Our research agenda is under development. It will likely grow out from previous work by the Jameel Observatory for Food Security Early Action that was focused on shocks and risks facing drylands and pastoralist communities.

Our current portfolio includes research and the University of Edinburgh and ILRI, see below, plus additional activities of other partners to be identified:

Ongoing research

• From climate change to conflict: Mitigation through insurance? (with Utrecht University and partners)
• Impact evaluation of DRIVE Program financial services component (with ZEP-RE and partners)
• When it rains, it pours: Compounding shocks and food security in rural Malawi (with Cornell University and partners)
• Beyond adaptation: Camels, climate and environmental peace-building in the Horn of Africa (with ILRI and partners)
• Not Just another app – Human centred design for impact-based forecasts in East Africa (with University of Edinburgh and partners)

Postgraduate research at the University of Edinburgh

• George Tsitati: locally led anticipatory measures to mitigate, adapt and respond to humanitarian crises
• Sirimon Thomas: operationalising one health for early warning of food insecurity and socio-ecological system breakdown in northern Kenya
• Susan Njambi-Szlapka: anticipating food crises in agro-pastoral communities – how can we provide effective early action
• Abdishakur Diriye: drought index triggered takaful insurance for Somali pastoral livelihood resiliency
• Reason Mlambo: spatio-temporal poverty mapping using earth observation data and deep learning in Africa
• Rosie Herrington: refugee camps and livestock: child malnutrition and health implications in Dadaab Refugee Camp, Kenya

Completed research through the Jameel Observatory (2021-2026)

• Next-generation earth observation for anticipatory drought risk management in East African pastoral drylands (with University of Milan)
• Improved early warning of food insecurity: Integrating forecasts based on machine learning and anthropometric data into Kenya’s National Drought Monitoring Authority (with University of California)
• Strengthening proactive adaptation and early action systems to enhance food security and resilience to multiple hazards among pastoralists in the Borana Zone, Ethiopia. (with ADRA Denmark)
• Anticipatory action in protracted crises – research insights from East Africa (with Save the Children)
• Looking ahead in a crisis – roles for anticipatory action in protracted droughts (with Save the Children)
• Dangerous delay 2 – the cost of inaction (with Save the Children)
• Anticipatory action to mitigate drought-induced crises – Learning from Kenya and Somalia (with Centre for Humanitarian Change)
• Harvesting resilience: Enhancing community early warning systems in the Horn of Africa
• Producing a time series of childhood wasting estimates, accounting for climate impacts
• Co-creation of a research agenda for localized anticipatory action in Somalia (with Save the Children)