Welcome to our blog! 📖
Here, we share the moments that make our research journey unique — from fieldwork stories and community interactions to data dives and policy discussions. Whether we’re uncovering ancient practices, modelling patterns, or learning from traditional knowledge, every step brings us closer to understanding resilience in a changing world.
Whether we’re out collecting data, crunching numbers, or making sense of ancient clues, our team is always on the move — and sometimes just trying to make sense of it all.
Join us as we dig into data, trek through the field, and occasionally laugh at our own scientific chaos!
Yours in data and dirt,
Team AGRI-DRY🌱
Seeds of Tradition: Ethnographic Fieldwork in the Bobirwa Region, Eastern Botswana
Written by Mncedisi Taala One of the best parts of my AGRI-DRY PhD journey is fieldwork. My research involves spending time in…
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Is the juice worth the squeeze? The challenges and rewards of archaeological fieldwork
Written by – Tawanda Mushweshwe The life of a PhD candidate in archaeology is often romanticised as a chain of Indiana Jones…
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AGRI-DRY: Insights from Co-Leaders
Featuring Nicki Whitehouse & Marco Madella AGRI-DRY co-leaders Marco Madella and Nicki Whitehouse discussed the project’s aims and relevance. They answered the…
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Developing a simulation model: the story of a productive research stay in Denmark
Written by Sara Krubeck After my first short visit to Aarhus University in Denmark last summer, I went back there in March…
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Walking the Research Path: Fieldwork in Northern Botswana
Written by Thamary Mukuya & Mncedisi Taala The first quarter of 2026 marked a milestone for the AGRI DRY team at the…
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South African Summer School Recap
Featuring the AGRI-DRY team In November 2025, the AGRI-DRY research team came together to review the project’s progress and share insights during…
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Latest news from Agri-Dry
Connecting Research and Local Knowledge for Sustainable Land Management in Ethiopia
AGRI-DRY doctoral researcher Wudu Abiye from the University of the Witwatersrand recently held an outreach and dissemination workshop in Ethiopia, bringing together farmers and representatives from government and non-governmental organisations. Wudu shared preliminary findings from his PhD research and discussed them with participants working directly with land degradation and sustainable land management. Farmers were central…
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AGRI-DRY call for PanAf abstracts
Submit an abstract for the PanAf Congress Session organised by AGRI-DRY! Our session is titled “People, climate, and landscape dynamics in African drylands”, encouraging cross-disciplinary discussions on human–environment interactions in the past, present, and future. Click here to submit your abstract!Abstract submission deadline: 30 March 2026Maputo, Mozambique, 26–31 July 2026 The Pan-African Archaeological Association Congress…
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AGRI-DRY call for INQUA abstracts
AGRI-DRY advertises a call for abstracts for INQUA 2027 India! Our session, titled “Adaptive Agricultural Landscapes in Drylands: Archaeology and Environmental Insights from the AGRI-DRY Network”, is organised by AGRI-DRY co-leaders Prof. Nicki Whitehouse and Prof. Marco Madella. 🔗 Submission: https://www.inquaindia2027.in/🗓 Abstract submission deadline: 15 February 2026📍 The INQUA Congress will be held from 28 January…
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AGRI-DRY call for ASAPA abstracts
We announce a call for abstracts for the AGRI-DRY session, “Past Environments, Future Adaptation: Archaeology as a Tool for Policy Making”, at the ASAPA 2026 Conference organised by the Association of Southern African Professional Archaeologists. Poster credit: Kayla Mac Conachie 🔗 Submissions: https://asapa2026.co.za/submissions.php🗓 Abstract submission deadline: 31 January 2026📍 The conference will be held from…
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AGRI-DRY team undertake preliminary ethnographic fieldwork in Botswana
On the 18th and 19th of November 2025, AGRI-DRY Doctoral Candidates (DC 3 Sara Scaglia; DC 6 Sara Krubeck; DC 7 Thamary Mukuya; and DC 10 Mncedisi Taala) carried out preliminary ethnographic fieldwork in Eastern Botswana. They were supported by members of the AGRI-DRY Supervisory Team, namely Marco Madella, Sarah Mothulatshipi, and Lokwalo Thabeng. The…
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PhD candidate Mncedisi Taala defends proposal in Botswana
Last month, Doctoral Candidate 10, Mncedisi Taala, presented and defended his PhD proposal titled “How Can We Devise a More Sustainable Food Production System Building on Traditional Ecological Knowledge” to the History Department at the University of Botswana.The presentation forms part of the AGRI-DRY project’s ongoing effort to share its research with a wide range…
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