This week, you will hear Dr Nzioka John Muthama, a professor at the University of Nairobi. Dr Muthama is an applied meteorologist with an interest in climate change and sustainability, and long experience teaching university students from the BA to the PhD.

In this episode, he talks to Charity about the drastic changes in the University of Nairobi’s teaching methods after COVID, the impacts of his research on the ozone layer and climate change, the four questions of methodology, and writing a thesis that everybody wants to read.

David Ehrhardt

Welcome to Africa Knows. This week you will hear Dr. Nzioka John Muthama, a professor at the University of Nairobi.

Dr. Muthama is an applied meteorologist with an interest in climate change and sustainability broadly and a long experience teaching university students from the BA to the PhD. In this episode he talks to charity about the drastic changes in the University of Nairobi's teaching methods after Covid.

The impacts of his research in the ozone layer and climate change, the four questions of methodology and about writing a thesis that everybody wants to read. And there's a lot more. So here is Dr. Mutama.

Nzioka John Muthama

Yeah, my stint with the Ministry was a very short one. I worked for six months and then I got the opportunity to do masters and I decided to quit.

My colleagues and even my seniors in the Ministry were shocked that I was quitting even when I've not even finished the masters. But I was sure that I would want an area where I am involved in particularly research. And in this context, research, I'm talking about understanding problems and being part of a solution, especially innovative ways of providing solutions to the community. My area of interest being in the environment, specifically in the atmosphere and how atmosphere interacts with the other spheres.

So I started my research working on issues: ozone layer. Those days, globally there was such a concern that the ozone layer was getting depleted and humans will suffer a lot if there's no ozone layer.

And I thought it was exciting. So I did my master's and also my PhD in issues: ozone layer. I was grateful to the Italian government.

I was granted a scholarship to do a PhD at the University of Rome, La Sapienza. And I will forever remain grateful to the Italian government, Italian people for that opportunity. And I continued with the ozone layer.

So fortunately, because of the interventions, particularly the Kyoto Protocol, the ozone layer started thickening. So the solution was provided and it was getting thicker. Now the issue of climate change came up and that is what I've been now working on.

Now we are talking about climate crisis because things are we need urgent action. And my research has been basically connected to issues like climate change in that regard.

Monitoring the greenhouse gases and understanding the attributions to them and how we can mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Charity Mwangi

That's quite an interesting profile. And of course you are very much action driven. You are looking for action research to understand problems and provide innovative solutions.

And of course, as a person who's still young and looking to one day join this academic space, just getting to see that transition of conversations from ozone layer, greenhouse gases to climate change is quite interesting. So Perhaps now to zoom in a little bit, could you describe to us how your typical class will look like?

You know, the typical class that you teach every day?

Nzioka John Muthama

Yeah, it's an interesting question.

You know, I have had different experiences of different classes, so probably if I take an average, it may help, a typical class currently now because it's different from what we used to have 20 years ago. I, at the moment I'm teaching basically the masters and PhD students. Yeah.

And the setup we have at the university is after COVID we realized that we can leverage on technology. So many of the sessions are online. So a typical class would be based on a group of students, 10 to 15 students.

And we start with expected learning outcomes for each particular lesson so that we say this is what we want to cover by the end of the session. And my sessions, I desire always that they be interactive so that I am sure that learning has happened.

So as I share the content, I would want to get feedback whether it is online or, or in person. So typically that's what we've currently been doing.

But I need to mention that the size and the dynamics, based on my experience, changed drastically. Just before COVID, we are dealing with completely different way of delivering the knowledge now. We have adopted a completely new way. We start by embracing the fact that the so called asynchronous learning is critical for students.

That is, we upload all the lecture notes in advance so that students who are interested and fascinated by certain topics they can read in advance. So when we get into the session, it's possible to see those who are enthusiastic have had time to peruse through.

It's also possible to see the topic that is of a lot of interest to the students and others that probably students are not particularly interested in.

