Note on the defence of the DEA dissertation of M. KIWELE MUTAMBALA Pacifique
From 2015 to date, a study on the species of the genus Parakneria Poll, 1965 (Kneriidae) has been initiated at the University of Lubumbashi (UNILU/DRC). This study is conducted by M. KIWELE MUTAMBALA Pacifique (KMPf), teaching assistant at the same university. The latter, having in the framework of this study benefited from the support and monitoring by the framework agreement projects between the RMCA and the Belgian Development Cooperation (DGD) "Mbisa Congo" I (2013-2018) & II (2019-2023), notably regarding his study visits to Belgium (2017-2019) and the field logistics. Throughout the progress of this study, M. KMPf also benefited from the support of the SNSB-ZSM project "Exploiting the Genomic Record of Living Biota to Reconstruct the Landscape Evolution of South Central Africa" (2017-2019) funded by the Volkswagen Foundation, mainly for his participation to a DEA (Diplôme d'Etudes Approfondies) education program organised locally at the UNILU.
During this program, M. KMPf, supervised by Pr. CHOCHA MANDA Auguste (UNILU), Dr. SCHLIEWEN Ulrich (ZSM/Germany) and Dr. VREVEN Emmanuel (RMCA/Belgium), delved into the question with his dissertation entitled: “The Parakneria (Gonorhynchiformes: Kneriidae) of the Upper Lualaba and Luapula-Mweru basins (Upper Congo; DRC): morphological and genetic diversity, distribution, and behaviour”. This DEA dissertation, defended on Tuesday, 27 December 2022, and with a part of the major results first published on 29 November 2022: Kiwele Mutambala, P., Abwe, E., Schedel, F. D. B., Chocha Manda, A., Schliewen, U. K., & Vreven, E. J. W. N. (2022). A new Parakneria Poll 1965 (Gonorhynchiformes: Kneriidae), 'Mikinkidi' from the Upper Lufira Basin (Upper Congo: DRC): Evidence from a morphologic and DNA barcoding integrative approach. Journal of Fish Biology, 102, 1, 4-26. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.15206, received a very good appreciation from all the examiners present. As a result, M. KIWELE MUTAMBALA Pacifique has obtained his DEA degree in Agronomic Sciences, biodiversity option, with great distinction.
