Markus Shiweda
Markus Shiweda is a PhD student working in the Land Use Change and Climate Research Group at the Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research-Atmospheric Environmental Research (IMK-IFU) of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. He holds a Bachelor in Regional and Rural Development, a Bachelor in Natural Resources Management (NUST) and A Master in Applied Ecology (Universidade de Aveiro) He has started working on his PhD project from June 2022. His research work focuses on expanding and modelling land use change agent functional types and exploring processes influencing socio-ecological systems in Southern Africa. Using an Agent Based Model (CRAFTY) and an Individual Based Model (RangeShifter), he aims to determine the links between social, ecological and climate change, and long-term implications on nature conservation, Human-Wildlife co-existence, biodiversity and human livelihoods within the world’s largest (+- 444 000 km2) transboundary conservation area known as Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA) that covers part of Namibia, Botswana, Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
He has previously worked in the private sector and with NGOs on various projects that includes conservation park management, environmental education, field conservation and research (mostly on elephants’ ecology, climate change and Human-Wildlife Conflict) in Namibia. During his free time, he likes to interact and follow information sources on topics relating to the youth in science, climate change and science communication. He also likes hiking, running and biking.
Email: markus.shiweda@kit.edu
Telephone: +49 8821 183 209