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Faculty 5
Chair of Sociology of Technology and the Environment Univ.-Prof. Dr. phil. Melanie Jaeger-Erben

Freda Adiali

Picture: private

Erich Weinert Str. 1
03046 Cottbus

LG 10, Room 238

adialfre @b-tu.de

 

Freda Adiali studied Natural Resource Management at the University for Development Studies in Ghana. She then went on to complete a Master of Science in Environmental Science, specialising in Environmental System Analysis, at Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands. Since January 2024, she has been working on a DAAD-funded PhD project at the Chair of Technology and Environmental Sociology at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg.

For me, the technology-environment nexus is contextual and political: when local practices meet supportive institutions, they can reshape food systems to be productive, low-carbon and fair. But without attention to power and equity, “innovation” risks reproducing old vulnerabilities.

Education and Training
01/01/2024 – PresentPhD in Environmental Science
, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus–Senftenberg, Germany
Project: “Grassroots Innovations: A Socio-Technical Sustainability Transformation of the Agri-food System in Northern Ghana”

02/2016 – 01/2018 M.Sc. in Environmental Science
, Wageningen University and Research, Netherlands

08/2010 – 07/2014 B.A. in Integrated Development Studies – Natural Resource Management
, University for Development Studies, Ghana

Work experience

Dec. 2020 – Dec. 2023 Assistant Lecturer – Environmental
Sciences, Department of Environmental Sciences, C. K. Tedam University of Technology and Applied Science

Jul. 2019 – Dec. 2020 Project Coordinator (WASH) – IRC Ghana

  • Drafting of funding applications

  • Coordination of project activities

  • Organisation of capacity-building training courses

Sep. 2017 – Jan. 2018 Intern – Environment, Health and Safety – Deltares/IRC WASH – Netherlands

  • Processing scientific data

  • Data analysis

  • Writing scientific articles

"Selection of the final solid waste disposal site in the Bolgatanga municipality of Ghana using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and multi-criteria evaluation (MCE)https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e18558

"Climate Change Adaptation Strategies Towards Reducing Vulnerability to Drought in Northern Ghana" http://www.ej-geo.org/index.php/ejgeo/article/view/294  

Household Water Treatment and Storage in Savelugu-Nanton Municipality, Northern Ghana. IRC-WASH-The Netherlands http://bit.ly/2sjCSRb  

Current Research

My work examines how grassroots innovations can drive sustainable agri-food transformations in northern Ghana by linking local knowledge with socio-technical change. I focus on:

  • Mapping and characterising grassroots initiatives that sustain agri-food systems.

  • Adoption and scaling dynamics, i.e. how niche practices spread, interact with regimes and respond to landscape pressures.

  • How community initiatives strengthen the capabilities, organisation and agency of smallholder farmers whilst reducing vulnerability and inequality.

  • How grassroots actors negotiate land and entrepreneurial power, and how policy and funding enable or constrain inclusive transformations.

Conceptually, I draw on:

  • Sociotechnical transitions and the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) model (niches–regimes–landscapes).

  • Environmental sociology and practice theory.

  • Indigenous and local knowledge systems as resources for innovation.