Vortrag

Hour info
13.00 - 14.00
Sprache
English
Available
On
Summary

Tamires de Oliveira and Milton de Paula are two Brazilian researchers who have been invited to participate in the BiosphereCarbon project of the Royal Museum for Central Africa.

Tamires de Oliveira has worked on river turtles and floodplain ecology in the Amazon and will present her thesis work.

Milton de Paula is a PhD candidate who is researching the impact of human environmental disturbances on Amazonian game animals and will present his PhD research.

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  • Tamires de Oliveira:
    The influence of floodplain dynamics on ecology of Amazonian turtles 
     
  • Milton de Paula:
    Synergistic effects of primary forest conversion and hunting on Amazonian game vertebrates along a large-scale urban-rural-wildland gradient of human disturbance.
Place

Room 333 of the CAPA building (building E on the map)

Tarif

Free

Hour info
10.00 a.m.
Sprache
English
Available
On
Summary

Dr. Jesús Aguirre Gutiérrez

Dr. Gutiérrez is a postdoc researcher at the Environmental Change Institute of the University of Oxford, where he is involved with the Ecosystems research group. His research focuses on understanding the impact of environmental condition on the distribution of species at a local and a global level over time. At the Ecosystems Lab he investigates the relationship between plant functional trait diversity, climate, LiDAR derived vegetation structure, and the plants’ spectal reflectance obtained from remote sensing data. 

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The issues of tropical forest stocks, sinks and sources are a central topic in international policy debates on climate changes. UNESCO Biosphere Reserves are living laboratories for research on climate changes. The BiosphereCarbon seminars aim at underpinning carbon focused research in tropical rainforests.

 

Place

Meeting Room 1, on level -1 of the Welcome Pavilion (building A on the map)

Tarif

Free

Hour info
14.00
Sprache
English
Available
On
Summary

Dr. Aida Cuní Sanchez

Dr. Cuní Sanchez is a research associate at the University of York at the Department of Environment & Geography and at Colorado State University at the Department of Ecosystem Science & Sustainability. She has done a lot of fieldwork in various Biosphere Reserves in Africa, focusing on research in tropical forest ecology, carbon stocks, ethnobotany, forest conservation and forest use by local communities. Her research combines natural and social sciences: currently she works on a project that assesses ecosystem services, threats and potential management strategies for African montane forests.

""

The issues of tropical forest stocks, sinks and sources are a central topic in international policy debates on climate changes. UNESCO Biosphere Reserves are living laboratories for research on climate changes. The BiosphereCarbon seminars aim at underpinning carbon focused research in tropical rainforests.

 

Place

CAPA building (building E on the map)

Tarif

Free

Hour info
12.30 - 13.30
Sprache
Dutch
Available
On
Summary

MuseumTalks

Tine Huyse

Parasites are unwanted passengers of people and animals. By traveling with their host to new areas, they can cause new epidemics. A striking example of this is the tropical disease bilharzia, which was introduced in South America by the transatlantic slave trade.

Increasing globalisation and human interventions in nature, such as the construction of reservoirs or irrigation channels, are also creating new breeding grounds for mosquitoes, snails and other disease vectors.

A state of affairs and possible solutions.

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About the speaker

Tine Huyse is a senior researcher at the Biology Department of the Royal Museum for Central Africa. Previously, she worked at the KU Leuven, the Institute of Tropical Medicine and the Natural History Museum in London. 

She studies the emergence and spread of infectious diseases such as bilharzia and fasciolosis in Africa, which affect millions of people and animals worldwide.

 

 


MuseumTalks

Join us each month for an exciting talk about one particular aspect of the permanent exhibition! Take a look behind the scenes of the AfricaMuseum and discover the work of its scientists and its collaboration with African artists.

