ILRI staff appointments/moves: January – March 2020

ILRI Kenya

Institutional Planning and Partnerships

Eva Kathambana joined the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) as legal counsel in January 2020. Kathambana is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya and a member of the Institute of Certified Public Secretaries of Kenya. She holds a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Nairobi and a Master of Science in finance and financial law from the University of London. She has over 17 years’ experience as an in-house counsel having previously worked for Co-operative Bank of Kenya, NCBA Bank and most recently Plan International Inc, an international non-governmental organization. She has extensive experience advising on areas such as compliance, risk management, dispute resolution, contracts, intellectual property law, labour law, property law, financial law, corporate/ commercial law, policy and the laws relating to INGOs.

Bernhard Hack was appointed as digital systems manager effective March 2020. Previously, he was expert for knowledge sharing and research collaboration under ILRI/GTZ program and has been involved with knowledge sharing and research for development in the CGIAR since 2008. He holds an MA, anthropology of development from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, UK and a BA in peace and development studies from the university of Bradford, UK.

Corporate Services

Michael Mutuku was appointed as driver in ILR’s transport unit in March 2020. He holds a Diploma in Advanced driving and a certificate in basic mechanics from Glory driving School. Previously he was a casual driver at ILRI and also worked with Jay Construction company.

Animal and Human Health

Maurice Karani joined the Fleming Fund project in February 2020 as field officer under the Animal and Human Health (AHH) program. Prior to this appointment, Karani worked as research assistant under the Zoonosis in Livestock in Kenya (ZooLinK) project. He will oversee implementation of the field component of the poultry antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance program. He holds a master’s in veterinary epidemiology and public health from the University of London and a bachelor’s degree in veterinary medicine from the University of Nairobi.

James Akoko joined the co-infection project in February 2020 as field officer under the AHH program. The project The project aims to assess the epidemiology and burden of Rift Valley fever, brucellosis and Q fever and their co-infections in humans, livestock, and wildlife in northern Kenya. Akoko, an animal health specialist, has a Master of Science degree in international animal health from the University of Edinburgh. Previously, he was field coordinator for the University of Liverpool-ILRI-Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)-University of Edinburgh-University of Nairobi’s project known as ‘Urban Zoonoses.’ He also worked as an animal health technician at ILRI.

Lorren Alumasa was appointed research associate in the AHH program in February 2020. She is responsible for coordinating the implementation of the Urban Infant Foodscapes project activities that seek to quantify the burden and assess risk factors for enteric infections among young children in Nairobi. Alumasa previously worked as a clinical officer in the AHH program supporting various field-based epidemiological studies on zoonotic and emerging/re-emerging diseases involving humans and animals. She holds a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree from the University of Liverpool.

Zoë Campbell is a gender and socio-economic researcher working on a project that aims to increase vaccination of sheep and goats against peste des petits ruminants. The project is active in six countries in East and West Africa. Prior to joining ILRI, she worked in Tanzania looking at adoption of Newcastle disease vaccines by smallholder farmers and as an environmental extension officer in rural Tanzania. She has an interdisciplinary doctoral degree from Washington State University focusing on social sciences, economics, and global animal health.

Jeremiah Khayumbi joined ILRI in March 2020 as research officer in the AHH program. He will be involved in planning immunology experiments in the African swine fever and related projects. Previously, he worked at the Kenya Medical Research Institute, Centre for global Health Research, for over 15 years as an assistant research officer, where he worked with the enteric, malaria, HIV and tuberculosis research programs. In his previous assignment, he oversaw implementation of quality management systems, validation of various laboratory diagnostic tools and algorithms, optimization of various scientific protocols and implementation of drug and vaccine clinical trials. He holds a BSc in biotechnology from Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology and an MSc in immunology from Maseno Unversity

Dishon Muloi was appointed postdoctoral fellow – epidemiology/AMR in the AHH program in March 2020. Prior to this appointment, Muloi was research associate at the University of Edinburgh and a graduate fellow at ILRI. He holds a PhD in epidemiology from the University of Edinburgh, a master’s in veterinary public health and Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine degree, both from University of Nairobi.

BecA-ILRI Hub

Bernice Waweru was appointed research officer – bioinformatics in the Biosciences eastern and central Africa (BecA)-ILRI Hub in March 2020. She joined the bioinformatics team and will work with Jean-Baka Entfellner to provide support to scientists and fellows in the analysis of ‘omics’-related data, both phenotypic and genotypic data. She will also assist in capacity building activities in bioinformatics. Before joining BecA, she worked as bioinformatics consultant on breeding informatics at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)-Nairobi. Prior to joining IITA, she was research fellow in plant breeding and biotechnology at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO).

She has an MSc degree in plant breeding and is a product of the Bioinformatics Community of practice (https://acaciaafrica.org/bioinformatics-community-practice/ ) 2018-2019 cohort.

Sustainable Livestock Systems

Collins Oduor joined ILRI in January 2020 as research associate – laboratory technician at the Mazingira Centre. He is responsible for laboratory analyses of soil, plant and water samples. He has over five years of laboratory experience and has a keen interest in environmental research and laboratory quality management. He previously worked as research assistant at the University of Nairobi, Department of Land Resource Management and Agricultural Technology (LARMAT) conducting analyses in the soil laboratories and supporting various field work. He holds a Master of Science in soil science and a BSc in management of agro-ecosystems and environment, both from University of Nairobi.

