Plant Health

Dr Karanja Edward Nderitu

Dr. Edward Nderitu Karanja is a Postdoctoral Fellow within the Farming Systems Comparison in the Tropics (SysCom) Project under the Plant Health Theme.

Dr. Karanja holds a PhD in Applied Microbiology from the University of Embu. Prior to joining icipe, he had worked as a lecturer at the University of Embu and at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

He has previously won grants and worked as a researcher in the SysCom programme, a project funded by FiBL, and has authored/co-authored over 10 peer-reviewed publications. He has also been a recipient of several awards, including a PhD scholarship.

Dr. Karanja's research interests are in the areas of soil microbiology; microbial metagenomics and metatranscriptomes; farming systems productivity, profitability, and sustainability; and soil carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous dynamics.

Dr Mutyambai Daniel Munyao

Dr Daniel Munyao Mutyambai is a Research Scientist and Host Country Liaison Officer at icipe.

Dr Calatayud Paul-andré

Dr Paul-andré Calatayud is Researcher in entomology with extensive experience in plant-insect-parasitoid interactions (maize-Lepidoptera stem borers-parasitoids interactions); insect behaviour and insect/plant chemistry (chemoecology). He obtained his PhD on plant-insect interactions in 1993 and in 1994 he received the Plant Protection and Environment Organization award, awarded by the French Government for his PhD work. Since then, he has been a research scientist at the Research Institute for Development (IRD), French Institute.

A native of France, Dr Calatayud has conducted field and laboratory studies in South America at CIAT (Colombia) and Africa at icipe (Kenya). In 2011, he was awarded a HDR, a French a diploma to manage research studies in biological sciences, from Paris XI University (Orsay, France).

He has published more than 90 scientific articles in entomology, five books, 15 book chapters and more than 2200 citations in scientific journals, and has an h-index = 24 (July 2020 – Scholar Google).

Dr Calatayud has supervised and mentored BSc, MSc, and PhD students. Colombian citizens were among his outstanding students at CIAT, and in 1999, he received the first Francisco Luis Gallego prize awarded by the Entomological Society of Entomology (SOCOLEN) for outstanding entomological research in support of student thesis. Kenyan citizens were also among his outstanding students at icipe, and in 2008 the icipe Governing Council awarded one of his students the third best prize among the scientific papers published by the Centre's students.

In 2014, he received the Ferchault de Réaumur prize from the French Entomological Society for the book edition of Insects-Plantes Interactions. In 2019, he received the award of excellence for Outstanding Partner of the year from icipe.

Dr Calatayud is Associate Editor of Annales de la Société Entomologique de France and International Journal of Tropical Insect Science. He is also a member of the editorial board of Agronomy.

His detailed profile can be found at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/P-A_Calatayud-IRD and at: http://www.egce.cnrs-gif.fr/?p=640

Dr Mohamed Samira Abuelgasim

Dr Mohamed is an agricultural entomologist and biological control specialist within the Plant Health Theme. Her research areas include integrated pest management for insects of horticultural crops with particular interest in classical biological control.

As a senior scientist, Dr Mohamed coordinates the BMZ funded project on Tuta absoluta IPM and Fruit flies IPM Technologies Dissemination and Promotion, Funded by Biovision Foundation Switzerland. She is also involves in the Finnish funded project on Adaptation for Food Security and Ecosystem Resilience in Africa (AFERIA). She authored and co-authored over 30 peer reviewed publications.

Dr Mohamed joined icipe as postdoctoral fellow in 2007 to on work on classical biological control of the invasive fruit flies Bactrocera dorsalis where she has been quite influential in importation of efficient parasitoid species (Fopius arisanus and Diachasmimorpha lomgicudata) from Hawaii and their release in different African countries for suppression of this pest.

Back in her home country and before joining icipe Dr Mohamed had worked at the Agricultural Research Cooperation (ARC), Sudan, on insect pests on cool season food legumes (faba bean, chickpea, and lentil) and wheat, within the framework of ICARDA Nile Valley and later Nile Valley and Red Sea Regional Programs.

A former ARPPIS student, Dr Mohamed holds a PhD in Agricultural Entomology from University of Gezira University, Sudan, and M.Sc from the Wageningen University, the Netherland.

Dr Khamis Fathiya M.

Dr. Fathiya Mbarak Khamis is the Head of Integrated Biosciences Platform at icipe.

She holds a BSc and MSc degrees in Biochemistry from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and a PhD in Molecular Biology from Kenyatta University. She has worked in Kenyatta University transitioning from a Graduate assistant to a Tutorial Fellow and later a lecturer in the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology.

Fathiya is currently working on native and invasive insect pests of fruits and vegetables that are of economic importance for food security in Africa and beyond. She applies molecular techniques to assess the safety of insects as a sustainable source of nutritious food for humans and feed for livestock.

She has taken a key role in utilising her expertise to develop and promote effective and ecologically sustainable integrated pest management systems, and to assess microbial safety of edible insects and their rearing substrates, which is critical for mainstreaming the insects’ alternative sources of protein for food and feed in the continent.

She serves as a member of icipe’s Institutional Biosafety Committee and Institutional Board of Postgraduate Studies, a member of the Biochemical Society of Kenya and is also in the editorial board of Frontiers in Insect Physiology and a reviewer for several high impact peer review journals.

Fathiya has authored and co-authored more than 100 articles in international peer-reviewed journals and book chapters with a google scholar citations of 1984 with an h-index of 23 and i10 index 50. She is active in building research capacity in Africa through mentoring and supervising students, young scientists, and technical staff.

In recognition of her contribution to research and development in Africa, Dr Khamis was awarded the 2019 TWAS-Abdool Karim Prize in Biological sciences.

Dr Haukeland Solveig

Dr Haukeland is a general nematologist and an expert in entomopathogenic nematodes and mollusc parasitic nematodes for biological control.

She joined icipe in 2014 as a CIM integrated expert (funded by GIZ), to build the Centre’s expertise and capacity in nematology. Since 2015 a laboratory has been established with a team of technicians and students working on various aspects of agricultural nematology. We work in close collaboration with IITA nematologists also residing on icipe campus.

Before joining icipe, Dr Haukeland worked for over 15 years on various aspects of applied nematology at NIBIO (previously Bioforsk), in Norway, where she is still affiliated. In the recent past, she has been involved in supervising postgraduate students on entomopathogenic nematodes in Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania.