ROVING REPORTERS: Grant-winning scientists show Africa’s environmental future is written in microbes and trees
Dr John Paul Makumbi and Dr Olivier Jean Leonce Manzi have been named joint winners of the 2026 Jennifer Ward Oppenheimer Research Grant. Their research projects, spanning soil microbes and tropical forests, explore how ecosystems can reveal early signs of environmental change before their decline becomes visible.
Dr. John Paul Makumbi and Dr. Olivier Jean Leonce Manzi have been awarded the 2026 Jennifer Ward Oppenheimer Research Grant. Their projects focus on using microscopic organisms and trees to predict environmental change before it becomes visible.
Makumbi's work focuses on Lake Victoria in Uganda, where he has observed widespread eutrophication and reduced shoreline bird diversity. He argues that most environmental monitoring systems are reactive, only detecting damage after it has occurred. Instead, his research looks for molecular signals in microbial DNA that can reveal early signs of environmental stress.
By tracking four families of genomic indicators, his project aims to create an early warning toolkit for African freshwater systems under pressure from urbanization, agricultural runoff, industrial pollution, and climate stress.
Meanwhile, Manzi's research centers on tropical trees in Rwanda's forest restoration trials. Growing up near a lush natural forest, he noticed an extraordinary contrast between leafless, stressed trees and healthy ones growing nearby under the same conditions. This observation led him to question what happens inside trees before the stress becomes visible.
By studying specific species and comparing their responses to stress, Manzi hopes to better understand how trees cope with environmental challenges and inform more effective forest restoration efforts.
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