Nicholas Outa is a PhD student and part-time lecturer in Fisheries and Aquaculture at Maseno University, Kenya. He obtained a Master of Science degree (MSc) in Limnology and Wetland Management from UNESCO-IHE, Netherlands, BOKU University, Austria and Egerton University, Kenya. Mr Outa also holds a BSc. Applied Aquatic Science from Egerton University, Kenya.

As of now, Mr Outa has published over 30 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals (https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=P-mAhyUAAAAJ). He is a trainer in Scientific Writing and Communication at the Training Centre in Communication (TCC-Africa). He joined TCC after undergoing ToT training on content development and delivery which was conducted by senior trainers at TCC. He trains in the areas of Research Proposal and Thesis writing and Defense, Manuscript Preparation and Publication (including the use of AI in journal selection and the use of Preprints, Research Output and Researcher Visibility through Open Access platforms (including ORCID, Google Scholar, Publons, and Researcher ID). Mr. Outa also trains on Oral Communication and Presentation skills including Designing Posters and PowerPoint Presentations for talks, seminars and conferences. One of the highlights of his career at TCC is when he trained researchers and students at the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria in 2019To help support and mentor junior researchers, Mr Outa founded WritingHub Africa (www.writinghubafrica.co.ke), which provides training and mentorship on Scientific Writing and Publishing, Data analysis and Open Science, especially for students transiting into postgraduate studies. He is also the Head of submissions moderation for AfricArXiv (www.africarxiv.org) and a reviewer in several scientific journals, including Frontiers in Aquatic Foods, the African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development (AJFAND), Lakes and Reservoirs Journal, Turkish Journal of Fisheries among others. His research interests include Fisheries and Aquaculture, Research Communication and Publishing and a passion for Community service and Teaching. Mr Outa is also a mentor for early career researchers at Eider Africa and an avid champion for Open Science.

Currently, Mr Outa is researching the potential of Freshwater Multi-trophic Aquaculture (FIMTA) in reducing the negative environmental effects of cage Aquaculture in Lake Victoria. He has also worked in several collaborative research projects in many Aquatic ecosystems in Kenya and Africa have been part of several consultancies on fisheries, aquaculture and the Blue Economy in Kenya and East Africa.

Outside academia, Mr Outa is a trained Peer Counselor with an immense passion for the youth. He founded the AQUITY Youth Group in 2010 to mentor and educate the youth in Obunga slums, Kisumu (where he grew up) on social issues including Drug abuse, HIV/AIDS, Relationships, Religion and violence as well as on matters education.

Mr Outa is an independent, open-minded scholar whose dream is to bring a change in the world through research and community service!! He also loves music, comedy and martial arts (tae-kwo-ndo).

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=P-mAhyUAAAAJ

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4085-0398

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-outa-01236846/

Twitter: @nichouta

Dr. Samuel O. Ochola holds a Dr. rer. nat. (MAGNA CUM LAUDE) in Geosciences from the University of Heidelberg – Germany. His doctoral work was on integrated flood risk management highlighting options for land-use planning at river basin level. He holds a M.Sc. in Geological Risks and Management from the University of Geneva – Switzerland, M.Sc. in Environmental Geology and Management from the University of Nairobi – Kenya with a dissertation on measurement of greenhouse gases’ (CH4 and CO2) emissions in Kenyan lakes and wetlands and a B.Sc. in Geology (First Class Honours) from the University of Nairobi. He further built his capacity at several international courses notably Water and Sanitation, Disaster Resilience, Resources Management and Climate Change at the Centre of Excellence for Water and Environment (CAS-TWAS CEWE), Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China; Disaster Risk Management Course at the World Bank e-Institute for Development, Facilitating Multi-Actor Collaboration for Sustainable Resources Management at HUBrussels University in Belgium, Advanced Study of Disaster and Risk 2009 Summer Institute at Beijing Normal University, METIER (METhods of Interdisciplinary Environmental Research) at Wageningen University and Multidisciplinary Tropical Lakes Studies with the University of Arizona. He has experience in project monitoring and evaluation, participatory work at all levels, environmental assessment and reporting.

He is an expert on climate change and variability, disaster resilience, facilitation of technical workshops/meetings at regional, national and community level with great emphasis on participatory and multi-stakeholder approaches. He has research interests on the nexus between Climate-Disasters-Livelihoods and Food-Energy-Water. He is skilled in the application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). He has been a consultant severally for many organisations: USAID – Africa Lead/DAI, UNEP-Division of Early Warning; IUCN-ESSIPS, Renewable Energy Solutions for the Lake Victoria Environment (RESOLVE); DFID/Ukaid’s Finance Innovation for Climate Change Fund (FICCF); African Collaborative Centre for Earth Systems Science (ACCESS); Century Microfinance Bank; Inuka MFI Ltd; K-Rep Microfinance Bank; African Union – Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR); Training Centre in Communication; and Development Alternatives Inc., (DAI).

