AGRI-DRY explores the deep past and traditional knowledge for a climate-resilient and sustainable future.
Discover our research on dryland agriculture and land use in Africa and the Mediterranean Basin.
Working Packages
The Ancient Roots of Land Use and Traditional Agriculture
This working package is led by the University of Glasgow and aims to reconstruct land use and landscape transformations, identify crops and practices that enhance climate adaptation, and explore cultural trajectories in relation to early agriculture. The five doctoral projects bring together bioarchaeological and palaeoecological datasets, and modelling approaches to understand long-term human-environment interactions throughout the Holocene across Africa and the Mediterranean basin.
DC1 – Kayla Mac Conachie
Irrigation and cultivation practices of ancient crops
Università del Salento
Main supervisor: Girolamo Fiorentino
DC2 – Mudit Joshi
Modelling key crop environmental niches and productivity over the Holocene
Aarhus University
Main supervisor: Alejandro Ordonez
DC3 – Sara Scaglia
Changing land use over the Holocene: Mediterranean and North Africa
Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Main supervisor: Stefano Biagetti
DC4 – Paidamoyo Chingono
Changing land use over the Holocene: Southern Africa
University of Glasgow
Main supervisor: Nicki Whitehouse
DC5 – Alexandra Vasilyeva
Land cover changes and formation of cultural landscapes
University of Glasgow
Main supervisor: Nicki Whitehouse
Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Agriculture Today
This working package is led by the University of the Witwatersrand and aims to understand how traditional agricultural systems, inscribed in (pre-)historically shaped landscapes and cultural memory, can contribute to enhancing socio-ecological resilience, food security and sustainability today. Together, the four doctoral projects evaluate African crop farming heritage through ethnobotanical, archaeological and agroecological methods.
DC6 – Sara Krubeck
Resilience of ancient and traditional dryland agriculture
Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Main supervisor: Marco Madella
DC7 – Thamary Mukuya
Ethnobotany of traditional crops and agricultural systems
University of Botswana
Main supervisor: Bothepha Mosetlhi
DC8 – Tawanda Mushweshwe
Pre-Colonial food production in African communities
University of the Witwatersrand
Main supervisor: Alex Schoeman
DC9 – Wudu Abiye
Agricultural practices and land degradation
University of the Witwatersrand
Main supervisor: Jasper Knight
Integrated Approaches to Policy
This working package is led by the University of Botswana and aims to foster the integration of traditional and modern dryland agriculture for strengthening ecosystem services, natural resource conservation and socio-economic growth. The doctoral project explores the potenial of traditional practices with implications for policy-making and local governance.
DC10 – Mncedisi Taala
How can we devise a more sustainable food production system building on Traditional Ecological Knowledge?
University of Botswana
Main supervisor: Lokwalo Olaotse Thabeng