Alfred Achieng

Alfred Achieng is a PhD Student at the Department of Physical and Environmental Science, University of Toronto, under the Ecological Modeling Lab and Mandrak Lab. He is also a trainee under the FishCAST program working in collaboration with Hamilton Harbor Remedial Action Plan and other Canadian agencies under the theme Ecosystem/Habitat assessment. He is currently working on his research to develop a food web model for Lake Ontario, looking at the dynamics in the lake and its impact on trophic structures. Achieng is also a lecturer in fisheries and aquatic science at the University of Eldoret, Kenya. He has been involved in research projects, consultancies, conferences, and workshops in Africa and abroad. He has worked in the African Great Lakes region, especially on the Lake Victoria basin. He has done consultancies and projects on sex for fish and the spread of HIV in the Lake Victoria basin, wetland conservation strategies and payment for ecosystem services in major water catchments in Kenya, biomonitoring protocols to assess rivers in Kenya, and toxic pollutants, pathways, and their effect on organisms. He has also reviewed the challenges facing aquatic science programs in the African Great Lakes region and biodiversity loss in Africa in relation to governance, policy implementation and research needs. He is a member of the International Association for Great Lakes Research, African Great Lakes Remote Sensing Network, and Lake Victoria advisory group. He has worked with the African Center for Aquatic Research and Education and the International Institute for Sustainable Development to scan freshwater science programs in countries within the African Great Lakes (Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi, Zambia, and Mozambique). He is also involved in management and implementation of the Intra-Africa Academic Mobility Scheme with five African universities (University of Eldoret, Rhodes University, Makerere University, Official University of Bukavu, and Mzuzu University) and the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna. His research interests include aquatic environmental health, aquatic ecology, aquatic ecosystem modelling, and change in land use land cover at rivers lakes and their catchments.