Dr. Festus Asaaga

My research focuses on advancing better understanding of the interdependence and synergies between human, animal and ecosystem health with a view of improving policy outcomes for safeguarding livelihoods, health and well-being. Through this interdisciplinary engagement, my research revolves around three key inter-linked foci: agriculture, health and environment with climate change as an underlying cross-cutting theme particularly in developing contexts. Under these three broad themes, I specifically focus on the political ecology of endemic and emerging zoonotic disease vulnerability within a 'One Health' paradigm, land tenure systems and sustainable resource management and climate change adaptation. I currently lead the social science components of two-interdisciplinary projects exploring the socio-ecological drivers of (re)emerging zoonotic disease vulnerability in the Western Ghats region of India. My previous DPhil research at the University of Oxford examined the dynamics of land tenure and sustainable land management in Ghana.