Organising Committee

Siya is an admitted attorney and a partner at Shepstone & Wylie Attorneys. He specialises in environmental, health and safety, clean energy, town planning, local government and administrative law. He provides legal advice to both private and public-sector clients, including clients in South Africa, North America and Europe. He is a lead auditor for environmental, health, and safety legal compliance audits conducted for various multinational companies across South Africa and in Namibia, Zambia, Lesotho & Botswana. He is also the President of the National Association of Clean Air.

Rebecca is an atmospheric scientist and a Professor at the University of Pretoria. She is a member of the Scientific Advisory Panel of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition and the Scientific Steering Committee for International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) and a founding member of the African Group on Atmospheric Sciences (ANGA) under IGAC.

Dineo is an environmental management professional with extensive experience in air quality governance, stakeholder engagement, strategic programme development, and public participation within South Africa's environmental sector. She plays a significant role in advancing national air quality management initiatives in the  the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE), where she facilitates the implementation of key policy, governance, and community outreach programmes aimed at improving air quality and protecting public health.

Her expertise spans air quality governance, environmental policy coordination, intergovernmental relations, stakeholder partnership development, strategic communications, and community engagement.

Eric holds a BSc Honours in Environmental Management from the University of South Africa. He has 20 years’ experience in public service across various disciplines such as mining environment management, environment impact assessment, climate change and currently leads a sub-unit mainly focusing on the development, implementation and coordination of the air pollution reduction strategies in the Gauteng province Department of Environment

Tshifhiwa is a Functional Head: Air Quality Management with over 10 years of experience working alongside the Director: Air Quality Management. He’s responsible for Air Quality Policies development, Issuing of Air Quality Licences, Air Quality Monitoring, Budget planning and Implementation, as well as Projects Management. A proud graduate of the MSc in Environmental Science from the University of South Africa. Tshifhiwa has a passion for environmental protection and has over 18 years of experience in the Environmental Management field (Air Quality Management, Nature conservation and Environmental Impact Assessment).

Vumile has over 17 years of experience in air quality management, having worked in the national and local spheres of government. He has, over the years, facilitated the development and implementation of emission reduction strategies and coordinated stakeholder engagements involving government, corporations, civil society and academia. He holds an Honours degree in Environmental Modelling and a post-graduate certificate in Sustainability and Climate Risk.

Seneca is C40 Cities’ Technical Head for Breathe Cities, Africa. Seneca leads C40’s Air Quality work in Africa and serves as the key regional expert on issues relevant to air quality in Africa. She oversees the delivery of air quality technical assistance projects to cities in Africa, through the African Cities for Clean Air and Breathe Cities Programmes.

Seneca holds an MSc in Atmospheric Science from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Seraphine has over 20 years of project and programme management experience on climate change mitigation and adaptation in the World Bank and the UN Environment. Seraphine works with the Climate and Clean Air Coalition secretariat, where she is leading country engagement and coordinating SLCP mitigation programmes.

Seraphine holds a master’s in economics with a focus on environmental economics and management from the universities of Freiburg and Cologne, Germany, including an exchange programme in Budapest, Hungary.

Johanna’s background is in aeolian processes and mechanisms, with her PhD completed in Environmental and Geographical Sciences, focusing on natural dust emission from desert regions in Southern Africa. Her research career developed during her time at the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) at Texas A&M University and at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria, where she was involved in several research studies on soils and materials for road construction.

Jimmy is a Programme Management Consultant with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), serving in the Secretariat of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC). He plays a central role in advancing the Africa Clean Air Programme (ACAP), working to connect national clean air and climate initiatives with regional and global platforms. His work focuses on promoting integrated action on super pollutants, including methane and black carbon, and ensuring stronger alignment between air quality and climate agendas.

Crispus is Project Manager for C40's African Cities for Clean Air (AC4CA) Initiative, which supports air quality programming across 12 African cities representing 80+ million urban residents. He currently supports technical assistance projects across Addis Ababa (health analysis survey), Lagos (Low Emission Zone development), and Freetown's integrated air quality program (sensors, baseline assessment, and communication strategy).

Pallavi is the Head of Global Initiatives at HEI where she leads efforts on synthesis and generation of evidence, strengthening capacity, and science communication around air quality and health. Her work bridges the science-policy pathways, helping connect rigorous science with solutions for cleaner air. She serves on the editorial board of PLOS Global Public Health, chairs the Governing Board of OpenAQ, and advises international initiatives through the WHO and the CCAC. She has a Ph.D. in Environmental Health from the University of Birmingham, UK, and a Master’s in Environmental Sciences from the TERI School of Advanced Studies, India.