> All MuseumTalks

 

Place

Meeting Room 1, on level -1 of the Welcome Pavilion (building A on the map)

Tarif

Free, just drop in

Subtitle
De leur étude à la gestion de la catastrophe, exemples africains
Hour info
14.30 - 18.00
Sprache
French and English
Available
On
Summary

Doctoral defense and lectures

On the occasion of the doctoral defense of Adalbert Muhindo, researcher at the Observatoire volcanologique de Goma (DRC) and PhD student at the Royal Museum for Central Africa and the Université libre de Bruxelles, the AfricaMuseum is organizing a thematic afternoon on the study of African volcanoes. Through examples from Ethiopia, the DR Congo, Comoros and Réunion, scientists will give you an overview of the research they are conducting to better understand volcanic phenomena and improve crisis management.

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Programme

  • 14.30 - 15.00

Contrasting styles of post-caldera volcanism along the Main Ethiopian Rift: Implications for contemporary volcanic hazards

Karen Fontijn (Université libre de Bruxelles)

The Main Ethiopian Rift (MER, ~7-9 °N) in East Africa is the type example of a magma-assisted continental rift. The rift axis is populated with regularly spaced silicic caldera complexes and central stratovolcanoes, interspersed with large fields of small mafic scoria cones. The recent (latest Pleistocene to Holocene) history of volcanism in the MER is poorly known, and no eruptions have occurred in the living memory of the local population. Assessment of contemporary volcanic hazards and associated risk is primarily based on the study of the most recent eruptive products, typically those emplaced within the last 10-20 ky. We integrate new and published field observations and geochemical data on tephra deposits from the main Late Quaternary volcanic centres in the central MER to assess contemporary volcanic hazards. 

  • 15.15 - 15.45 

La gestion des foules et des évacuations au Piton de la Fournaise lors de "l’éruption du siècle" en avril 2007

Julie Morin (Université Clermont Auvergne)

Le Piton de la Fournaise, sur l’île de La Réunion, est un volcan à dominante effusive dont les coulées de lave menacent occasionnellement des zones habitées. Du fait de sa fréquence éruptive élevée (cinq éruptions répertoriées à ce jour pour la seule année 2019), les populations comme les autorités sont habituées à côtoyer les phénomènes volcaniques. Pourtant forts de cette expérience, et même en l’absence de danger direct pour les zones habitées, la gestion des foules et des évacuations est parfois problématique. Elle révèle alors des jeux de vulnérabilités liées aux contextes socio-économique, culturel, territorial et politique. La gestion de « l’éruption du siècle » en avril 2007, qui sera au cœur de cette conférence, en est un exemple parlant.

  • 16.00 - 18.00

Doctoral defense:

La variation spatio-temporelle de la population et l’analyse de l’accessibilité à ses ressources vitales : Vers une meilleure gestion du risque volcanique à Goma, République démocratique du Congo

Adalbert Muhindo (Observatoire volcanologique de Goma, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Université libre de Bruxelles)

Les aléas naturels, souvent imprévisibles, peuvent être à l’origine de situation de crise de grande ampleur. Connaître la répartition spatio-temporelle de la population, la disponibilité et la localisation des ressources vitales nécessaires en cas de crise, et évaluer l’accessibilité spatio-temporelle de la population à ces ressources à partir de scenarios d’occurrence de ces aléas sont des informations scientifiques, économiques et politiques particulièrement cruciales dans les zones à risque. 

Dans le cadre de notre doctorat, nous avons développé cette approche pour la ville de Goma (RDC) et ses environs. Cette région compte actuellement près d’un million d’habitants et fait face de façon permanente à la menace des coulées de lave du volcan Nyiragongo, un volcan très actif situé à seulement 15 km au nord de l'agglomération. 

 

Place

Meeting Room 1, on level -1 of the Welcome Pavilion (building A on the map)

Tarif

Free, just drop in

Subtitle
The culture and economy of eating wild animals in Central Africa
Hour info
12.30 - 13.30
Sprache
In English
Available
On
Summary

MuseumTalks

Theodore Trefon

Hunting wild animals is a persistent phenomenon in Central Africa driven by rapid urban population growth, cultural attachment and economic opportunities. Despite efforts by donors, researchers, conservationists and national governments to reduce supply, demand and consumption, the region’s forests are being emptied of wildlife.

