Message from the Director
It is a great pleasure to invite you all to the Aga Khan University’s Arusha Climate and Environmental Research Centre (AKU-ACER). This newly established entity is a flagship project of the University, and with the support of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), AKU-ACER leverages the extraordinary importance of the site in terms of research opportunities in climate and environmental science – including atmospheric sciences, regenerative agriculture and ecology, environmental chemistry, geosciences, and social sciences.
As a living laboratory, AKU-ACER provides an experiential learning ecosystem based on an inclusive co-creation and co-implementation model, integrating research, innovation, and training in a natural and context-specific setting. It is a perfect setting to educate future environmental teachers and leaders by providing them with the skills, attitudes, and attributes necessary to invigorate change and environmental stewardship within their communities and at their workplaces.
The centre aims to carry out research that directly aligns with AKU’s core values, which include research that is solving problems facing millions of people in marginalised areas and countries; research with useful applications and life and professional skills sorely needed to address pressing global climate and environmental challenges; research which meets high global standards; and finally, research which is accessible to communities which we are serving regardless of their financial constraints and geographic barriers.
We design and implement our research to ensure their benefits cut across many Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) relating to human health, the environment and climate action, including capacity for carbon sequestration.
Since our establishment in March 2022, many achievements have been made. Memorandums of Understanding have been signed with crucial local and international universities and institutions, enabling the centre to utilise local universities’ laboratories and engage with scholars to co-design and co-implement research projects, field schools, summer schools and experiential learning.
We welcome students, faculty, and practitioners from within AKU and AKDN agencies as well as dedicated partners from Tanzania and across the globe to collaborate with us to advance our vision and mission of serving communities that are most affected by the impacts of climate change and land use changes in Africa and across the globe.
Emmanuel Sulle
Assistant Professor & Director