Charity Mwangi

That's impressive, and maybe just as a follow up because the dynamics have changed and Covid proved that learning can indeed happen online. So what are some of the difficulties that you faced while teaching online? And perhaps tied to that, do you normally teach the masters and PhD students, you know, topics within your discipline, or do you find yourself sometimes teaching something else that's totally different?

Nzioka John Muthama

I'll start with the last one. Certainly teaching you can only teach what you know. So we teach within our, our disciplines.

But I would say that based on experiences, you know, we have done research that has gone beyond probably areas that we started with. We have also gone through trainings that enhance the kind of knowledge base and skills base. So for example, I'll give an example.

There's a course that I teach on transformative leadership. And one may wonder now what is the connection between climate change and transformative leadership.

But from my years of teaching and also exposure and training, I have been equipped in that area. So I would still call it my discipline because I have skills in that. In that area. Yeah, there are several.

One of the opportunities when you talk about online learning is that you would be able to get the class would be, in a sense, full house, almost entirely. But it comes with a lot of challenges. Sometimes, of course, it's obvious that you may not know how many people are listening to you.

We have had cases where you. You get very young learners when, when you tell somebody to.

To comment and you hear young ones talking about other subjects and they are part of the class. In that regard, I think one of the challenges, especially for us, is to ensure that you can interact more effectively the systems we use.

Many students prefer not to have their cameras on because of Internet connectivity and other reasons. And because of that, then one may not be sure whether they are basically just recording and they are not listening.

We have a few cases, you call on somebody and they are not able to respond and you are not sure whether they are present or not. So those are some of the challenges. The other one is, of course, that in person touch cannot be entirely replaced by online interaction. Yeah.

Because you would want to, especially for the university we train on, we want to equip students with skills, knowledge and attitudes. So the attitudes that we are equipping them with in the online sessions need to be enhanced with in person experiences.

Charity Mwangi

Absolutely. That's quite important. The PowerPoint schedule, skills, knowledge and attitudes sometimes can only be done by in person.

But of course, because of the changing dynamics, we have to also embed the online learning.

So perhaps just to tie with that, how do you teach your students to engage with complex problems, you know, complex real world problems and even complex academic problems that they face?

Nzioka John Muthama

Yeah. Thank you.

I think one of the key areas at a postgraduate level, we start by first identifying the problems that the students would probably see as priority areas. So after identifying the problems, we in a participatory manner, prioritize what we think needs to be urgently addressed.

And after that, then we now start discussing in context, depending on whatever subject that we are engaged in, how now different ones of us, in our own different ways, can contribute to the solutions of a given problem. So in any given session, when I have students, we'll have narrowed down to probably three problems.

And I would want students to explain how they think they can make a contribution one way or another, and that's an indication of how complex some of these problems manifest themselves. I mean, the way we perceive them and how to provide the solutions. The complexity certainly is something that students need to appreciate.

And I give examples some of the common problems that would be mentioned. One of them will be poverty, another one will be pollution, another one will be poor governance.

And all these are complex problems, be it at national, international level. And stereotypes like Global North, Global south. That is a problem that can also be solved in a different way.

Charity Mwangi

That's quite powerful.

And of course, just addressing it through a collaborative approach where the student also becomes part of the solution once the challenge is identified. Perhaps now moving to something a bit different on research.

And I know you mentioned that research really drives you and that also propelled you to leave the ministry to come and join the academic space. So I'd love to know more about the approaches you use for research.

And perhaps the first question that I'll ask you is, how did you come to your key research topics? And related to that, what do you find important about these key research topics?

Nzioka John Muthama

Yeah, this is interesting.

I remember when I was an undergraduate, I had this very interesting lecturer now a friend of mine, and he was talking on a topic that I thought for me, I identified with and I had mentioned earlier, it was on ozone layer. And something clicked in me that I need to know more about this ozone layer.

Because I had many questions and the answers were that not much has been done. We don't have data, we don't have information. And I thought, why don't I contribute to providing this data so that we can know more about it?

