princeton University (USA) in 2008. He is among the founder members of the Global Young Scientists Academy (GYSA), member of African Materials Research Society (AMRS) and member of the Ultrasonic Nondestructive Testing (NDT) Society of Kenya. He is a member of the editorial board of Tanzania Journal of Science and the African Journal of physical Sciences (AJPS).

He has made remarkable contribution in research in material science and renewable energy with over 22 research publications in refereed journals and over 15 oral presentations in international conferences in the following countries: United States of America (USA), Japan, Germany, Italy, China, South Africa, Ghana, Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania. He has also He has authored self study Modules in Physics for the distance learning programs and several undergraduate physics laboratory manuals.

His research interest include:  Functional Materials for Energy Efficiency Systems such as thermal insulators, Perovskite Solar Cells, Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs), and applications of Nanotechnology for Water Purification Systems. As a person, he is highly motivated individual possessing high levels of initiative and drive, good communication and interpersonal skills. He is a team player and has been involved in drafting a number of research projects with international partners.

His profile is available at https://profiles.uonbi.ac.ke/fnyongesa/.

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Professor Jibrin Mohammed Jibrin is a senior researcher and the pioneer Head of Department of Soil Science at Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria. He has been the Director of the Centre for Dryland Agriculture (CDA) since 2012, which he led to become one of the World Bank supported Africa Centres of Excellence. He has over twenty-five years of teaching and research experience with focus on soil fertility and plant nutrition. His recent areas of research include the development of decision support tools for site-specific fertilizer recommendations, understanding and quantifying variabilities in yield responses to nutrients application and changing climate, and integration of GIS tools with Crop Simulation models to understand spatial variabilities in crop yields. He has won several research and development grants as lead scientist or principal investigator, some of these include NGN38,800,000.00 from TETFUND (2019); US$ 5,000,000.00 from the World Bank (2019); a sub-grant of US$ 445,000.00 from CIMMYT for the project “Taking Maize Agronomy to Scale in Africa” (2015); US$ 8,000,000.00 from the World Bank under the Africa Centres of Excellence initiative (2014); and US$150,000 from CIMMYT under the MAIZE Competitive Grant Initiative (2012 and 2013). Jibrin Mohammed Jibrin is a fellow and life of the Soil Science Society of Nigeria. He is also a member of several other professional associations including the International Union of Soil Science, Soil Science Society of America, American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America. He currently serves as a member of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) of DFID-funded LINKS programme for Powering Economic Growth in Northern Nigeria. He is also a member of the Research Panel of Experts (RPoE) backstopping the implementation of action research in five irrigation schemes in Nigeria under the World Bank funded TRIMING project for transforming irrigation management in Nigeria.

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Professor Julius Mwakondo Mwabora earned a B.Sc. (Physics major) and M.Sc. in Physics from the University of Nairobi (UoN) in 1990 and 1993, respectively. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Dar es Salaam in 1999. He joined the Department of Physics at the UoN in 1992 as a Graduate Assistant, was promoted Tutorial Fellow in 1994, to Lecturer in 2000, to Senior Lecturer in 2003, to Associate Professor in 2009, and to Full Professor in 2014. He was Chairman, Department of Physics, UoN from 2013 to 2019. He has acted severally as Dean, School of Physical Sciences, UoN from 2014 -2019.  The Prof. Mwabora is currently the Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund (RSIF) Coordinator and contact person at the University of Nairobi.

Prof. Mwabora’s stints as a visiting researcher at Graduate and Postdoctoral levels at the Institute of Energy Conversion, University of Delaware, USA under the Fulbright programme (1997-1998),  Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University, Sweden (2001 and 2002) under the International Science Programmes, and Heterogeneous Material System Section (SE2), Hahn-Meitner-Institute (Now Helmholtz Centre for Materials and Energy  Berlin), Germany (2005 and 2009) under DAAD Fellowship exposed him to international collaboration and  multidisplinary nature of materials science, solar cells research and Energy. His current research interests are Dye sensitized solar cells, Nanomaterials for Energy and Environment, Thin Films, Materials, and Energy.

Prof. Mwabora has many years of research, teaching experience and expert advice experience to government of Kenya. To date he has supervised Eight Ph.D. and Eleven M.Sc. student theses to completion, published over forty scientific articles in peer reviewed journals. As of 2020, Google Scholar reports over 1200 citations to his work. He has given numerous invited talks and involved in Education, Science, Technology and Innovation policy issues.

Professor Mwabora is a Member of many professional bodies including Kenya National Academy of Sciences (Currently Member, Hon. Assistant Secretary, Chemical and Physical Sciences and Council Member), Physics Society of Kenya, European Physical Society, and Materials Science for Solar Energy Network for Eastern and Southern Africa, Kenya DAAD Scholars Association, UoN Alumni Association, Institute of Physics, Fulbright Alumni-Kenya Chapter, African Materials Science Society. He is currently serving as a member, Board of Governors for Coast Institute of Technology, Kenya.

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Dr. Thomas Kivevele, Principal Investigator (PI) of the project holds a doctorate degree in Mechanical Engineering from Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa, majoring in Thermal Energy Engineering. His doctorate dissertation was on air source heat pump drying technology. He also holds a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, majoring in bioenergy from the same University and the B.Sc. in Electro-Mechanical Engineering from the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.  He is a recipient of Fulbright post-doctoral scholarship for three months from September to November, 2018 to conduct research at Baylor University in Waco – Texas, United States. The Fulbright African Senior Research Scholar Program (ASRSP) was funded by the United States Department of State and administered by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars. Dr. Kivevele is a graduate member of Tanzania Engineers Registration Board (ERB) since 2007. He is also a principal investigator and co-principal investigator of four projects funded by The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Erasmus+ of the European Union. Additionally, Dr. Kivevele is a head for research and innovation of the African center of excellence in Water Infrastructure and Sustainable Energy Futures (WISE Futures) located at NM-AIST and is funded by the World Bank. He is currently working as a Senior Lecturer at NM-AIST teaching energy related courses.  Dr. Kivevele has been conducting groundbreaking and diverse research for the past 10 years in the field of drying technologies, solar applications and biofuels and has published extensively (over 28 articles) in several esteemed international journals. Dr. Kivevele has been using his expertise in drying technologies to make major contributions in reducing postharvest loss and environmental remediation due to overuse of biomass (fuelwood) for drying applications. He is now exploring reliable solar-powered systems integrated with energy storage for drying heat sensitive biomaterials to facilitate drying even when it is cloudy, rainy, or night. He is also leading a project funded by COSTECH to develop alternative and environmentally benign technology to cure tobacco, which presently consume the highest percentage of fuelwoods in the country. The skills acquired from these projects will be invaluable in developing the dryer for this project with excellent thermal and drying performance.

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Dr. Yusufu Abeid Chande Jande completed PhD at Hanyang University in 2015, Mechanical Engineering Department in Ansan, South Korea and MSc and BSc in Mechanical Engineering from Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey.  He is currently lecturing in the Department of Materials and Energy Science and Engineering, The Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (www.nm-aist.ac.tz); and also the Deputy Centre Leader of Water Infrastructure and Sustainable Energy Futures (WISE-Futures) centre (www.wisefutures.ac.tz).  Yusufu is interested in doing research on energy, capacitive deionization for desalination and CO₂ capture, and rapid prototyping specifically in producing uniformly porous and graded porous structures using selective laser sintering (SLS) and producing composite materials from porous structures manufactured using SLS. Please click here for publications.

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