Yonas Chebude, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Yonas Chebude received his PhD from the University of Wuppertal, Germany in 1999 and was a Research Assistant at the University of Wuppertal in the group of Prof. Hans Buerger. In 2000, he joined the Chemistry Department, Addis Ababa University as Assistant Professor, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2007. He was Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs, Faculty of Science, AAU (2005-2007). He was also the Chair of the Chemistry Department, AAU (January 2010-October 2010), and Dean of the Faculty of Chemical and Physical Sciences, College of Natural Sciences Addis Ababa University (February 2010-April 2012).
He is advisory board member, Green Chemistry, RSC, UK, has served as President of the Chemical Society of Ethiopia ( 2009-2013) and is a Board member of the Federation of African Societies of Chemistry (FASC) and the Pan Africa Chemistry Network (PACN). He is also an IUPAC Fellow. Yonas has served as Vice Chair of the International Advisory Board of ISC3 – International Sustainable Chemistry Collaborative Centre ( 2015-2017) , which was initiated by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment and the German Federal Environment Agency. The ISC3 is located in Bonn, with about 20 highly qualified employees and an international orientation.
Naumih M. Noah, United States International University Africa, Kenya
Dr Naumih Noah is an Assistant Professor of Analytical/Bioanalytical Chemistry and has a passion for teaching and research. She holds a PhD in Analytical/Bioanalytical Chemistry from the State University of New York at Binghamton.
Her research focuses on development and validation of biosensors for the detection of infectious diseases and integration of nanotechnology and health care in developing countries. Her current research is geared towards development of Nano-kits for rapid and sensitive diagnostic of Schistosomiasis as well as green synthesis of Nanoparticles for application in water sanitation. She also has interest in chemical safety and security for better understanding of chemicals.
She has authored eighteen (18) publications in peer reviewed journals, one (1) book chapter and has done several presentations for her research work both at international and local conferences.
She is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Kenya Chemical Society, Nanosciences African Network (NaNoAFNET) and a Junior Fellow of the UNESCO-UNISA AFRICA Chair in Nanosciences/Nanotechnology.
She is mentoring and supervising several undergraduate, Masters and PhD students
Robert Byamukama, Makere University , Uganda
Robert Byamukama is a Professor of Organic Chemistry at Chemistry Department, College of Natural Sciences Makerere University (Uganda), a position he was promoted to early this year. Robert holds a PhD in Natural Products from Bergen/ Makerere University (2009), MSc degree in Organic Chemistry (Natural Products) from Makerere University (2004) and a BSc degree in Chemistry from Makerere University (1999). Roberts’ PhD was on characterization of Natural Products mainly on flavonoids particularly anthocyanins and reported more than 20 novel compounds by research team. Some of the on-going research activities are phytochemical of compounds from medicinal plants used in anti-bacterial, anti-venom, sun protection and antioxidant activities. Has supervised more than 17 graduate projects and published more than 30 publications in peer reviewed journals, book chapter and edited a book. Prof. Byamukama has participated in several International Research projects such as MUTHI (Multi-Disciplinary Traditional Health Initiative) Project, which was a consortium of 4 European and 4 African Universities funded by EU, Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Programme (CADFP) Project with Prof. Jared Keengwe of University of North Dakota, USA. Robert this year received the Inter-University Council of East Africa (IUCEA) three months award for staff exchange to the Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science & Technology (NM-AIST) in Arusha. He was elected in September 2018 as the Executive Secretary of the Natural Products Research Network for Eastern and Central Africa (NAPRECA), 2018-2022.
Avtar Mathuru, University of York, United Kingdom
Dr Avtar Singh Matharu, BSc, PhD, CChem, FRSC, is Senior Lecturer and Deputy Director of the Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence (GCCE). The GCCE is an internationally-leading academic facility for the provision of excellence in green and sustainable chemical technologies, processes and products. He co-oversees a team of nearly 90 researchers spread across four technology platforms: renewable materials; clean synthesis and platform molecules; microwave processing, and; alternative solvents all focussed on developing green and sustainable industrial process and technologies. As Deputy Director he has forged national and international collaborations both with academia and industry. In 2012, Professor Clark and Matharu set up a Global Green Chemistry Centres (G2C2) network which extends our research collaborations to India, Brazil, Australia, South Africa, Europe, Mexico, USA, Canada, S Korea and China. As Scientific Lead for Renewable Materials Technology Platform, has managed several major projects totalling £20M+ funded from UK and European initiatives, and direct industrial support. Dr Matharu is International Scientific Advisor for the German government-led initiative, International Sustainable Chemistry Collaborative Centres (ISC3).
He has enabled the GCCE to be winner of the Green Gown Award for Research and Development (2013) and, winner of the S-Lab Award for Laboratory Based Teaching and Learning (2014) in recognition for training graduate and senior undergraduate students from all over the world and from a variety of backgrounds in practicing sustainability in modern chemistry laboratories. Dr Matharu is Visiting Professor at Panjab University, Chandigarh, India, Manav Rachna University, Faridabad, India, Co-Editor of Elsevier Current Opinions in Green and Sustainable Chemistry and Section Editor for Journal of Cleaner Production.
Kenneth Maseka, Copperbelt University, Zambia
Ph.D. (University of Leeds), MSc (University of Leeds), BSc (University of Zambia)
Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Copperbelt University Zambia where I have been a lecturer for the past 23 years.
