Professor Daniel Olago

THEMATIC TOPICS: Geology, Water, Environment, Climate Change

RESEARCH GRANTS AND PROJECT ROLES:

1. Ongoing

1. 01 March 2024 – 31 August 2027: co-PI - ALBATROSS - Advancing knowldge for Long-term Benefits and climate Adaptation ThRough hOlistic climate Services and nature-based Solutions. Project number: 101137895. Funded by European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency. Amount Awarded: EUR.4,999,646 (UoN EUR. 154 000). 
2. July 2022 – March 2025: PI – GCA-UoN Project: Enhancing and Scaling Up Climate Adaptation for Resilient Infrastructure in Kenya and The East African Region. Amount Awarded: € 1,200,000 for University of Nairobi. Funded by Global Center on Adaptation, through the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP), The Netherlands.
3. May 2022 – Apr 2027: co-PI - GWS-SENCE: GroundWater SuStainable and Equitable development uNder Constraints of Ecosystem conservation and saltwater intrusion prevention in large deltas. Focus on Lamu area. Amount Awarded: ca. € 246,808 for University of Nairobi. Funded by Water and Development Partnership Programme, The Netherlands.
4. May 2021 – Dec 2025: co-PI - African Climate and Environment Center - Future African Savannas (AFAS). Amount Awarded: ca. EUR 1,000,000.00 for University of Nairobi. Funded by DAAD. AFAS is hosted conjointly at the Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny (UFHB) with its African Centre of Excellence on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Agriculture (CEA-CCBAD) in Côte d’Ivoire and the University of Nairobi (UoN) with its Institute for Climate Change and Adaptation (ICCA) in Kenya. Partner universities in Germany are the Universities of Bonn (UoB) and Cologne (UoC). UoC is the project leader.