So the curiosity actually was generated from class as an undergraduate. And I was happy that the class was presented in a way that I could see that is giving the information the current state of knowledge at that time.

And I thought, I can be, yeah, I can contribute to enhancing the state of knowledge. So out of that, then, through guidance at master's level, I was guided further to address issues that would be of benefit at national level.

My research certainly was contributing to national policy and practice and international perspective in that regard, but to the local scale kind of consideration. I remember some of my colleagues and friends were telling me, this thing you are doing looks too abstract. You are talking about ozone layer. It doesn't help me as a person, but I thought at national level, international level, this was a contribution. So the guidance that I got from the supervisors helped me now to build this further. And also that continued in my PhD, the masters I did at The University of Nairobi, the PhD at the University of Rome.

Charity Mwangi

Yeah, I think it's quite safe to say that for you ozone layer was a key driver in your research. And of course I see that you've really been in the environmental world from the word go, from your Bachelor's degree all the way to the PhD.

So perhaps what impact would you say the research that you did back then has had today?

Nzioka John Muthama

That's an interesting question. Impact is very difficult to measure, impact. So I wouldn't want to make a statement that would not be representative of the impact.

But we have had some contribution. One of them is that I found myself in the global space through UNEP as part of the scientists working on the ozone layer reports. We used to have reports back then.

So I participated together with other international community, scientific community to write the scientific reports of the state of ozone layer and all those kinds of things. And the key thing here was that we needed to implement the Kyoto Protocol.

This is a global effort and fortunately it bore fruits because initiatives through the Kyoto Protocol showed that the layer was restored. So if we would now say there was a contribution from my end, I believe there could have been, however small it was.

And connected to that, I also participated actively in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, ipcc, dealing with climate change issues.

So writing the reports, you know, we talk about the first assessment report, second assessment, third assessment, up to the fifth, I've participated one way or another is another. And yeah, this has contributed in that way to understand the situation regarding issues, climate change and climate action.

So the other impact would be that, yes, I have supervised many students and I don't know they are the ones to say whether they have benefited from my experiences. But given that, yeah, I have a profile of several of them. Several of them who have joined the academia are now professors.

That to me is a joy that I'm seeing that they are also climbing the ladder and they are making a contribution.

So both Masters and PhD, I have dozens of them that we have interacted as I advise them to continue their research in this area, environmental based areas.

Charity Mwangi

Absolutely. And I'm also one of those beneficiaries of you supervising me at my Master's level. And of course that has really propelled my career forward.

And I'm also looking forward to beginning my PhD in the coming months or years. And that's quite powerful to see the impact.

And of course I've picked from the impact that you've stated that you've really collaborated with other actors, including working with UNEP on The Kyoto Protocol and even IPCC reports writing that of course involved a lot of collaborations with other actors to be able to achieve this.

So perhaps would you paint a picture of what collaborations look like for you and what are some of the challenges that you faced while collaborating with other actors in your research career?

Nzioka John Muthama

Yeah. Thank you. I think there's a lot to learn through the masters, the PhD experiences as a student.

I recognize that for me to move forward, I needed to listen carefully to my advisors, the supervisors, and also to collaborate with the fellow students and others so that I can see my documents reach the desired level. So learning about collaboration started at that point as a student.

Now after completing and joining the academia as a member of faculty, for me to have ongoing research activities, collaboration is the beginning point. It is not possible in the current state of affairs to do research alone the way Galileo Galilei used to do in the 15th, 16th century.

Now collaboration is a must. So how we do this is we identify key collaborators, we collaborate within the university.

So I already have a team of collaborators from outside my department, outside my faculty, and I also have collaborators outside the higher education institutions, that is in the private sector and also in the civil society. So building partnerships is one of the key things that I give a priority.

Yeah, with the usual the saying that, yeah, networks may be connected to net worth in research, they are very applicable. So this is extremely important.