Consultant Environmental Impact Assessments and Environmental Monitoring especially in Mining related projects
Delphine Farmer, Colorado State University, United States
Dr. Delphine Farmer received her BSc in Chemistry from McGill University, and then her MS in Environmental Science, Policy and Management and PhD in Chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley. Her PhD work focused on the measurement of reactive nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere, and the interactions between forests and air pollution. She is currently an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Colorado State University, where she runs a research group of 10 graduate students and 2 postdoctoral fellows to study atmospheric chemistry. The Farmer group develops new instrumentation, with a focus on chemical ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry, to measure reactive trace gases and particles in the air. We use these instruments in an array of field and laboratory experiments to study how human activities produce air pollution, the chemical fate of that air pollution, and the net impact on ecosystems. Recent research focuses on the organic chemistry of the indoor environment, the chemistry of wildfire smoke, and deposition of particles to ecosystems. Dr. Farmer received the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Young Investigator Award and the Herman Frasch Foundation Award. She is a Co-Editor of Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, and is on the editorial board of Analytical Chemistry (American Chemical Society) and Environmental Science: Processes and Impacts (Royal Society of Chemistry).
Stuart Harrad, Birmingham University, United Kingdom
Stuart Harrad is Full Professor of Environmental Chemistry at the University of Birmingham, UK. He has over 170 peer-reviewed publications addressing various aspects of the environmental fate and behaviour of persistent organic chemicals with a Thomson ISI H-index of 50. To date, he has supervised 38 PhD students to graduation, along with more than 20 postdoctoral researchers. Over the last decade, Stuart has led 8 major, multi-partner international research projects and participated in several others. In recent years, the focus of his research has been on the sources, emissions and human exposure implications of the use of halogenated flame retardants. In particular, he has interests in the environmental implications of organic chemical contaminants in the waste stream.
Abiy Yenesew, University of Nairobi, Kenya
Extensive experience in teaching of Organic Chemistry, and conducting research in the field of Natural Products Chemistry at Addis Ababa University and the University of Nairobi. My research interest is on investigation of Eastern African plants for bioactive natural products, especially towards the treatment of infectious diseases such as malaria. I have co-authored over 90 articles in peer reviewed journals, and published three books on medicinal plants of East Africa. I have served as reviewer for several journals in the area of medicinal plants and natural product research. I am a subject editor of Phytochemistry Letters. I am Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Natural Products and Journal of Ethnopharmacology. I have established wide collaborative partnership. I have supervised sixteen PhD and thirty five MSc students; currently I am supervising five PhD and five MSc students. I have served as the Programme Officer and later as the Assistant Secretary of the Natural Product Research Network for Eastern and Central Africa (NAPRECA). I am a Fellow of the African Academy of Science as of February 2017. I am a member of professional societies including the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Chemical Society of Kenya.
Dulcie Mulholland, University of Surrey, United Kingdom
Dulcie Mulholland studied at the University of Natal, Durban, South Africa, graduating with a BSc (Hons) in 1976 in Chemistry and Cell Biology. She continued to complete an MSc degree in 1977 and PhD in 1979 at the same institution in the field of Natural Products Chemistry under the supervision of the late Professor David Taylor.
After completing her PhD, Dulcie worked as a Technical Officer on the Chlor-Alkali plant at AECI, south of Durban, South Africa. She was appointed as a Lecturer at the University of Natal in 1991 where she led the Natural Products Research Group. In 2000 she was appointed as Professor of Organic Chemistry and as Head of the School of Pure and Applied Chemistry in 2002. In 2006, Dulcie moved to the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom as Professor of Organic Chemistry and was appointed Head of Department of Chemistry in 2008.
She has published over 200 papers in the fields of phytochemistry, synthetic and analytical chemistry and supervised about 40 PhD students and many research MSc degrees. Her particular interests lie in the phytochemistry of the Meliaceae and Hyacinthaceae. She has been involved in large EU funded projects, such as ForestSpecs and ProLarix. She is on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Ethnopharmacology and Phytochemistry Letters.
Leah Oyake-Ombis, Consultant and University of Nairobi, Kenya
Dr. Leah Oyake-Ombis is currently providing consultancy services on a number of environmental issues within the East African region and more so, on solid waste management issues affecting the urban settings. Besides, she is part time lecturer at the Institute of Climate Change and Adaptation, University of Nairobi.
Dr. Oyake-Ombis was until July 2016 the Chief Officer for Environment & Forestry at Nairobi City County Government where she was providing leadership and policy direction in environmental services including solid waste management, urban greenery and aesthetics, steering the City’s agenda for environmental monitoring, compliance and enforcement. Oyake-Ombis has about 20 years of experience in environmental governance, waste water management, solid waste management, urban greenery and climate change. Her current consulting activities are geared towards informing and guiding to create a difference in environmental governance and climate change while focusing on waste management through research, training and policy-making processes in order to attain productivity and sustainability of world resources.
Oyake-Ombis besides being an authority in solid waste management through her PhD research (Managing Plastic Waste in Urban Kenya: Niche Innovations in Production and Recycling) (2008-2012) that was obtained from Wageningen University, the Netherlands, has developed waste management and faecal sludge management training manuals, conducted several trainings and assessments on solid waste management as a consultant for the UN-Habitat in several towns of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
Dr. Oyake-Ombis has severally been a guest speaker on forums of waste management in African cities, Universities and schools. She is a registered lead environmental impact assessment and audit expert registered with the National Environment Management Authority of Kenya. Recently, she consulted for EX-Research Institute of Japan on Kenya’s technical needs for Management of Mercury under the Minamata Convention and for UN-habitat on the currently solid waste management situation of Kisii Town in Kenya resulting in development of a waste management strategy. Dr. Oyake-Ombis is looking for opportunities at other levels of societal development in order to encounter new challenges for integrated and faster growth of Kenya, Africa and the world at large.
