Andrew Cunliffe

Oppenheimer Associate Professor of Geospatial Ecology and Director of OPALS. Andy is an environmental scientist leading an applied research agenda to improve understanding of how landscapes function and are managed for broader societal benefit. His work centres on terrestrial ecosystem science and services, building on a background in earth surface processes and spatial ecology to develop and share insights into sustainable ecosystem function across scales. Andy champions Open Science, and inclusive and supportive research culture, and works closely with our partners to maximise our achievements.

Tom Powell

Oppenheimer Senior Research Impact Fellow at the Global Systems Institute, University of Exeter. Tom has a broad background in ecology, geography and systems thinking, spanning food systems and land-use change, natural climate solutions, environmental monitoring & payments for ecosystem services, and community-led responses to environmental degradation. Tom helps to facilitate engagement with our partners, to co-design our research and maximise its real-world impacts.

Enimhien Akhabue

Oppenheimer-Turvill Doctoral Scholar modelling the current and future resilience of ecosystem service provision in African landscapes, using the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES) land surface model.

OPALS-funded. Supervised by Dr Andrew Cunliffe, Dr Anna Harper, Dr Tom Powell, Dr Petra Holden, and Dr Karina Bett-Williams.

Antony Emenyu

Oppenheimer-Turvill Doctoral Scholar working to improve the resilience of small-holder farming systems in African landscapes to climate change shocks through the adoption of regenerative agricultural practices. Specifically, Antony researches the uptake of regenerative farming practices by smallholder farmers, primarily drawing lessons from the TIST program in East Africa.

OPALS-funded. Supervised by Dr Tom Powell, Dr Andrew Cunliffe, Dr Prossy Isubikalu, and Dr Lorien Jasny.

Therezah Achieng

Oppenheimer-Lovelock Doctoral Scholar using social-ecological systems approaches to drive positive tipping points in the sustainability of African landscape systems and accelerate green transitions.

OPALS-funded. Supervised by Professor Tim Lenton, Dr Laura Pereira, Dr Tom Powell, and Tom Chaigneau.

Tapiwa Gumbo

Oppenheimer Masters Scholar enrolled at the University of Exeter. Tap’s project focuses on developing evidence-led solutions to mitigate bush encroachment on holistically managed rangelands in partnership with Shangani Holistic, he largest beef producer in Zimbabwe.

Jointly funded by OPALS and Shangani Holistic. Supervised by Dr Andrew Cunliffe, Professor Sally Archibald, Dr Ilya Maclean, Dr Allan Sebata, and Dr Tom Powell.

Chafika Phiri

Chafika is a Few and Far Doctoral Scholar in OPALS,the distribution and sustainable utilisation of baobab trees (Adansonia digitata), focussing on how their unique role in providing ecosystem services for people in African landscapes might be better safeguarded for future generations.  His work is continental in scope, with a particular focus on the Limpopo region of South Africa. Chafika coordinates the Baobabs in Africa Mapped (BAM) Project.

Funded by Few and Far Collections, Chafika is supervised by Dr Andrew Cunliffe, Dr Sarah Venter, Professor David Hodgson, and Dr Dawn Toussaint.

Glenn Slade

Oppenheimer-Turvill Doctoral Scholar enrolled at the University of Exeter. Glenn is developing new fine-scale remote sensing methods to monitor invasive plant species occurrence and improve the reproducibility of measurements of plant traits in rangeland and savanna ecosystems.

70% self-funded / 30% OPALS-funded. Supervised by Dr Andrew Cunliffe, Dr Karen Anderson and Professor Jem Perkins.

Alan Dumezweni Nare

Alan is an Oppenheimer Impact Scholar and former Masters Scholar with OPALS. He works at Shangani Holistic Ranch, where he supports our bush management experiments and leads spatial analyses of herbivory intensity, vegetation change, and land management interventions. Previously, his Masters research with OPALS focused on the sustainable use of rangelands using drone-based Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry.

OPALS-funded. Managed by Dr Andrew Cunliffe andPeter Makumbe.

Kelebile Balo

Oppenheimer Masters Scholar enrolled at the Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, studying the sustainable use of rangelands with fine scale remote sensing.

