Research Institution
The Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) is one in a network of Pan-African Institutions of Science and Technology located across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Who We Are
The network of Pan-African Institutions of Science and Technology, which are the proud brainchild of the late Nelson Mandela, envision training and developing the next generation of African scientists and engineers to impact the continent's development through the application of Science, Engineering, Technology, and Innovation with a focus to become world-class research-intensive institutions for postgraduate studies, post-docs, and research.
Our Own Experience
We have been conducting research in Science, Engineering, and Technology with a focus on delivering and promoting high-quality innovations by leveraging entrepreneurship for enhanced value addition to people and natural resources, to stimulate, catalyze, and promoting economic growth and sustainable development. Through the departments of Environmental Sciences, we have been involved in projects that address issues of Environmental conservation, material sciences, sustainable energy, sustainable soil fertility management, and mitigation of contaminated land
Kelvin Mtei
I am an agriculturalist/agronomist and environmental scientist by training and a senior lecturer in sustainable agriculture and environmental sciences. I have been an experienced researcher and academician for about 18 years and have produced more than 50 publications in peer review journals. In academics, I have been responsible for delivering lectures in various universities to both undergraduate and postgraduate students in courses related to agricultural and environmental sciences as well as supervising their research work (Dissertations and theses).
Currently, I am a co-investigator in several projects related to sustainable soil fertility management, agro-ecosystem, agro-biodiversity, sustainable crop pest management, fingerprinting of soil erosion, crop-livestock integration bioenergy, and mitigation of contaminated agricultural soils. Furthermore, I have done several consultancies in the areas of food security, environmental conservation, and socio-ecological aspects of sustainable farming systems. In EWA BELT I’m the Coordinator at NM-AIST and my roles will include coordination of all project-related activities in research I will be involved in WP 2, Sub-Task 2.2.1. Land recovery: previously cultivated land that has been abandoned will be returned to farming by using bioinoculants to improve overall soil fertility). Sub-Task 2.2.2. Sustainable soil management: Integrated Soil Fertility Management by using composts/manure and biochar.
Revocatus Machunda
I am an associate professor of Chemistry. I have more than 16 years of working in higher learning Institutions, mainly in the field of Environmental Chemistry and Applied Microbiology. From 2016 to 2019, I was the Personal contact for the NM-AIST H2020 project "FLOWERED" (www.floweredproject.org). During the Flowered project, I had the opportunity to manage the WP3 that was focused on Materials for defluoridation for the consortium of 13 Universities, companies, and SMEs. I was also the contact for NM-AIST where I participated in the understanding of the environmental contamination of Fluoride especially in the livestock and cropping systems.
In EWA BELT I’m the co-investigator at NM-AIST and will also work on WP2 tasks 2.2.1 and 2.2.2 on Support the restoration of land, increasing land productivity, and/or bringing the land back into production. Research activities, implemented through the FFRU, will specifically address areas including marginalized and/or abandoned lands and existing agricultural lands to increase their potential yield. Abandoned lands will be returned to farming using organic matter, and bioinoculants to improve soil fertility following soil tests and assessment of soil nutrient requirements.
Thomas Kivevele
I’m a senior lecturer at NM-AIST and trained as an Electro-Mechanical Engineer. I have over 10 years of research experience in clean energy technologies. My research interests are in the areas of biofuels (biogas, syngas, biodiesel, bio-ethanol, bio-butanol, pellets, and briquettes production and characterization), solar applications (solar dryers, solar cookers, solar-assisted heat pump dryers, and Solar PVs) and energy management. I have worked as a principal investigator and co-principal investigator of various projects funded by The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) on biofuels from 2018 to 2019, Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH) on developing a solar dryer for drying biomaterials from 2019-2020, among others.
In EWA BELT I’m a Co-Investigator at NM-AIST and I will particularly be involved in WP 3, task 3.4 for developing effective pre- and post-harvest management strategies to avoid mycotoxin contamination in stored food and feed.
Josephine Mkunda
I am a Lecturer in the Department of Business Administration and Management in the School of Business Studies and Humanities (BuSH), at the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) Arusha Tanzania. My wide research interest covers areas of business strategies; business models, entrepreneurship and innovation management; international trade; analysis and management of agricultural value chains, Innovations; Policies and Food Security as well as climate change.
Moreover, with a multi-disciplinary academic background comprising a BSc in Food Science and Technology, Master's in Agricultural Economics both from Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania, and a Ph.D. in International Marketing and Trade. I am highly interested in integrated research projects between science, technology, innovation (STI) business management; climate change, and other issues that have an impact on people at the grassroots level. In EWA BELT I’m a Co-Investigator at NM-AIST and I will particularly be involved in WP4, task 4.2. Quantification of the set of capital, land, and labor requirement associated with each technology and practice: the productive factors will be quantified again using experimental data, real farm data, farmers' and experts’ observations
Ruth Moirana
I obtained both my Bachelor's and Master’s degrees in Environmental Science and Engineering and am currently a PhD student in Material Science at the Nelson Mandela Institution of Science and Technology. My research is focused on the Remediation of Soils contaminated with fluoride along the slopes of Mount Meru and therefore will be working with other team members in WP 2 and 4.
