About

About AfSIS

We are a small tech company providing bespoke data and information services dedicated to solving the problem of land degradation in Africa. We have deep roots and a wide reach, with a dense network of collaborators spread across the continent. We operate at a large scale – usually across entire countries – assisting research organizations, NGOs, private sector organizations, and government ministries to solve landscape problems. We are a non-profit and our approach is to work on one to several problems at a time. Within that scope, we operate quickly, accurately, and cost-effectively to achieve high returns on investment. We also always attempt to achieve comprehensive technology and knowledge transfers so that our partners and collaborators can continue the work independently.

The Africa Soil Information Service (AfSIS) began as a project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2009. It became an independent nonprofit organization in 2020. We are located both on a small, off-grid, wind and solar-powered ranch near Arusha in Tanzania, and a similar small ranch near Magdalena in New Mexico. However, we are a community of practice who work from various locations as and when the need arises. We are registered as a nonprofit (501c3) in New Mexico in the US to facilitate the logistics of our international work in Africa. We work with collaborators throughout Africa, who are interested in our services. We do charge for these services to cover costs, but we do not seek to make a profit. Any surpluses from our operations are either reinvested in promoting the use of data science and knowledge transfer processes and/or donated to other similarly-minded charities.

Community of Practice

Dr. Markus Walsh

Landscape ecologist (co-founder)

Markus has over 30 years of experience in ecosystems and landscape ecology research in Africa. He focuses on developing operational monitoring and evaluation tools for diagnosis, mapping, and change detection in African landscapes with an emphasis on the application of IT and data science in agriculture and terrestrial ecology.

Prof. Ricardo Rodríguez-Iglesias

Animal scientist (board member, science advisor)

Ricardo is a research scientist and former professor of Animal Science currently based in Bahía Blanca, Argentina, a coastal city close to where the grasslands of the Pampas meet the shrublands of northern Patagonia.

Dr. Barbara Walsh

Epidemiologist (CEO, co-founder)

Barbara has a PhD in Parasitology and a Masters in Epidemiology. She has done consulting work since moving to East Africa in 1997. She is the CEO of AfSIS and also provides all of the editorial services.

Dr. Frank Kirschnick

Technologist / Innovator / Entrepreneur (board member)

Frank is an experienced technologist, enthusiastic innovator, and pragmatic entrepreneur, with a strong computational background in artificial intelligence, operations research, and risk mitigation. Specializing in industrial data mining, big data analytics, and machine learning.

Dr. Bob MacMillan

Soil scientist (board member, science advisor)

Bob is a semi-retired environmental consultant and soil scientist maintaining an interest in contributing to several ongoing international projects.

Prof. Alex Awiti

Ecologist (board member, science advisor)

Alex Awiti is a Principal Scientist, Agroecology Policy and Advocacy at CIFOR-ICRAF where he supports global efforts to accelerate the transformation of food systems through agroecology, working through the Transformative Partnership Platform for Agroecological transition and the Agroecology Coalition.

Prof. Vijay Modi

Engineer (science advisor)

Vijay is a Professor in Columbia University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, and also a member of the Earth and Data Science Institutes and Climate School’s faculty. He directs the Quadracci Sustainable Engineering Laboratory (qSEL). Vijay’s areas of expertise are energy resources and energy conversion technologies at scale.

Dr. Andrew Sila

Data Scientist (science advisor)

Andrew is a Data Scientist involved in the application of machine learning in research spanning agronomy, ecology, and climate studies. Andrew has a Ph.D. in Applied Statistics, 17 years of experience in soil-plant spectral diagnostics, and advanced skills in chemometrics methods, an emerging field at the intersection of infrared spectroscopy, statistical and computational techniques, computer-software development, and databasing.

Dr. Maurizio Dioli

Veterinarian (veterinary advisor)

Maurizio started out in 1981 as a Kenya Government Divisional Veterinary Officer in Turkana, Northern Kenya. His career took him to the semi-arid areas throughout the Horn of Africa implementing livestock health programs, lecturing, and conducting informal training. Maurizio’s career was rudely interrupted by studies leading to an MSc in Wild Animal Health and a Ph.D. from the Royal Veterinary College (UK).

Prof. (em) Horst-Jürgen Schwartz

Livestock ecologist (science advisor)

Jürgen was a Professor for Livestock Ecology at the Institute of Animal Science, Faculty of
Agriculture and Horticulture, Humboldt-University and Technical University of Berlin for 30 years. Prior to that, he was a Senior Lecturer and Project Leader working in traditional livestock management of small ruminants and camels.

Rama Ngatoluwa

Soil Science and Land Management Scientist (agricultural advisor)

Collaborators

We work with quite a number of similarly minded institutions based in Africa and internationally. However, we mostly focus our collaborations on individuals that we think can make a difference and create landscape change where it is most needed, irrespective of their institutional affiliations.