Contact
Biography
Emmanuel Selasi Tomude is a PhD Student with the School of Geography. He is focused on applying environmental and social science techniques to the study of infectious disease emergence in extractive industries to inform evidence-based policy and prioritisation of health concerns within national health frameworks. His research interest is in advancing empirical work on the disbenefits of environmental change to inform the operationalisation of One Health framework in the context of land use change activities, such as Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM).
Previously, Emmanuel worked as an Environmental Social Scientist at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UKCEH). In this capacity, he collaborated with researchers in the UK and India to gain a deeper understanding of health risks associated with climate change and the adverse effects of human-induced environmental changes, particularly in relation to disease emergence and human health. As part of his interest, he also worked with the University of Oxford Environmental Change Institute, Nature Based Initiative (Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery Project) in developing a pragmatic approach to scaling up Nature-based Solutions in the UK.
Emmanuel holds an MSc in Environmental Change and Management from the University of Oxford and a BA in Geography and Development from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana.
Research Summary
There is a clear and established scientific relationship between the human-environment interface and disease emergence. Yet, policies targeted at addressing these human-environment and disease nexus… read more
Selected Publications
Current Research
There is a clear and established scientific relationship between the human-environment interface and disease emergence. Yet, policies targeted at addressing these human-environment and disease nexus are currently one-sided, particularly within the context of the Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM) sector, where human-environment interactions are inseparable. The lack of holistic interventions to address the risk of infectious disease due to increased human-environment interface is likely to create a sub-optimal outcome of sectoral formalisation intervention. In view of this, my DPhil study seeks to examine the human-environment health implication of land use activities such as Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM) to inform the proper framing of context interventions to address health and societal challenges.
Past Research
Agile Initiative, Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery (Agile Sprint 3): Understanding a range of perspectives on the ecological and social dimensions of nature recovery that is equitably distributed and financially viable. https://www.agile-initiative.ox.ac.uk/sprints/how-do-we-scale-up-nature-based-solutions/
OPTICK: aims to understand the burdens and impacts of under-reported livestock tick-borne diseases and investigate how landscape changes, farm management and climate conditions increase the exposure of livestock and people to ticks and tick-borne diseases on UK farms now and in the future. https://www.optick.ceh.ac.uk/
TickSolve: Topic project focused on environmental solutions to reduce the risk of current and future tick-borne zoonotic pathogens in the UK. https://www.ceh.ac.uk/our-science/projects/ticksolve
IndiaZoo Risk: better understanding of how, why and where zoonotic diseases spill over into people and why some individuals or communities are more vulnerable to health impacts than others. co-develop better interventions, that integrate traditional knowledge, with affected forest communities. Building the capacity of local communities to be more resilient to zoonotic disease. https://indiazoorisk.ceh.ac.uk/
LAWIS: Characterising and mapping priority climate and water sensitive diseases, map existing forecasting and surveillance systems in climate and health patterns of vulnerability and adaptive capacity of forest-dependent groups (2022).