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Dr. DOROTHY NYINGI
Wanja Dorothy Nyingi or Wanja, as she is commonly known, is a freshwater biologist and Ichthyologist based in Kenya. She studied at the University of Nairobi where she attained an undergraduate degree in Zoology and Master of Science in Hydrobiology (1998 and 2002). Thereafter she studied at the University of Montpellier 2 and attained a second Masters and a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (2004 and 2007). She has worked at the National Museums of Kenya since 1998 carrying out extensive research on freshwater fish biodiversity in Kenya, and is currently the head of Ichthyology. Wanja has since 2010, coordinated the Kenya Wetlands Biodiversity Research Team (KENWEB) a multi-disciplinary team composed of scientists working on East African wetlands and aquatic ecosystems.
In 2013, Wanja authored the first guide to Common Freshwater Fishes of Kenya. This book is the first of its kind and will enhance the knowledge of the variety of fishes of Kenya but is also a useful guide for researchers and students of Ichthyology. She was awarded in February 2016 the Order of Academic Palms (Chevalier of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques), an order of knighthood of France for distinguished academics and figures in the world of culture and education.
Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Wanja_Nyingi
Dr. STEPHANIE DUVAIL
Dr. Stéphanie Duvail is a Geographer with the IRD (French Institute for Sustainable Development), member of the UMR PALOC ”Local Heritage, Environment and Globalization”. Her research deals primarily with water and wetland management in Africa, with a focus on floodplains and deltas. She developed research on the impact of large dams on the ecosystems and livelihoods of coastal wetlands and their potential restoration through managed flood releases. She analyses the impact of the changing hydrodynamics on the African deltas and floodplains, with a specific interest on the natural resource access and sharing, on the associated land tenure and public policy issues. She has experience with multi-disciplinary and participatory research.
The focus of her PhD was on a wetland restoration project in Mauritania (Diawling National Park). From 2003 to 2008, she worked in Tanzania in the Lower Rufiji floodplain for the implementation of a participatory observatory of the environment. From 2008 to 2011, she developed, together with the KENWEB team, a “Land and Water” project, in the Tana delta (Kenya) and Rufiji delta (Tanzania) on the link between floods and livelihoods, extended into a second phase (2011-2014) on the impacts of large scale agro-fuel projects. From 2016, she coordinated the WIoDER project « Western Indian Ocean Deltas Exchange and Research network: www.wioder.org, and since 2018, the GDRI-South « DELTAS: Deltas Environmental Long-Term Dynamics and Associated Scenarios» and from 2019 the DIDEM project www.didem-project-en.org . Since September 2018, she is based at the University Eduardo Mondlane in Mozambique, where she develops, with her colleagues, research on the Limpopo and Incomati floodplains (on the water governance transformations, mangroves management and on the plastic pollution) and is representative for the IRD in the country.
Dr. OLIVIER HAMELYNCK
Olivier Hamerlynck is a research affiliate of the National Museums of Kenya but based at the Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo, Mozambique within the framework of the Western Indian Ocean Deltas Exchange and Research network (www.wioder.org).
He earned a physician’s degree (MD) at the University of Ghent in Belgium in 1980 and a PhD in Marine and Estuarine Ecology there in 1993, after which he moved permanently to Africa, working for the IUCN in West and East Africa until 2003.
Since then he has been an independent consultant working for various multilateral and bilateral agencies as well as the private sector while being very active in capacity building and research on a volunteer basis. He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed papers, cited over 2000 times.
Dr. TITUS NDIWA
Profession / Career: Lecturer, University of Nairobi
Qualifications:
University of Montpellier – PhD in Evolutionary Biology and Ecology
Kenyatta University – MSc in Animal Ecology
Kenyatta University – Bachelor of Education, Science
Nakuru High School – KCSE
Osorongai Primary School - KCPE
Relevant Skills / Field of specialization:
Ecology, population genetics, conservation, fish taxonomy
Experience:
He worked at the National Museums of Kenya as a research scientist at the Ichthyology from 2010 to 2015. Joined the University of Nairobi in 2016 as a lecturer where he teaches wildlife management and conservation. He has also been involved in various research studies and consultancies.