College of Science and Technology

Myriam Mujawamariya

2022-11-29T10:20:05Z

Dr. Myriam Mujawamariya holds a PhD degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden & in Biological Science from UR. Her area of research is on improving mechanistic understanding of tropical forests responses to climate change. Currently, Dr. Myriam is exploring if global warming will lead to physiological heat tolerance exceedances in tropical trees as her post-doc research. She currently involved in 4 research projects in which she has collaborations both local and international. She has obtained an OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Award for Early Career Women Scientists in the Developing World (2022), Award in Climate Action and the Environment.

Prof. Bizuru Elias

2022-11-29T10:19:34Z

Prof. Elias Bizuru, Professor, Life Sciences, ebizuru@gmail.com

Bio:
Dr Elias Bizuru is a Professor of Life Sciences at University of Rwanda (UR) where he is working since April 2008. Beside his teaching load, he occupied the positions of coordinator of the Msc program in Biodiversity and Conservation before his appointment as Head of Biology Department. He has also been coordinator of the Regional Network of Conservation Educators in Albertine Rift (RNCEAR) since 2014. Since the UR has been created, he has been appointed as Ag. Director of Research and Innovation at the College of Science and Technology (UR). Parallel to his academic and administrative work, he is very active in research. Dr Elias Bizuru is also known for his great contribution in Biodiversity conservation. In 2007, he created a local NGO called BNA through which he got number of grants that helped in Biodiversity conservation. Thanks to the financial support of EGP The Netherlands, Rufford small grant and the collaboration with the government of that time, he has been able to create the Malagarazi wetlands Ramsar site that became at the same time the Malagarazi Nature Reserve (MNR). Dr Elias Bizuru has been very active in the creation and operationalization of the Centre of Excellence in Biodiversity and Natural Resources Management in Rwanda since 2007 following the recommendation of the President of Rwanda, H.E. Paul Kagame. He is currently very active in research on green economy, agro-ecology, environment protection and Biodiversity conservation in Rwanda. He is also the Principal Investigator of 6 running projects among which the RBIS project “Rwanda Biodiversity Information System” funded by JRS Biodiversity Foundation and “Strengthening Endogenous Capacities of Least Developed Countries to Access Finance for Climate Change Adaptation fundecd by UNEP”. In terms of publications, he has published 36 papers and have under press 6 papers waiting for peer review. Regarding supervision, he has mentored more than 40 Bsc, 11 Msc and 6 PhD students.

CYUZUZO Deborah

2022-11-29T10:18:32Z

Prof. Beth Kaplin

2022-11-02T06:07:03Z

Beth Kaplin is a biodiversity conservation scientist currently serving as the first Director of the Center of Excellence in Biodiversity & Natural Resource Management at University of Rwanda (UR) since 2017. This is a relatively new knowledge management research center with UNESCO Category 2 Center status aimed at contributing science to policy. Beth is a Professor of Conservation Science at UR, and supervises BSc, MSc and PhD students at UR and other academic institutions. She is an affiliated Research Professor in the School for the Environment and Senior Fellow at the Center of Global Governance and Sustainability, both at University of Massachusetts-Boston. She is currently President of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation. She received her BSc in wildlife biology from Colorado State University, and MSc and PhD in Zoology from University of Wisconsin-Madison. From 2006 to 2015, she raised over 1 million USD from the MacArthur Foundation to develop BSc and MSc programs in biodiversity conservation at National University of Rwanda. She also created the Regional Network for Conservation Educators in the Albertine Rift to support and empower conservation scientists in Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, Tanzania, and Uganda with MacArthur Foundation support. Beth maintains a research program with her students on tropical forest ecology, seed dispersal, primates, protected areas conservation, ecosystem services, climate adaptation, and human-wildlife interactions that began in 1990 when she first came to do research in Nyungwe forest, Rwanda. Under her direction, the Center manages USD$ 2 million annually in externally raised funds for research and projects, and she oversaw the revitalization of the National Herbarium of Rwanda which holds over 20,000 specimens. Kaplin has focused her career on the role of higher education in building capacity for biodiversity conservation and climate adaptation research in Africa. She lives in Rwanda with her husband and visit their family home in Vermont, USA whenever possible.

Phone: +250788664551
Email: bkaplin@antioch.edu
b.kaplin.ur.ac.rw

welcome note

2022-10-10T12:51:10Z

Welcome to the Center of Excellence in Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management (CoEB), a clearing house for data and information on biodiversity and natural resources for Rwanda and the region, and a hub for capacity building and knowledge generation on biodiversity conservation and natural resources management. The Center functions as a consortium of governmental and non-governmental institutions called nodes, coordinated by the central hub office at University of Rwanda. The Center recently received Category 2 Center status under the auspices of UNESCO. We collaborate with our nodes and partners to produce firsthand knowledge and play a catalytic, coordinating role to ensure sharing of scientific knowledge, skills and expertise.

Why a Center of Excellence in Biodiversity? Rwanda lies within the Albertine Rift ecoregion, a biodiversity hotspot where scientific research about the environment, biodiversity, and climate adaptation strategies is critically needed. Recognizing the importance of science‐based decision-making to support economic transformation and sustainable development goals, the President of the Republic of Rwanda, H.E. Paul Kagame proposed the establishment of the CoEB in 2007 during an International Conference in Kigali on Biodiversity & Sustainable Management of Natural Resources. The Ministries of Education and Natural Resources, with support from UNESCO, created the framework to establish the Center, which launched in 2017 at the University of Rwanda. The Center promotes the understanding, monitoring and cataloguing of biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, climate change impacts and adaptation, and science-policy linkages.

Interested in collaborating with us? Learn more at https://coebiodiversity.ur.ac.rw/ where you will find our newsletters and descriptions of our projects. You can email us at coeb@ur.ac.rw or call us at +250 783 651 068. You can join our weekly seminar series, and if you have a topic to present in our seminar, let us know.

Beth Kaplin

Master of Science in Biodiversity, Conservation and Natural Resources Management

2019-11-25T12:18:19Z

- Programmes