Deo is the Head of Research and Global Partnerships at AirQo, where he coordinates multi-disciplinary research efforts towards new approaches for tackling air pollution in African cities. He is committed to advancing research capacity in the global south, particularly through leveraging novel solutions and cross-border collaborations to tackle global challenges. His research focuses on transdisciplinary cross-border collaborations for tackling urban air pollution in low-resourced settings, largely concerned with developing continuous air quality networks, air pollution sources, and advancing the critical interface between science and policy. He also co-facilitates the Africa Clean Air Network, a regional platform uniting partners across disciplines, borders and sectors for advancing clean air actions in Africa.

Alfred is an environmental scientist and geospatial expert advancing air quality management and climate resilience in Sierra Leone and West Africa. He serves as UNCCD Science and Technology Officer for Sierra Leone, where he supports evidence-based policies on air pollution, land degradation, and climate adaptation.

Dorothy is a graduate student pursuing her PhD in Environment and Resources at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. Before graduate school, Dorothy had been working in East Africa, Uganda, on several renewable energy research projects like solar, biomass and biogas. She has also done a lot of work with air quality in institutions and schools using biogas versus firewood for cooking.

Janine is an associate professor at the School of Health Systems and Public Health (SHSPH), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria. She is an environmental epidemiologist with a primary interest in air pollution exposure assessment and health effects. She gained research and teaching experience in Europe from 2002 to 2012. Prof Wichmann has been a visiting researcher at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, since 2013.

She has lectured in various postgraduate courses at the SHSPH for the past 18 years. She has also lectured in various postgraduate (master's and PhD level) courses at the University of Copenhagen from 2009 to 2012. She is the PhD coordinator at the SHSPH.

Aishah is an environmental Health Scientist with 6+ years’ experience delivering public health risk assessments and environmental exposure research across the UK and Sub-Saharan Africa. Proven expertise in air pollution monitoring, exposure assessment, complex data analysis, and translation of scientific evidence into public health advice. Strong record of stakeholder engagement, multidisciplinary collaboration, training delivery, and peer-reviewed publication.

Imed is a professor at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sfax since February 2020. Holder of a Doctor of Medicine from Sfax University since 1996, a national diploma in occupational medicine since September 2000, a master's degree in environmental and health research methods from the University of Grenoble (France) since September 2002, and a PhD in public health from Lille University (France) in 2009. He is also a researcher at the laboratory of Environmental Engineering and Ecotechnology at the National School of Engineering of Sfax.

Phathutshedzo is a Senior Lecturer at North-West University (NWU) in South Africa. He specializes in environmental and air quality governance, climate change, and policy evaluation.

Alassane is a nuclear physicist. He is an expert with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and has led several expert missions in Africa to assess atmospheric particles using nuclear analytical techniques. He has also worked as a technical scientist in Europe on capacity-building activities in the radiological mapping of contaminated sites, particularly in high-risk environments.

Nomsa is a Lecturer in the Department of Environmental Science at the University of South Africa (UNISA). She holds a Phd in Public Health (with specialisation in Exposure Science) from the University of the Witwatersrand. She has over 13 years of professional experience in local government, where she worked extensively in Environmental Health and Air Quality Governance. Her research interests include air quality monitoring, exposure science, environmental health, climate change, and machine learning. 

Chikumbusko is an Associate Professor at the Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (MUBAS). He holds a PhD in Environmental Sciences from Hiroshima University. His research areas revolve around air, water and soil pollution. He is the Team Leader for MUBAS Air Quality, Editor-in-Chief for Malawi Journal of Applied Sciences and Innovation (MJASI) and Lead Editor for Malawi National State of Environment and Outlook Report (NSEOR) coming out soon.

Paul is an analytical chemist, and serves as the Director of the Institute of Energy and Environmental Technology. He has conducted research on environmental pollution with a focus on air pollution monitoring. He has also developed an innovative air quality monitor that is due for release. He supervises several post graduate students at masters and PhD level. He is currently working with the France National Research and Development Institute, IRD, on air quality impacts on health in an Industrial City in Kenya.

Sokhna, an environmental epidemiologist with a background in Health Geography, is an Associate Research Scientist at the African Population and Health Research Centre, West Africa Regional Office in Dakar. Leading the Environment, Climate Change and Health Unit at WARO, she investigates the relationships between environmental and social factors and health outcomes, focusing on infectious and non-communicable diseases.

Sokhna is a fellow of the 2022 Dalberg/Wellcome Trust Climate & Health Public Engagement Leadership Program and U.S. Department of State International Visitor Leadership Program Alumni on Climate Resiliency and Health Security.

Naaima is a PhD candidate in Remote Sensing and Data Science at UM6P, Morocco. Her research integrates earth observation data with machine learning and deep learning for crop production, yield gap analysis, and water resource management. She works with multi-sensor satellite data and geospatial modelling to develop data-driven solutions for precision agriculture and environmental monitoring.

Robert Mbiake is an academic and researcher based at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Douala. He holds two PhDs, from Cheikh Anta Diop University (1994) and a co-defence between the University of Paris-Sud XI and Marien Ngouabi University (2011), both focused on infrared molecular spectroscopy. His research spans atmospheric chemistry, air pollution, climate change, and solar energy.