FEATURED RESEARCHER

Dr. Elizabeth Ndunda is Senior Lecturer and a researcher in the Department of Physical Sciences, School of Pure and Applied Sciences, Machakos University. Her research work has been published in peer-reviewed journals and presented in various national and international conferences. All the published work is available on the following platforms:

i) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6656-5413

ii) https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=Elizabeth+n+Ndunda&oq=eli

Dr. Elizabeth Ndunda is currently implementing the following research grants as a coordinator and/or collaborator.

1. Erasmus+ programme 2024 – €38 964.99

The project is being implemented by a consortium of sub-Saharan universities including Machakos University and the University of Novi Sad in Serbia and seeks to foster employability through occupational health and safety education in Sub-Saharan Africa.

2. TWAS-UNESCO grant 2024 – $ 47,000

The project being implemented by Dr. Veronica Okello as the principal investigator with Dr. Elizabeth Ndunda and Dr. Victor shikuku as collaborators is aimed at providing a green remediation solution to the environmental issues arising from Fluoride and Arsenic contamination. The grant is supporting three MSc students in addition to purchasing magnetic hotplate, microwave digester and hydrothermal autoclaves, and multi centrifuge equipment.

3. Machakos University 2023/2024 Internal grant – Kshs. 699,200

The project is being implemented by Dr. Elizabeth Ndunda as the PI and Dr. Veronica Okello and Dr. Julius Nzeve as Co-PIs. It seeks to develop sensors for monitoring heavy metals as well as offer a bioremediation technique for removal of heavy metals in gold mining areas

4. Erasmus + Programme Mobility Grant 2023

The project is being implemented by Machakos University (with Dr. Veronica Okello as the coordinator and Dr. Elizabeth Ndunda as a co- supervisor for students) in partnership with Freiberg University of Mining and Technology (TU BAF) in Germany through the YEMAYA-Women in science program and other African universities. The goal of the programme is to build capacity for excellence in research, train on professional skills, build capacity for women leadership in science and promote practical applications of science-based outcomes.

5. Research Group Linkage Programme by Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation 2022 – €55,000

The project being implemented by Prof. Zachary Getenga and Prof. Dr. Sören Thiele-Bruhn, Universität Trier has incorporated junior researchers including myself. The project addresses the growing problem of environmental pollution with antibiotics through the project “Enhanced Selective Immobilization of Sulfonamides in Manure onto Nanoembedded Chemically Functionalized Hydrochars”

Dr. Elizabeth Ndunda oversaw successful completion of the following grants that have now closed.

6. Future Leaders-African Independent Research (FLAIR) fellowship (£251,000)- 2019-2024

The FLAIR fellowship was awarded for theproject “Towards real-time in-situ determination of polychlorinated biphenyls using molecularly imprinted polymers-based sensors”. The research topic was motivated by the challenge of environmental pollution, which is now almost a global challenge. The project outputs included: publication of four articles in peer-reviewed journals, purchase of four key research equipment, graduation of one MSc student and established networks and collaborations.

7. International Exchanges grant £6,000 (2019-2023)

The internal exchanges grant was awarded for the project “Development of Molecularly Imprinted Polymers for Water and Soil Pollution Detection and Purification”: The collaborative Grant aimed at developing research links between Africa-based FLAIR Fellows and UK-based researchers to address global challenges. Within this collaboration, the following was achieved: publication of one article in peer-reviewed journal, seminar talk by Elizabeth Ndunda to University of Central Lancashire staff and students on the application of MIPs in water pollutant detection.