Meet our Ambassador

Peter Elias

Organisation

University of Lagos

Position

Associate Professor

E-mail

pelias@unilag.edu.ng

Phone

+234-8034010411

Country

Nigeria

Ambassador Group

Academic

Gender

Male

University, Municipality, or Community Group

Department of Geography, University of Lagos, Nigeria

Languages

English, Yoruba and Igbo

Biography

Peter Elias holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Ibadan and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography, University of Lagos. He leads the Lagos Urban Studies Group (LUSG), University of Lagos, which is a transdisciplinary research group on environment, urbanization, and sustainable development data, knowledge co-design and co-production, stakeholders’ mapping and engagement, citizen generated data, environmental planning and management, and transformational science. He presently serves as a Co-Chair CODATA WDS Task Group on Citizen Science Data for the SDGs and the West African Coordinator, Citizen Science Africa Association. He was a keynote speaker at the European Citizen Science Association Conference in 2022 on Citizen Science for Planetary Health, a contributor to UNSD Expert Group Meeting on the Copenhagen Framework on Citizen Data, a member of the UNEP/CSGP WESR delegation to the UNEA 6, and a key member of the UrbanBetter Citizens in Nigeria. He has almost two decades of teaching, research, and consultancy experiences in science-policy-society orientation. He has managed several international and cross-disciplinary research project with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant for Ideamaps Data Ecosystem (2022-2025); Global Disaster Preparedness Center (GDPC) grant to study Slum Utilisation of Early Warning Resources in Nigeria (2023-2024); Volvo Research and Educational Foundation (VREF) fund for Critical Thinking and Writing Short Courses for Postgraduate Students in Africa (2022-2-23); International Science Council (ISC)/Network of African Science Academies (NASAC) LIRA 2030 Research Grant in Africa in 2018 and 2020 respectively; UKRI GCRF for Digital Innovation for Development in Africa, UKRI GCRF SHLC Capacity Development Fund in 2019, and South Africa National Research Foundation COVID-19 Rapid Grant Fund in 2020, University of Lagos Central Research Committee (CRC) Research Grant (2015-2016 & 2018-2019), Peer to Peer Facebook Global Digital Challenge (2018), START Global Environmental Change Research in Africa (GEC) Award (2011), among others.

Motivation

I am passionate about citizen generated data for sustainable developments which help to address various dimensions of inequalities and vulnerabilities in different places and among people suffering deprivations and under-representation in Africa. I have been involved in different citizen science projects and activities in Nigeria, Africa and globally. Presently, I am a Co-Chair Citizen Science Task Group on Citizen Science Data for the SDGs, the West African Coordinator, Citi Sci African Association, a contributor to the UNSD Expert Group Meeting in Copenhagen (2023) and New York (2024) on the Copenhagen Framework on Citizen Data, among others. I was a Keynote Speaker at the European Citizen Science Association Conference 2022 on Citizen Science for Planetary Health.

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