Zentrum für Entwicklungsforschung / Center for Development Research (ZEF)

We’re proud to congratulate Valentine Opanga, Junior Researcher with ZEF’s Cultural and Political Change (ZEF CPC) research group, on successfully defending her doctoral thesis:
🌿 “The Political Ecology and Governance of Green Spaces in Nairobi’s Informal Settlements.”

🏛️ Awarded by the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, The University of Bonn, Valentine’s research was supervised by:

Prof. Detlef Mueller-Mahn (Geography Department, University of Bonn)
Prof. Eva Shamiran Youkhana (Group Leader, ZEF CPC)

💬 In Valentine’s words:
“This research reminded me that cities are shaped not just by policies and plans, but also by the everyday, mundane environmental efforts and negotiations of people whose efforts remain unnoticed.”

💚 Research Highlights & Publications:
📄 Cartel Economies and Urban Governance → https://lnkd.in/dTGg36Ct
📄 Contestations Over Space: Urban Greening and Displacement in Pumwani-Majengo, Nairobi → https://lnkd.in/enuTuSB2
📄 Negotiating Green Urbanism (with Prince Guma) → https://lnkd.in/ewZ7kcwB
📄 Urban Invisibles: Feminist Perspectives on Marginalisation and Resistance → https://lnkd.in/e_Bmeksu

🙏 Funding: This doctoral research was supported by the DAAD German Academic Exchange Service

🌍 Congratulations, Valentine, on this well-deserved achievement and invaluable contribution to understanding urban environmental governance in Nairobi!

See more on the ZEF Website: https://lnkd.in/e5uMeEz2

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🎓 Congratulations to Ana Perez!

On January 29, 2026, Ana Maria Perez Arredondo, ZEF researcher at the Division of Ecology and Natural Resources Management (ECOL), successfully defended her doctoral thesis:

"Holistic Health Approaches in Ghana: Essays on the evolution and institutionalization of the One Health concept, the social and environmental determinants of health, and the determinants of technological change"

Her research demonstrates that Ghana has built a foundation for holistic health governance, and highlights the challenge of moving from foundation to sustained, everyday practice to improve health for all.

Supervisors & Tutors:
- Prof. Katja Bender (IZNE-HBRS, Hochschule Rhein-Sieg)
- Prof. Christian Borgemeister (ZEF ECOL Director)
- Dr. Timo Falkenberg (IHPH, University of Bonn)

Sponsored by: Graduate School One Health and Urban Transformation (MKW-NRW) & EnerSHelF (Client II-BMBF)

Find more information and selected publications of Ana Maria Perez Arredondo on the ZEF Website: https://lnkd.in/eW7Qm7VY

👏 Well done, Ana Maria! Your work advances holistic health approaches and strengthens interdisciplinary collaboration for sustainable development. 🌱

🎓 Doctoral Defense Successfully Completed! 🎓

“The choice is not whether to build roads in Sub-Saharan Africa, but where and how.”

Today, Philipo Mtweve successfully defended his doctoral thesis on Road Infrastructure Development in Sub-Saharan Africa, exploring the complex interactions between rural livelihoods and biodiversity conservation.

His research highlights the need for evidence-based frameworks that integrate conservation goals with rural development imperatives.

👏 Supervision & support:
• Supervisors: Prof. Lisa Biber-Freudenberger, Prof. Pierre Ibisch
• Tutor: Dr. Tanja Kramm
• Mentor: Prof. Christina Bogner

💡 His research was funded by the LANUSYNCON project [58A-58040-08-13058300].

📚 Related publications:
👉 https://lnkd.in/evCm-2hg
👉 https://lnkd.in/eHf59Hpe

Congratulations on this important achievement and impactful contribution to development research! 🌍✨

Read more on the ZEF website: bit.ly/3YPPgbn

🎓 Congratulations to Fernando Rodriguez-Camayo (ZEF ECOL) on successfully defending his doctoral thesis!

He defended his thesis on “Climate Resilience Actions and Coffee Households’ Food (In)security in Western Honduras” on January 19, 2026 at ZEF and was awarded his doctorate by the The University of Bonn.

Fernando was part of the ZEF Division Ecology and Natural Resources Management (ECOL).

📢 We’re hiring! PR & Communications Support at ZEF Bonn

The Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn is looking for committed and creative support for its Press & Public Relations team.

This position is ideal for students with an interest in communications, PR, visual content, and social media, who enjoy working in an international and interdisciplinary research environment and want to further develop their skills.

🕒 Up to 19 hours/week (student/research assistant position)
📍 ZEF, University of Bonn
📅 Application deadline: February 9, 2026

🔗 Full job description & application details: bit.ly/PR_Support_vacancy
👉 ZEF Website and Job offers: bit.ly/ZEF_Vacancies_2026

SAVE THE DATE! The first ZEF Public Lecture of this year is coming your way!

👉 Thursday, January 29, 2026 // 13:30-14:30 PM CET at ZEF Bonn or Online

How can shared heritage become a pathway to peace?

Join this ZEF Public Lecture exploring the Kartarpur Corridor as a powerful example of translocal and sub-national diplomacy between India and Pakistan — showing how people-to-people connections, faith, and culture can challenge long-standing conflict.

🎤 Speaker: Dr. Summar Iqbal Babar
Assistant Professor, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad
Research Fellow, Academy of International Affairs NRW, Bonn

The lecture highlights how the Kartarpur Corridor fosters dialogue, emotional healing, and reconciliation despite political and administrative challenges — and what it means for peacebuilding in South Asia.

📍 Hybrid event, ZEF Bonn Conference Room (in-person & online)
☕ Join the in-person audience for coffee, tea, and cookies after the lecture!

🔗 Register here: https://lnkd.in/easmKNFp

Be part of the conversation on diplomacy, peace, and cross-border cooperation.

🌱 How reliable are soil carbon measurements for paying farmers?

Soil organic carbon (SOC) measurements are increasingly used to enable results-based payments in agricultural carbon projects. But how consistent and trustworthy are the measurement methods behind these schemes?

A new open-access study by (Friederike Schilling, Dennis Beesigamukama and Chrysantus M. Tanga) in the Journal of Environmental Management examines the reliability of portable near-infrared (NIR) soil scanners and laboratory SOC analyses across 151 smallholder plots in Western Kenya, and explores how measurement errors affect carbon stock change estimates in group-based carbon farming.

🔍 Key insights from the study:
• Portable NIR scanners showed weak agreement with laboratory SOC values
• Laboratory analyses exhibited high inter- and intra-laboratory variability
• Measurement errors can lead to substantial distortions in estimated carbon gains, especially for smallholder groups
• Even small systematic biases can undermine results-based payments
• Improving reliability will require standardization, local calibration, and explicit treatment of uncertainty

📉 The findings raise important questions about the robustness of current MRV approaches in smallholder carbon projects.
📈 They also point to clear pathways for improving credibility and fairness in carbon farming.

👉 Read the full open-access article:
https://bit.ly/3NtDvVz

🌾 Hidden in plain sight: In Nepal’s hills, women run the farms, adapt to climate shifts, and hold communities together — yet lack land rights, recognition, and support. A must-read from ZEF’s fieldwork in Bajang by ZEF Senior Researcher Anindita Sarkar
👉 https://lnkd.in/etd9KgrD