2. Completed

1. Dec 2020 – July 2021: PI: Urban Water Resilience in Transition. HEFCW GCRF CATALYST GRANT: Transforming resilience across water and food systems. Funded by UK-GCRF. Amount Awarded: £49,508.00 for University of Nairobi. Names on Grant: Adrian Healy, Daniel Olago.
2. Jun 2018 – Nov 2020: PI, African Great Lakes Information Platform: An open, shared and relevant IT platform for state‑of‑the‑art knowledge and information sharing, learning and action. Funded by The Nature Conservancy (TNC). Amount awarded: USD60,000. Grant agreement no: F103871-UoN-010418. Names on grant: Daniel Olago and Evans Miriti.
3. Oct 2017 – Dec 2021: co-PI, GCRF - Training for Development: East African Growth Corridors and the China to Africa connection. Funded by Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), UK. Amount awarded: £4,217,478. Project Reference: ES/P011500/1. Names on grant: Neil Burgess, Declan Conway, Pantaleo Munishi, Japhet Kashiagili, Daniel Olago, Lucy Waruingi, Amani Ngusaru, Chai Kimin, Yinlong Xu, Wang Luo.
4. Jun 2015 – Dec 2024: co-PI, REACH, Improving Water Security for the Poor. Improving Water Security for Poor People Research Project (IWSP Research). Funded by UK-DFID. Project. Amount awarded: GBP 14,992,484. Reference: PO 6456. Names on grant: Robert Hope, Daniel Olago, Salehin Mashfiques, Gete Zeleke. Extended to 2024 in October 2020 and provided an additional GBP 7,500,000. http://www.reachwater.org.uk/ 
5. Jan 2015 – Dec 2020: co-PI, Sustaining urban groundwater-fed water supplies and sanitation systems in Africa. Awarding body: Royal Society-DFID Capacity Building Initiative - Programme Grant award. Amount awarded: GBP 1,185,845. (with Richard Taylor, University College London; Cheikh Gaye, Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Senegal; Michael Owor, Makerere University; Daniel Olago, University of Nairobi). Project Reference: AQ140023.
6. Apr 2014 – Mar 2020: co-PI, Groundwater risk management for growth and development (Gro-for-GooD). Awarding body: UPGro (Unlocking the Potential for Groundwater for the Poor - sub-Saharan Africa), funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Amount awarded: GBP 1,896,000. (with Rob Hope - Lead PI, University of Oxford; Bancy Mati, JKUAT, Kenya; Albert Folch, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC), Spain, Mike Thomas, Rural Focus, Kenya). Project Reference: NE/MOO8894/1.
7. 2014-2017: Water Infrastructure Solutions from Ecosystem Services Underpinning Climate Resilient Policies and Programmes (WISE-UP to Climate). Awarding/Funding Body: International Climate Initiative 2012, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU). Global Water Programme, International Union for Conservation of nature (IUCN), Volta Basin Authority (VBA), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Ghana, Tana-Athi Rivers Development Authority (TARDA), University of Nairobi, International Water Management Institute, Basque Centre for Climate Change, University College London, Overseas Development Institute.
8. 2014-2015: PI, Development of Shared Groundwater Resources in the Mount Elgon Volcanic Aquifer Region under conditions of Climate Change and Variability. Awarding body: IGAD-INWRMP. Amount awarded: EUR20,000.
9. 2014-2017: co-PI, DeepCHALLA: two glacial-interglacial cycles (ca. 250,000 years) of climate and ecosystem dynamics on the East African equator. Awarding body: International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP). Amount awarded: USD700,000.00. (with: Dirk Verschuren, Philip Barker, Maarten Blaauw, Feng Sheng Hu, on behalf of the international DeepCHALLA consortium). 
10. 2014-2016: co-PI, Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of Holocene changes in Lake Victoria Catchment. Awarding body: Swedish Research Council - Swedish Research Links (SRL) Programme. Amount awarded: SEK751,000. (with Joyanto Routh, University of Linköping, Sweden). Project Reference: 2013-6760.
11. 2013-2014: co-PI, Groundwater Risks and Institutional Responses in Kwale County. Awarding body: DFID/NERC/ESRC. Amount awarded: £133,005. 
12. October 2013 to September 2014: co-PI, Sustaining urban groundwater-fed water supplies and sanitation systems in Africa. Royal Society - DFID Africa Capacity Building Initiative Network Award, funded by RS-DfID. Amount awarded: GBP24,920. (with Taylor (UCL) / Gaye (UCAD) / Olago (UoN) / Owor (MU)).
13. July 2013 to June 2016. Early Warning Systems for improved Human Health and Resilience to Climate-Sensitive Vector-Borne Diseases in Kenya. Collaborating institutions: University of Nairobi, Kenya; Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology, Kenya; Garissa University College, Moi University, Kenya, and University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Funded by WHO/TDR/IDRC, US$ 676,075.
14. January 2012 to January 2013. TECLEA – Testing Biodiversity Responses to Climate and Land-use Changes across East African Highlands. In collaboration with: Prof. David Williamson (Project Leader - Institute de Recherche pour le Developpement, Universite Paris VI, Paris, France and ICRAF, Nairobi, Kenya); Team Leaders – (1) Prof. Joel Guiot (Team Leader, Universite Paul Cezanne, France), (2) Arnaud Huguet (Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, France); (3) Roland Kindt (ICRAF, Kenya); (4) Daniel Olago (University of Nairobi, Kenya), (5) Amos Majule (University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania), (6) Stephen Rucina (National Museums of Kenya, Kenya). Funded by the Fondation pour la Recheche sur la Biodiversite, Paris, France. Funding : EUR300,000 for the Pre-Project.

• Role: Team Leader; Environmental Geology; Environmental Policies; Climate and Land-use; Subsurface Geobiochemical Proxies.

15. 2011 to 2020. HSPDP - Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (with Andy Cohen, University of Arizona, and HSPDP Consortium – Lakes Magadi, Turkana basin, Tugen hills paleolake Baringo basin.Awarding body: International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP). Funding: US$1,000,000.

• Role: co-PI and National Representative.