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About the speaker

Theodore Trefon carries out environmental governance and political economy research in the Earth Sciences Department of the Royal Museum for Central Africa. His books include Congo’s environmental paradox: Potential and predation in a land of plenty (2016) and Congo masquerade: The political culture of aid inefficiency and reform failure (2011).

 


MuseumTalks

Join us each month for an exciting talk about one particular aspect of the permanent exhibition! Take a look behind the scenes of the AfricaMuseum and discover the work of its scientists and its collaboration with African artists.

> All MuseumTalks

 

Place

Meeting Room 1, on level -1 of the Welcome Pavilion (building A on the map)

Tarif

Free, just drop in

Subtitle
De representatie van Oost-Afrika en Arabo-Swahili in het AfricaMuseum (1897-2019)
Hour info
12.30 - 13.30
Sprache
In Dutch
Available
On
Summary

MuseumTalks

Maarten Couttenier

Since its foundation, the AfricaMuseum helped to create a negative image of ‘the Arabs’ in Eastern and Central Africa, in which the ‘barbary’ of the others highlighted the ‘civilization’ of the West. Acting as a rift zone, the museum also created an artificial barrier between East and Central Africa and a cleavage between African reality and European public. Direct contact with Congolese people was avoided and, under the influence of colonial propaganda, only a selective image of the Congo was exhibited.

 

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About the speaker

Maarten Couttenier is an anthropologist and a historian at the History and Politics service of the Royal Museum for Central Africa. Fields of study: museum history, colonial sciences, colonial culture and African history.

 


MuseumTalks

Join us each month for an exciting talk about one particular aspect of the permanent exhibition! Take a look behind the scenes of the AfricaMuseum and discover the work of its scientists and its collaboration with African artists.

> All MuseumTalks

 

Place

Foyer, on level -1 of the Welcome Pavilion (building A on the map)

Tarif

Free, just drop in

Subtitle
Nouvelles approches de la longue histoire de l'Afrique centrale
Hour info
12.30 - 13.30
Sprache
In French
Available
On
Summary

MuseumTalks

Alexandre Livingstone Smith

The history of Central Africa is long and rich. To study that history, scientists of the museum and of other research institutes work in multidisciplinary teams, involving archaeologists, botanists, linguists, historians, zoologists, etc. This lecture offers an overview of the work of researchers who are passionate about African history.

 

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About the speaker

Alexandre Livingstone Smith studied Art History and Archaeology at the Université libre de Bruxelles. After a research visit in Oxford at the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art (1990-1992), he returned to Belgium to take part in salvage excavations along the railroad line of the TGV. He then did a PhD on pottery technology in sub-Saharan Africa at the ULB in 1996. Afterwards he was involved in several research projects at the RMCA. He has been a member of the Heritage Studies service of the RMCA since 2008.

 


MuseumTalks

Join us each month for an exciting talk about one particular aspect of the permanent exhibition! Take a look behind the scenes of the AfricaMuseum and discover the work of its scientists and its collaboration with African artists.

> All MuseumTalks

 

Place

Foyer, on level -1 of the Welcome Pavilion (building A on the map)

Tarif

Free, just drop in

Subtitle
Un danger méconnu dans le Rift est-africain
Hour info
12.30 - 13.30
Sprache
In French
Available
On
Summary

MuseumTalks

Olivier Dewitte

Landslides have numerous impacts in the East African Rift. Discover the latest developments in the study of these natural hazards in this part of Africa, where millions of people live under threat.

 

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About the speaker

Olivier Dewitte is a geographer at the Earth Sciences Department of the Royal Museum for Central Africa. His research investigates natural hazards in the context of a changing environment. His current research interests mainly focus on landslides and soil erosion in several regions of Africa (Burundi, Ethiopia, DR Congo, Rwanda, Uganda).

 


MuseumTalks

Join us each month for an exciting talk about one particular aspect of the permanent exhibition! Take a look behind the scenes of the AfricaMuseum and discover the work of its scientists and its collaboration with African artists.

> All MuseumTalks

Place

Foyer, on level -1 of the Welcome Pavilion (building A on the map)

Tarif

Free, just drop in.