Biography
Trinity Sandra Ndlovu (nee) Senda is as Agroecosystem ecologist at the James Hutton Institute. She attained her PhD in 2022, from the University of Nairobi in Kenya in Management of Agroecosystems and the Environment. Her PhD work focused on the socio-ecological implications of communal land rights formalization in pastoral settings.
Prior to joining JHI Trinity worked as a livestock and rangelands specialist at FAO for a project on enhancing resilience for vulnerable rural households in Zimbabwe. From 2017 to 2020, she was affiliated with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Kenya as a graduate fellow under a DAAD fellowship. Trinity spent 11 years working as a livestock researcher under the Department of Research and Specialist Services at Matopos Research Institute, Zimbabwe-focusing mainly on developing technologies to improve livestock production and productivity in the small holder sector of Zimbabwe. She also worked on modelling the climate change impacts on livestock production and rangeland productivity.
Trinity has (co)authored and published journal articles, book chapters and reports on livestock production, rangelands, climate change and land tenure. She holds a Masters degree in Sustainable Agriculture from the University of the Free State in South Africa and a BSc. in Natural Resources Management and Agriculture-Livestock and Wildlife Management from the Midlands State University in Zimbabwe. Trinity hopes to contribute to solving some of the ongoing global environmental and food security challenges through her work.
Research
I am currently working on socio-ecological network modeling in Agroecology projects. This involves identifying key domains in agroecosystems, and how the human and natural environment interacts. This work is important for biodiversity management and sustainable food production in Agroecosystems.
My major tasks include:
• Developing methods of sustainability evaluation and innovative social-ecological approaches for land use systems
• Studying trade-offs within agroecosystems and agricultural land use systems, and the optimization of agricultural management and land use strategies.
1.Global CFaH. https://communityfoodplanetaryhealth.org/our-projects/global-cfah
2. FRAMEWORK. https://www.framework-biodiversity.eu/
I am also involved in two RESAS projects , one assessing the agroecological potential to improve fruit and vegetable production in Scotland, and the other on co-designing and implementing best-fit farming practices
Past research
- Graduate Fellow International Livestock Research Institute-ILRI. Kenya, March 2017- April 2020.
I was working within the Sustainable Livestock Systems group as a PhD fellow. My work was mainly on assessing the rangeland condition as for my PhD work, I was looking at the implications of land policies on pastoralis.
- Principal Research Officer: 01 November 2005 to 31 May 2017 Ministry of Agriculture-Department of Research and specialist services- Matopos Research Institute, Zimbabwe. My role was to develop solutions for improved livestock production in semi-arid areas. I was responsible for the designing, implementing, and analysing research. During this time, I collaborated with farmers across the country on how to use small ruminants to be self-sufficient, resilient and food secure through: creating market linkages for their produce. I also represented the Institute various in various fora including the development of the National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) for climate change. I implemented partner for collaborative projects that sought to integrate crop and livestock production for improved food security and livelihoods in rural Zimbabwe. Engaged as a consultant and modelled climate change impacts on livestock under different climate change scenarios (for Zimbabwe and Malawi). Part of my work was to focus on gender in agriculture, and I authored two manuscripts from that work.
Publications
Journals
Prior to appointment
- Senda, T.S.; Robinson, L.W.; Gachene, C.K.K.; Kironchi, G. (2022) Formalization of communal land tenure and expectations for pastoralist livelihoods, Land Use Policy, 114, Art. 105961
- Senda, T.S.; Robinson, L.W.; Gachene, C.K.K.; Kironchi, G.; Doyo, J. (2020) An assessment of the implications of alternative scales of communal land tenure formalization in pastoral systems, Land Use Policy, 94, Art. 104535
- Homann-Kee Tui, S.; Valdivia, R.O.; Descheemaeker, K.; Senda, T.; Masikati, P.; Makumbe, M.T.; Van Rooyen, A.F. (2019) Crop-livestock integration to enhance ecosystem services in sustainable food systems, In: Rusinamhodzi, L. (ed.) The Role of Ecosystem Services in Sustainable Food Systems. Academic Press, pp. 141-169
- Masikati, P.; Homann Kee-Tui, S.; Descheemaeker, K.; Sisito, G.; Senda, T.; Crespo, O.; Nhamo, N. (2017) Integrated Assessment of Crop-Livestock Production Systems Beyond Biophysical Methods: Role of Systems Simulation Models, In: Nhamo, N., Chikoye, D. & Gondwe, T. (eds.) Smart Technologies for Sustainable Smallholder Agriculture: Upscaling in Developing Countries. Academic Press, pp. 257-278
- Orr, A.; Homann Kee-Tui, S.; Tsusaka, T.; Msere, H.; Dube, T.; Senda, T. (2016) Are there “women’s crops”? A new tool for gender and agriculture, Development in Practice, 26(8), 984-997
- Senda, T.S.; Peden, D.; Tui, S.H.K.; Sisito, G.; Van Rooyen, A.F.; Sikosana, J.L.N. (2011) Gendered livelihood implications for improvements of livestock water productivity in Zimbabwe, Experimental Agriculture, 47(S1), 169-181
Conference posters
- Martino, S.; Rugani, B.; Begg, G.; Ovando Pol, P.; Ndlovu, T.; Petucco, C.; Petucco, C.; McHugh, N.; Simmons , A. (2022) Integrating Natural Capital in socioecological farm systems for gaining sustainability and wellbeing in EU farm clusters, Electronic booklet of the 4th ESP Europe Conference, 10-14 October 2022, Heraklion, Crete
- Martino, S.; Begg, G.; Ndlovu, T.; Rugani , B.; Petucco , C.; Ovando Pol, P.; McHugh, M.; Simmons, A. (2022) Integrating Natural Capital into socioecological farm systems for gaining sustainability and wellbeing in EU farm clusters, Hutton Annual Research Symposium 2022, 24 November 2022, Altens Hotel, Aberdeen.