Rodgers Rogito was appointed research associate in the Sustainable Livestock Systems (SLS) program in January 2020. He works in the wet chemistry laboratory of ILRI’s Mazingira Centre and is responsible for sample documentation, storage, preparation and analyses. He previously worked as research assistant in the Yield Gap Project at the University of Nairobi. He holds a bachelor’s degree in agriculture from Chuka University and is currently completing a master’s in soil science at the University of Nairobi.

Kelvin Kinuthia joined ILRI in January 2020 as research associate in the Mazingira Centre. He joined the team researching greenhouse gas emissions from soil on which different organic and inorganic fertilizers are applied. His role is to ensure quality data collection from the field regarding the greenhouse gases from soil and fodder and to analyse the data collected. He has previous experience in environmental research and academia, having worked as tutor in a private college in Kenya. His academic background is in environmental studies and he holds a master’s in natural resources management from Egerton University.

Annet Mulema joined the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) in Jan 2020 as science officer, gender and social inclusion. Her work focuses on gender and climate change policy, gender and climate-smart agriculture, program management, and coordinating and contributing to research. She has over 10 years’ international research experience generating knowledge, methodologies and participatory approaches for reducing gender inequalities in the agriculture sector and promoting rural women’s social and economic empowerment. She has published on subjects related to gender and value chains, women’s empowerment, natural resource management, innovation platforms and enterprise development among others. Prior to joining CCAFS, she worked as scientist – gender at ILRI Ethiopia, research associate at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in Uganda and knowledge expert at the Africa Capacity Building foundation in Harare. She holds a PhD in rural sociology and sustainable agriculture from Iowa State University.

Leah Gichuki was appointed research associate in the SLS program in January 2020. She holds a master’s in development studies from Victoria University of Wellington and a BSc in environmental studies from Kenyatta University. Before joining ILRI, she volunteered with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and worked as project officer at the East African Wildlife Society.

Policies Institutions and Livelihoods

Cynthia Mugo joined ILRI in March 2020 as policy and stakeholder engagement advisor. Prior to this, she led policy advocacy engagements at the Global Alliance for Livestock Veterinary Medicines (GALVmed) and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) supporting state and non-state actors across different African countries to improve policy and the impact of public investments in agriculture. She has worked in the field of policy advocacy and communications for over 15 years focusing on building and strengthening partnerships, the policy enabling environment and the impact of public investments in Africa.

Kanar Dizyee joined ILRI as value chain impact assessment modeller in the Policies Institutions and Livelihoods Program in March 2020. Dizyee has significant expertise in the development of quantitative value chain models using system dynamics tools that he helped to pioneer over the past decade as part of several previous ILRI projects on beef, pigs, dairy and small ruminants. Previously, he worked at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Brisbane, Australia, as research scientist deploying value chain models in the context of cassava, livestock, and aquaculture systems in the developing world, and leading the value chain component of a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF)-funded project on aquaculture in Nigeria. Kanar has also worked at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and as a consultant to ILRI. An Iraqi citizen and Australian permanent resident, Kanar holds a PhD in agricultural economics from the University of New England (Australia), an MPhil in system dynamics from the University of Bergen (Norway) and an MSc in systems engineering from James Madison University (USA). He will be based in Dakar, Senegal, in the second half of 2020.

ILRI Ethiopia

Sustainable Livestock Systems

Eden Tesfaye joined ILRI in March 2020 as research associate in the SLS program. Before joining ILRI, she was working as a lecturer in Haramaya University. She holds an MSc degree in microbiology and a Bachelor of Education degree in biology from Haramaya University.

ILRI Vietnam

Institutional Planning and Partnerships

Duy Vu joined ILRI East and Southeast Asia regional office in January 2020 as driver. Previously, he worked as a temporary driver at ILRI, and prior to this he worked for Hanoi Group taxi company. In addition to driving tasks, he will be supporting general office work.

ILRI Uganda

Innocent Obilil joined ILRI as data systems management specialist under the BUILD Uganda project in March 2020. Prior to this appointment, Obilil worked at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) as database manager for the Pan Africa Bean Research Alliance (PABRA) program where his role was to lead the data and digital systems development as well as support the function of monitoring and evaluation. He also worked at the Uganda Securities Exchange as the information systems officer for databases and applications for close to 3 years before joining CIAT. Obilil has a master’s in information technology, post graduate diploma in project planning and management. bachelor’s in information technology from Makerere University Uganda and currently pursuing an MBA.

Jane Namatovu joined ILRI in March 2020 as gender support specialist working on the BUILD Uganda Program that aims to support existing structures scale up solutions through a collaborative effort in research extension and partnership. Prior to joining ILRI, Jane worked with DanChurch Aid under the UNHCR funded livelihoods and environment Programs coordinating the implementation of field activities in both Refugee settlements and host communities. Namatovu holds a Masters of Development in Gender and Agriculture from the Larenstein University of Professional Studies, The Netherlands.

Pius Lutakome joined ILRI as livestock research specialist in the Uganda Livestock CRP Priority Country Program in March 2020. Lutakome has significant experience in livestock value chain projects and coordinating livestock research. Previously, he worked at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), in Uganda, as livestock feeds advisor, leading the Dairy Feeds and Nutrition component of a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF)-funded project titled “The East Africa Dairy Development (EADD) Project.” Lutakome has also worked at ICRAF as Climate Smart Fodder Technician on the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). He holds an MSc in Animal Science (Nutrition) from Makerere University Kampala, Uganda.