He was a Coordinating Lead Author (CLA) for chapter 3: Sustainable Natural Resources Management in writing Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture’s 2019-2029 He has facilitated several meetings: Chief Rapporteur for the 1st All-Africa Postharvest Congress & Exhibition 2017, Rapporteur for USAID Partnership for Resilience and Economic Growth Learning Event; Chief Rapporteur – Ministry of Agriculture’s Youth in Agribusiness Conference 2017, USAID Regional Livestock Trade Stakeholders’ Workshop for Eastern Africa, the 11th World Lakes Conference; Pan- Africa START Secretariat (START)’s Multidisciplinary Lake Victoria Training Programme; and Climate- Smart Agriculture with value chain analysis for community and farmer-based development. He developed training modules on Climate-Smart Dairy/Indigenous chicken/Sorghum/Cassava Production training manuals. He has also presented papers and participated in key international, regional and local conferences and workshops. He participated in the crafting of African position paper at the Lilongwe meeting on Bio-carbon in Agriculture, and was a member of Thematic Working Group 4: National Appropriate Mitigation and Adaptation that developed Kenya’s 2013- 1017 Climate Change Action Plan, He was a lead author of Chapter 3: Climate Change, Kenya’s State of the Environment Report and Outlook 2010 and a Lead Author of the Kenya Wetlands Atlas 2012 both under UNEP-DEWA. He has written a book on flood risk management, book chapters on ICT use in the water sector in the wake of climate change in Africa with IDRC, lightning risk in Kenya, journal papers, 9 briefing papers and several reports.

Stephen Wanyingo is a researcher specializing in qualitative research and scientific communication. He has had a rewarding career in Market Research in Supervision, Coordination of research surveys, group facilitation, recruitment of research assistants, focus group moderation, training of research assistants, sampling, field management, transcription, translation, in-depth interviews, telephone interviews, data collection, editing and report writing.

Stephen is a writer and trainer in scientific communication with broad knowledge on writing styles namely; MLA, APA, Harvard and Chicago. He also trains on how to avoid plagiarism in writing, best search engines for articles and books references and how to obtain and manage online freelance writing accounts. Plagiarism if evaded in writing can promoted writers, but if overlooked can jail writers and that explains his key emphasis on plagiarism. He is the current quality manager at Alco East Africa, task with the core obligation of ensuring that quality is adhered to in writing.

Stephen has actively participated in coordinating and supervising multiple research surveys majorly in Kenya. Well acquainted in both qualitative and quantitative methodologies of research. He has conducted numerous research projects in a number of fields including social, political, economic, marketing and cultural. These studies have topical themes in democracy, evaluation and impact assessment, conflict analysis and management, value chain analysis, usage & employee satisfaction survey, opinion polling among others. He believes that research is to see what everybody else has seen and to think what nobody else has thought. One of his recent papers is entitled Human Resource as a Major Pillar in Quality Management Practices: the Case of Market research Firms in Kenya. Market Research firms provide information to public, private, government and academic sectors for in-depth knowledge of decision making, thus certainly there was a need to evaluate the capabilities of data collectors (enumerators) due to their chief role of gathering raw data (mother of research) for analysis. The paper proposes a myriad of benefits for quality research and swift growth if fully embraced by market research firms in Kenya. Stephen is currently offering his knowledge and experience as a field supervisor and moderator on freelance basis in various market research firms in Kenya namely; Milba Brands research, Consumer options, Sab-Sahara research and Infotrak Research.

He is very sanguine that his research background as writer and reviewer will provide him with the essential tools vital for his task as a trainer in scientific communication and publishing at Training Centre in Communication (TCC-Africa). He is entirely obliged by joining the dynamic TCC-Africa team as a trainer in Scientific Communication and Publishing.

I am a freelance publishing and editorial consultant based in Nairobi. I hold an MSc in hydrobiology and a postgraduate diploma in mass communication from the University of Nairobi. I also hold a BEd in zoology and botany.

I specialise in editing (and occasionally writing) and supervising production of scientific (mainly agriculture and livestock) manuscripts and related policy documents. The manuscripts target a variety of audiences, ranging from extension materials to research reports and journal articles. I have also edited medical, human settlement, climate change and land tenure manuscripts among others.

My client base includes international and regional agricultural research institutes, United Nations agencies, donor agencies, non-governmental organisations and government departments.

I also write workshop reports and serve as rapporteur for meetings and compile background documents using secondary data from literature. In addition, I advise clients on various publishing and media issues.

I have participated in writeshops (drafting workshops), which involve editing and often rewriting manuscripts in conjunction with the authors, following discussions with the target audience. The writeshop process is used to develop materials that are easy for the target audience to understand.

I offer training in scientific writing to clients on request. Since 2009, I offer training in scientific communication more formally through the Training Centre in Communication, based at the University of Nairobi.

I have been involved in planning public awareness activities including media liaison, preparing brochures, writing newsletter articles, supervising newsletter production and coordinating website development.

Since 2002 I have provided consultancy services to:

Agricultural research institutes

1. International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)
2.World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF)
3.Forum for African Agricultural Research (FARA)
4.International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)
5.Regional Land Management Unit (RELMA) of SIDA (later a programme in ICRAF)
6.Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)
7.Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA)

Donor agencies

8.United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
9.Heinrich Böll Foundation
10.International Development Research Centre (IDRC)

Kenya government

11.Kenya Prisons Service
12.Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI)
13.Ministry of Agriculture, Kenya

Non-governmental organisations

14.African Economic Research Consortium (AERC)
15.African Medical Research Foundation (AMREF)
16.International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR)
17.Institute for Education in Democracy (IED)
18.African Network for Health Management Knowledge Management and Communication (AfriAfya)
19.State University of New York (SUNY-Kenya) Parliamentary Strengthening Programme
20.Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC)
21.Research on Poverty Alleviation(REPOA)
22.World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
23.Media Council of Kenya (MCK)

United Nations agencies

24.World Food Programme (WFP)
25.United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
26.United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)
27.United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)