Charity Mwangi

Yeah, network is equals to net worth. And of course you are mentioning something quite powerful, multidisciplinary and multisectoral approach to just achieving action research.

So perhaps now that you've supervised quite a number of PhD students and master students, so just focusing a little bit on PhD students, what topic would you advise the next generation of PhD students to focus on, given the global trends that we are experiencing?

Nzioka John Muthama

Yeah, well, you know, one of the things that I normally do, I would want a student to focus on a topic that is connected to their interest, their assignment, their passion. As much as I may have a topic, I would want students to really identify very clearly with what they want to solve. They are the general topics.

Currently we are talking about climate crisis and we cannot sit back and do nothing because we are seeing, especially in some of these regions where you have extreme climate events, you are talking of droughts lasting for several seasons, unexpected, and then when the floods come, they also are excessive, for example, and loss of livelihood is so evident. And yeah, this is something that certainly is important and also connected to this is improving the quality of life through issues environment.

We would want to see particularly the most vulnerable having opportunities so that their situations can actually improve. So these are areas that for me will be of interest. They can be addressed in many ways.

Charity Mwangi

Absolutely. Increasing resilience of communities and cities and the nation at large through climate crisis.

I think you've mentioned flooding, which we experienced in the city and was quite a menace, and by extension the entire country. And we had loss of lives and property.

So perhaps, as we look at, we are towards the tail end, but perhaps be interested to know more about the approach, the methodological approach that you adapt in research. The next question I'll ask you is, how would you describe your methodological approach to research?

Nzioka John Muthama

Yeah, thank you. Yeah, Mine is quite simple. The approach is to answer four questions. The first one, what is the problem? Because one must know the problem clearly.

And the second one is, what has been done about the problem? Because one will not probably be the first one to address this.

Then the third question is, what do you want to do about the problem as a student in that regard or as a researcher? And the final one is, what do you expect to get? Or what would the results mean? Will they have impact?

So those four questions are basically the ones that I would. They have evolved over the years.

The first one, I find it extremely important for whether a researcher or student to dig deep and perform whether we would call it problem tree analysis or. Yeah, you understand the problem in a very clear, detailed and deep way that you can be able to provide a solution.

And that is the approach that we are using now.

Charity Mwangi

That's absolutely interesting. And of course, it shows that it will take you from the problem to the solution and anticipated impact.

So that person is very clear, even as you do your research, what is the end goal for this particular research? So perhaps the next thing is, how would you approach interdisciplinary corporations, even in terms of this methodological approach?

Nzioka John Muthama

Yeah. Thank you. You know, one of the things that I learned a long time ago was that problems do not come in a siloed way.

When a problem comes, it will have all kinds of dimensions and you can use different lenses to look at it. So we would want it adds value to really address it at the onset from a multidisciplinary approach, if that would be possible.

Of course, there could be limitations in terms of resources, human, otherwise.

But a multidisciplinary approach is something that we are promoting, especially in this space of the environment, because we will get more solid solutions when this is incorporated.

Charity Mwangi

All right, that's perfect.

And I think you've addressed this question, but I'll ask you anyway, to just emphasize, as my last question, if this is the methodological approach that we use, would you advise a different method to the next generation of scholars or would you recommend for them to stay still stick to this particular methodology?

Nzioka John Muthama

Now, those who have used this especially with a focus to providing a solution or to contributing to knowledge about the problem, they have contributed significantly to the state of affairs. It could be contribution to knowledge, contribution to science, contribution to the community.

Any research that will not contribute significantly to the community is something that we want to stay away from.

And as I normally put it, one should not write a thesis and it accumulates dust because even the author doesn't want to look at it because it has no value. So we would want something that everybody wants to read. Yeah.

So how do we ensure this happens is to find a topic that will be of a lot of interest to community. If one picks a topic that will be of a lot of interest by way of getting a feel in various ways, that would be the best way to go.

David Ehrhardt

Thank you for listening to this week's episode of African Knows.

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