ILRI Welcomes Suzanne Jacobs

Dr Suzanne Jacobs, research associate at the Centre for International Development and Environmental Research at the Justus Liebig University Giessen (JLU) in Germany, recently spent a month on secondment at the Mazingira Research Center in Nairobi, Kenya. Mazingira is an environmental research and educational facility established by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). Research at the Mazingira Centre focuses on understanding and managing the environmental footprint of livestock systems without reducing productivity.

Suzanne’s main expertise lies in the use of in situ sensors and natural tracers (e.g. stable isotopes of water and trace elements) to determine important hydrological flow paths and biogeochemical processes. The main objective of Suzanne’s secondment was to review studies on nitrogen in rivers and streams in sub-Saharan Africa. After compiling available studies from the literature, Suzanne analysed the data for differences between land use types (rivers in forested, agricultural, urban, etc. areas) and seasons (wet vs. dry season). The product of this work is available as deliverable D2.1 of the INSA project.

The secondment was also rich in networking opportunities. In addition to paving the way for a new research collaboration with Dr Sonja Leitner (Mazingira Research Centre, ILRI), Suzanne also had the opportunity to visit the laboratory of the Kenyan Ministry of Water and Sanitation (MWS), where she met with INSA collaborators Dr. Benjamin Nyalitya and Ms Rachel Otieno. At MWS Suzanne also met with Ms Zura Ali and Mr Mitch Oketch, who are both expected to visit JLU Giessen next spring as part of the INSA project.