OPALS-funded. Supervised by Dr Lawrence Akanyang, Dr Andrew Cunliffe and Professor Jem Perkins.

Minda Cossa

Minda was an Oppenheimer Impact Scholar in OPALS, researching the role of urban planning in improving resilience to adapt to climate-related coastal hazards in Mozambique, engaging with planning and development practitioners in the community. She undertook an MSc in Global Sustainability Solutions at the University of Exeter before continuing as a Research Associate for 12-months to maximise the impact of her work (video). She was supervised by Dr Andy Cunliffe, Dr Ricardo Safra de Campos, and Dr Gina Ziervogel.

Minda proceeded to a job as a Teaching Assistant at Eduardo Mondlane University, passing on her new skills and insights to amplify the positive impact on her training on others in Mozambique.

Isaac Mureithi

Isaac is an Oppenheimer Impact Scholar working to help develop better models of Conservation Governance, working in the OPALS programme in the close partnership with the African Wildlife Foundation to support their objectives. Coming from a background in actuarial science, Isaac is undertaking an MSc in Conservation and Biodiversity at University of Exeter to expand his conservation knowledge before commencing a 12-month targeted placement at AWF’s Field Office in the Tsavo Landscape. Isaac is supervised by Dr Andrew Cunliffe, Dr Philip Muruthi, Dr Tom Powell, and Dr Kimberley Hockings.

Guy Lomax

Guy is a Postdoctoral Research Associate funded by the OPALS programme. His work focuses on developing and scaling a novel productivity-based metric of rangeland vegetation condition, as well as mapping woody encroachment in a holistically managed ranch using remote sensing and machine learning.

Stephanie Cherington-Rimmell

Head of Development for the Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy. Steff has a background in developing partnerships and managing philanthropic relationships for the University, principally in environmental research. Steff is helping to develop additional projects expanding on the core OPALS programme.

Milcah Kirinyet

Oppenheimer Impact Scholar working on implementing payments for ecosystem services to support more sustainable management in African landscapes. She worked with Dr Andrew Cunliffe, Dr Tom Powell, and Dr Peter Tyrrell, and completed an MSc in Applied Data Science for Environment and Sustainability before commencing a 1.5-year placement with Sustain East Africa (through Dascot Ltd in Kenya). OPALS-funded.

Milcah has recently proceeded to a job as a Data Systems Research Officer for Impact Assessment at the International Livestock Research Institute.

Emily Willoughby

MSc Global Sustainability Solutions student conducting a dissertation project on climate adaptation in Maputo, Mozambique, focussing on the role of urban planning in improving resilience for informal settlement communities. MSc Thesis “Climate adaptation in Maputo, Mozambique: Coastal hazards, informal settlements and communicating risk”.

Self-funded, OPALS-aligned. Supervised by Dr Ricardo Safra de Campos and Dr Andrew Cunliffe.

Jake Dykes

Development Coordinator for Funding International Partnerships, helping to maximise the impact of OPALS by helping to implement a new Funding Finder signposting awards that could help talented Africans join OPALS (Jake’s short-term post was funded by UoE).

Justin Marshall

MSc Global Sustainability Solutions student conducting an internship dissertation project with The International Small Group and Tree Planting Program (TIST), applying a conceptual framework for positive tipping points developed by GSI and the Food and Land Use Alliance to look for leverage points for future scaling. MSc Thesis “Analysing the dynamics of ‘positive tipping points’ in The International Small Group and Three Planting Program (TIST) from a systems thinking perspective”.

Self-funded, OPALS-aligned. Supervised by Dr Tom Powell.

Laone Seabonyane

Oppenheimer Masters Scholar enrolled at the University of Botswana, studying belowground plant traits in African rangelands to generate knowledge that supports the sustainable utilisation of rangelands and informs payments for ecosystem services associated with carbon storage.

OPALS-funded. Supervised by Professor Jem Perkins, Dr Andrew Cunliffe, and  Dr Kebonyethata Dintwe.

Amy Shaw

MSc Global Sustainability Solutions student conducting a dissertation project assessing the potential for verified carbon credits associated with mangroves to support the Manda Island Conservation Project in Kenya.

Self-funded, OPALS-aligned. Supervised by Dr Andrew Cunliffe and Dr Hugh Graham.