16. 2012-2015. Implementation of Project Activities for Building Adaptive Capacity Through Implementation of a Resilience Framework in The Lake Victoria Basin: Implementing a Resilience Framework to Support Climate Change Adaptation in the Mount Elgon Region of the Lake Victoria Basin. Conducted through African Centre for Collaborative Earth System Science (ACCESS, Nairobi). Funded by International Union for Conservation of Nature Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office (IUCN-ESARO), USD217,139.

• Role: Climate Disaster Management Expert. 

17. December 2010 to December 2011. Building Climate Change Adaptation Capacity at African Universities: A Proposal to Establish the Climate Adaptation Research Institute (CARI) at the University of Nairobi. In collaboration with Prof. Shem Wandiga, Dr. Gilbert Ouma, Dr. Maggie Opondo, Prof. Joash Aluoch, and Prof. Madara Ogot. Funded by the Open Science Institute (OSI). Funding: US$7,024,398 (OSI – US$3,172,398; UoN in-kind – US$3,852,000).

• Role: Lead proposal writer; Natural/Basic Sciences Coordinator.

18. 2007-2011. Suguta Valley Project – Palaeoclimatology and Palaeolimnology of the Suguta Valley, Kenya. In collaboration with Prof. Dr. Martin Trauth, University of Potsdam, Germany. Funded by University of Potsdam, EUR210,000. 

• Role: Principal Investigator and Local Logistics

19. 2007-2009: Scientific Drilling for Human Origins: Exploring the Application of Drill Core Records to Understanding Hominin Evolution. Stratigraphy and reflection seismics to identify potential drilling sites for collection of sediment cores from palaeolake basins in Kenya and Ethiopia. In collaboration with Prof. Andy Cohen, University of Arizona, and others. Funded by the US NSF at $97,532.

• Role: Investigator, Kenya coordinator.

20. 2006-2010. MAWARI PROJECT - Sustainable Management of Water Resource in the East African Rift System: Vulnerability of Groundwater to Pollution in the East African Rift System in Kenya. Department of Geology, University of Nairobi. Funded by CIFEG, France. Funding: EUR300,000.

• Role: Principal Investigator and Student Research Mentorship (4 MSc. students supervised)

21. 2006-2010. Integrating Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change into Sustainable Development Policy Planning and Implementation in Eastern and Southern Africa: KENYA Pilot Project Design: Increasing Community Resilience to Drought in Makueni District. In collaboration with Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation (CSTI), and Arid Lands Resource Management Project (ALRMP – GoK). Funded by UNEP-GEF. Funding: US$300,000.

• Role: Principal Investigator (Water resources assessment: construction of sand dams, shallow wells, drip irrigation systems; national policy options analysis and advocacy – lobbied successfully for integration of climate change in National Disaster Policy)

22. 2007-2008. Strengthening Community-Based Adaptation to Climate-Sensitive Malaria in Kakamega and Kericho Districts, Western Kenya Highlands. In collaboration with Centre for Science, Technology and Innovations (CSTI). Funded by ACCCA (Advancing Capacity to Support Climate Change Adaptation). Funding: US$70,000.

• Role: Principal Investigator (Hydrology and land cover assessment)

23. 2002-2005. An assessment of vulnerability and adaptation to climate variability and climate change impacts on malaria and health in the Lake Victoria region in East Africa (coordinated by Kenya National Academy of Science: with consortium of scientists from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda). Funded by AIACC Project, Washington DC, USA. Funding: US$285,000.

• Role: Principal Investigator (Linkages between Hydrology, Climate and Health)

24. 2003-2004. Global International Waters Assessment (GIWA-UNEP) - The East African Rift Valley Lakes sub-region no. 47 (with consortium of scientists from Kenya, Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa). Funding: US$30,000; GIWA-UNEP.

• Role: Co-Coordinator of the Assessment and Compilation of the Assessment Report

1. 1990-2000. Palaeoenvironments and carbon cycling on the East African mountains during the late Quaternary period. In collaboration with Prof. F.A. Street-Perrott, Department of Geography, University of Wales, Swansea, UK). Funded by UK-NERC.

• Role: Principal Investigator (Palaeoclimate from sediment geochemical and mineral magnetic proxies)