Dr Bridget Bwalya Umar (PhD Environment and Development) is a senior lecturer and researcher at the University of Zambia and a senior researcher in the Africa Scholar Programme at the Nordic Africa Institute, Sweden. She is a diligent and astute researcher who always strives for enhanced understanding. She has been awarded several fellowships, including the Swedish Institute’s Postdoctoral Guest Researcher Fellowship and the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) Fellowship. Bridget is a lead author of the Global Assessment on Invasive Alien Species by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). She has authored over 40 publications on different aspects of agriculture and natural resources management. Bridget’s research interests include sustainable agriculture; agri-food systems; international development aid and smallholder agricultural development; the nexus of climate change, gender, and development; land resources governance; political ecology; and agricultural value chains. She dedicates time to mentoring students and early-career women professionals in STEM fields through her membership in the Zambian Women in Agricultural Research and Development (ZAWARD) and the Zambian Chapter of the Organization for Women in Science in the Developing World (OWSD). Her hobbies include reading, baking, and gardening.
