[Biography] [Departmental Website] [Publications] [Contact Info] Biography: I use sediment stratigraphies to reconstruct past environmental conditions using sedimentological and palaeoecological methods. By studying the past we can start to understand how ecosystems will respond to future climatic and land-use changes and other anthropogenic effects. My recent research interest focuses on characterising past climatic, vegetation, and […]
REAL web documentary preview in Nairobi
On 13 May 2017 the Alliance Francaise in Nairobi, in collaboration with IFRA, the REAL ITN, CNRS and the French Embassy, organized a mini film festival to explore the diversity of scientific documentary films. Part of the film screening was a preview of parts of the REAL web documentary that traces different ways of exploring […]
PAGES open science meeting
Colin Courtney Mustaphi attended the PAGES Past Global Changes open science meeting in Zaragoza, Spain, May 9-13. This included giving a talk on the LandCover6k project efforts to bring together palaeoenvironmental and archaeological data from the East Africa region. A poster on the collaboration of multiple ESRs and project partners was also presented that shows […]
New collaborative paper on charcoal studies
A new collaborative paper is out about the need to develop a database of modern charcoal deposition from wildfires in sediments and soils has been published in the journal Quaternary International. Three members of the REAL project: Colin Mustaphi, Esther Githumbi and Rob Marchant, as well as Rebecca Muthoni from the National Museums of Kenya, […]
Field Diary Issue 2
The Challenges Undisclosed reflecting on the invisible experiences of doctoral fieldwork This special issue of Field Diary, guest edited by Liz Storer and Anna Shoemaker, is the second online publication in the Field Diary series produced by the REAL project. The mere invocation of ‘the field’ conjures up representations of adventure, understanding, challenges, deep connection and loneliness. […]
Field Diary Special Issue: Call for Contributions
The Field Diary is a digital open-access newsletter that highlights and promotes the human perspective of conducting fieldwork anywhere in the world by all groups working for companies, government, development/conservation/missionary NGOs, security, graduate students, and academia. The first issue of the Field Diary brought together a collection of fieldwork-themed stories from many parts of the world including, Kenya, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, and New […]
REAL Visits Mount Suswa Conservancy
March 31st is one of my most favourite field visits. It was most honourable to have almost the entire REAL group visit one of my field sites – Mount Suswa, after a conservation training in Nairobi. Not only was visiting Suswa a break from the city, it was an opportunity to visit a conservancy, one conservation […]
Field Diary Call for Contributions
The first issue of the Field Diary brought together a collection of fieldwork-themed stories from many parts of the world including, Kenya, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, and New Zealand. It is available here: http://www.real-project.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Field-Diary-issue-1.pdf The Field Diary is a digital open-access newsletter that highlights and promotes the human perspective of conducting fieldwork anywhere in the world by all groups working for companies, government, development/conservation/missionary […]
World Universities Network (WUN)
World Universities Network (WUN) The WUN Global Africa Group has been identified as one of WUN’s Cross-Cutting themes. These themes intersect with all four Global Challenges and are seen as vital to understanding and addressing them. Cross-Cutting themes are selected based on identifed research strengths across WUN.The group brings together expertise and resources from across Africa and members […]
Historical ecology studies in Amboseli
Ongoing studies by REAL project members aim to unravel the history of ecosystem change and human-environment interactions in the Amboseli region of Kenya, just north of Mount Kilimanjaro at the Kenya-Tanzania border. A new article in the Global Land Project Newsletter explores some of the preliminary insights that can be found at: Courtney Mustaphi, C […]
Reconstructions of biomass burning
from sediment charcoal records to improve data-model comparisons New publication: Marlon, J. R., Kelly, R., Daniau, A.-L., Vannière, B., Power, M. J., Bartlein, P., Higuera, P., Blarquez, O., Brewer, S., Brücher, T., Feurdean, A., Gil-Romera, G., Iglesias, V., Maezumi, S. Y., Magi, B., Mustaphi, C. J. C., and Zhihai, T.: Reconstructions of biomass burning from sediment charcoal records to improve data-model comparisons, Biogeosciences Discussions., 12, 18571-18623, doi:10.5194/bgd-12-18571-2015, 2015. Abstract. The location, timing, spatial extent, and frequency of wildfires are changing rapidly […]
Videos of YorNight in York, UK
A photo gallery of European Researchers’ Night in York shows how REAL members and colleagues from the University of York demonstrated their research initiatives t the public!
Recent environmental changes in Eastern Mau and Amboseli, Kenya
Research update on current REAL projects in the Amboseli area and Eastern Mau Forest published in the British Institute for Eastern Africa‘s 2014-2015 Annual Report. The PDF can be viewed here. Esther N. Githumbi, Rebecca Kariuki, Colin J. Courtney Mustaphi, Rebecca Muriuki, Stephen M. Rucina, Rob Marchant. 2015. Recent environmental changes in Eastern Mau and […]