The CCAPS program has awarded its 2012-13 pre-doctoral fellowships to Sam Barrett of Trinity College Dublin, Felix Iyalomhe of CÃ Foscari University of Venice, and Adriana Lins de Albuquerque of Columbia University. The three doctoral students will study under the CCAPS program and be in residence at the University of Texas at Austin for the 2012-2013 academic year.

“The CCAPS fellowship program aims to support the next generation of thought leaders on climate change and political stability in Africa,” said Dr. Francis J. Gavin, Director of the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law and principal investigator of the CCAPS program. “We look forward to having this impressive group of doctoral students join the CCAPS program and engage with our researchers in exploring the security implications of climate change.”

The 2011-12 CCAPS pre-doctoral fellow, Emily Brownell, will graduate this spring and join the University of Northern Colorado as an Assistant Professor of African History this fall. During her time with the CCAPS fellowship, Ms. Brownell completed her dissertation on the environmental history of urban expansion in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Ms. Brownell holds a Master of Arts in History from the University of Delaware.

The 2012 CCAPS pre-doctoral fellow, Nancy Omolo from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, is finishing her dissertation this year in women’s adaptive capacity to climate variability in pastoral communities in Northern Kenya. Ms. Omolo joined the CCAPS program after working as a climate change analyst for the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute and consultant to the World Bank, UNDP, UNICEF, SIDA, and Government of Kenya, among others. She holds a Master of Science in Development Studies from the London South Bank University and a Bachelors of Science from Open University in the UK.

Incoming CCAPS pre-doctoral fellow Sam Barrett is a PhD student in the Department of Geography at Trinity College Dublin. Mr. Barrett’s dissertation examines whether climate finance aimed at facilitating adaptation is distributed to those most vulnerable to climate change. He currently teaches micro- and macro-economics as a lecturer for the Trinity Access Program. Mr. Barrett holds a Master of Science in International Relations Theory from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Trinity College Dublin.

Incoming pre-doctoral fellow Felix Iyalomhe is a PhD student in the Science and Management of Climate Change program at the CÃ Foscari University of Venice, studying the environmental impacts and risks of climate change on groundwater resources. Mr. Iyalomhe is currently a visiting PhD student at the National Environmental Research Institute at the University of Aarhus in Denmark. He holds a Master of Science in energy technology from the University of Gavle in Sweden, and a Bachelor of Science in computer science from the University of Nigeria.

Incoming pre-doctoral fellow Adriana Lins de Albuquerque is a PhD student in the Department of Political Science at Columbia University. Her dissertation explores why some dissident groups seek to coerce target governments using non-violent protest while others employ terrorism or guerilla warfare to achieve political objectives. She currently serves as a Program Coordinator for the Saltzmann Institute of War and Peace Studies. Ms. Lins de Albuquerque holds a Master of International Affairs, Master of Arts, Master of Philosophy, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Columbia University.

The Climate Change and African Political Stability Program is a collaborative research program at the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas at Austin, conducted in partnership with the College of William and Mary, Trinity College Dublin, and University of North Texas. CCAPS analyzes how climate change, conflict, governance, and aid intersect to impact African and global security. CCAPS is funded by the U.S. Department of Defense’s Minerva Initiative.