Dr. Eméline S.P. Assèdé is senior lecturer working in Ecology and Forest Management.

Graduated with BSc (in Agronomy) 2006, MSc (Management of Natural Resources) 2008, and PhD (Ecology and Conservation of Plant communities) 2014, all from the University of Abomey-Calvi, Republic of Benin, she successfully completed the international field course on Tropical Ecology and Conservation at Kirindy, Madagascar in 2004 (TBA), and two-years Postdoctoral study with Vice Chancellor Postdoctoral Fellowship at University of Pretoria (UP) 2016-2018.

She has about 15 years of field and teaching experience in tropical forest and woodland ecosystems of West, Southern and Eastern Africa. She coordinated several research projects including: i) Degraded habitat Restoration and Participatory Conservation action plan for Threatened Orchid species in Pendjari Biosphere Reserve (Northern Benin), and ii) Managing protected areas and community forests to ensure ecosystems services for sustainable development and poverty alleviation, between Tanzania and Benin. She authored and co-authored more than 30 scientific publications. From her previous works, she developed an optimal fuel wood harvesting technique that improve productivity and biodiversity of Sudanian woodland. She initiated and is the chair of the “Be the Best (BTB)” Award to promote excellence in student community since 2019. As a recognition of her excellence in sciences, she has been promoted as senior lecturer in 2017 and Deputy Secretary of the core board of Academy of Young Scientists of Benin (AJSB) (since 2018). The mains challenge of Dr ASSEDE is to use African answers to address and solve African problems.

Dr Emmanuel Opolot is a lecturer at the Department of Agricultural Production, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Makerere University, a Future Leader African Independent Research (FLAIR) Fellow and an Affiliate Member of the African Academy of Sciences Cohort 6 (2021-2025).  He holds a PhD degree in soil science from Ghent University (Belgium) and has published over 10 publications in peer reviewed journals, with 115 citations, a research gate score of 13.87 and 3317 reads, and a web of science h-index of 4.

Emmanuel is an accomplished soil scientist with strong analytical, creative and leadership skills. He has won already three research grants in the last four years: with the International Foundation for Science (IFS), the Makerere Research and Innovation Fund (MAK-RIF), and very recently the prestigious postdoctoral fellowship with the Future Leaders African Independent Research (FLAIR). Emmanuel’s research has so far focused on integrated soil, water and nutrient management. His master thesis research evaluated efficiency of local soil water conservation practices and the results were used to improve the design of water conservation technologies in response to climate change. His PhD research integrated biogeochemical processes with climate and land use changes in a model to answer topical questions on how soils will respond to human disturbance and climate change. His current research as a FLAIR fellow is on digital soil mapping for improved soil, water and nutrient management in selected irrigation schemes in Uganda.

Dr. Eric D. Nana is from Cameroon. He holds a PhD in Ecology from Charles University in Prague, in the Czech Republic. His current research interests are centred around solving the problematic cocktail of biodiversity loss on the one side and vulnerability, poverty, exclusion from resources, financial interests and drivers of illegal wildlife use on the other side. Currently, he works for the Institute of Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD) in Cameroon where he investigates plant animal interactions in agroforestry systems and elevational gradients. He also coordinates a three-year project funded by the Franklinia Foundation that will reintroduce at least 5000 young trees of the Critically Endangered African zebrawood (Microberlinia bisulcata) in Cameroon’s proposed Ebo forest National Park. He serves as a visiting lecturer in two universities in Cameroon and serves as the research officer for the Congo Basin Institute (CBI). The CBI is a multi-institutional research platform created by the University of California in Los Angeles to bring together universities, industries, and government to work together for enhanced environmental protection in Central Africa. He is  a member of the Society for Conservation Biology and currently hold the position of President of Cameroon’s Chapter.

Dr. Oluwatoyin Tirenioluwa Fatunsin is a lecturer at the Department of Chemistry, University of Lagos, Nigeria. Her research interest is focused on the analysis of pollutants in the environment, dietary and environmental risk assessment of pollutants, their significance on human health which involves analyzing complex matrices to address the sources, fate behavior. It also involves the removal of persistent organic pollutants and potentially toxic elements in contaminated lands, air, sediments and waters including management of environmental waste. She is a member of The Royal Society of Chemistry and an alumnus of the Commonwealth Scholarship; after being awarded a one-year Commonwealth Split-Site Scholarship at the School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Science, University of Portsmouth, UK for the 2012/2013 Session. She worked with Peugeot Automobile Nigeria Ltd. (2006) as a chemist under the Nigerian National Youth Service Corps Scheme, as a postgraduate research Intern at the Environmental Monitoring Team of Shell Petroleum Development Company Nigeria (2009) and as a Visiting Researcher to the University of Birmingham in 2018 under a Marie Curie research grant tagged INTERWASTE. She has in 2021, been appointed as a PostDoctoral Fellow of the West African–Michigan Charter II for GEOHealth-Ghana paired grant jointly held at University of Ghana and University of Lagos. She has a PhD-2016, Masters (Distinction)-2009 and Bachelor of Science (21)-2005.  She is a recipient of several grants and awards and her research findings have been published in reputable journals and presented at conferences globally. Below is a link to her publications