Daniel Olago

Professor and Chairman, ICCA

Research Interests: Geology, Water, Environment, Climate Change

Prof. Daniel Olago is the Director of the Institute for Climate Change & Adaptation (ICCA) and Chairman of the Department of Earth and Climate Sciences. He brings over two decades of interdisciplinary experience at the intersection of climate change, environmental science, and public policy in East Africa. He has led numerous climate

resilience projects in the health, water, and education sectors and has coordinated diverse, multidisciplinary teams in both academic and applied research contexts. Prof. Olago holds a Ph.D. in Geology with a specialization in Environmental Geoscience. His work has focused extensively on climate-environment-societal interactions, climate adaptation strategies, disaster risk reduction, and resilience building for vulnerable systems and communities. His extensive stakeholder engagement across government, development partners, and community groups, combined with deep regional knowledge and policy advisory experience, makes him highly qualified to guide climate-resilient systems-level transformations in several domains such as environment, water, energy, transport, public health, and education.

Current Research Projects:

  1. March 2024 – August 2027: co-PI - ALBATROSS - Advancing knowledge for Long-term Benefits and climate Adaptation ThRough hOlistic climate Services and nature-based Solutions. Thematic area: Climate information services. Funded by European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency; Project # 101137895. Amount Awarded- UoN: EUR. 154 000.
  2. May 2022 – Apr 2027: co-PI - GWS-SENCE: GroundWater SuStainable and Equitable development uNder Constraints of Ecosystem conservation and saltwater intrusion prevention in large deltas. Focus on Lamu area. Funded by Water and Development Partnership Programme, The Netherlands. Amount Awarded- UoN: EUR 246,808.
  3. May 2021 – Dec 2030: co-PI - African Climate and Environment Center - Future African Savannas (AFAS). Funded by DAAD. AFAS is hosted conjointly at the Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny (UFHB) in Côte d’Ivoire and the University of Nairobi (UoN) in Kenya. Partner universities in Germany are the Universities of Bonn (UoB) and Cologne (UoC). Amount Awarded: ca. EUR 1,000,000 for University of Nairobi.
  4. Dec 2024 – Feb. 2027. co-PI. Tuwe Pamoja: Let’s be together for equitable urban nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation. Thematic area: Urban Nature-based Solutions. Funder: IDRC. Amount awarded- UoN: ZAR 695,344
  5. Apr 2025 – Dec 2029. co-PI. Groundwater Fluoride and Salinity vs. Equity in Arid Regions: Obtaining Inclusive and Sustainable Resource Management (GEM). Thematic area: Groundwater management. Funder: DANIDA. Amount awarded- UoN: DKK 4,270,000