“I am very excited to join the Centre for Climate Resilience as it is a very rare opportunity to help create a new strong research body on a topic that I am so passionate about,” said Dr Waha. “I am honored to work in a team of researchers that not only make an impact in their individual disciplines but looking to contribute to interdisciplinary solutions for a more resilient future”. In previous roles, Dr Waha was a Research Scientist at CSIRO, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization - Australia’s national science agency and at PIK, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. Dr Waha’s scientific career encompasses climate change impact research, spatial analysis and food security studies. She is a contributing author and expert reviewer to the recently published IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land and the IPCC 6th Assessment Report.

Recent research include analysis of the link between diversification strategies in agriculture in low- and middle income countries and food security ( Waha et al. 2022, Menesch et al. 2023), extending spatially explicit global agricultural land use representations ( Waha et al. 2020) and studies of past and future climate trends and their relevance for agriculture in Australia and Africa ( Nkwasa et al. 2023, Waha et al. 2022).

Dr Waha’s significant scientific achievements are demonstrated by over 40 peer-reviewed publications with numerous invitations to present at international conferences. Dr Waha is a member of the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project ( AgMIP) since 2011 and the Global Land Program ( GLP), a global research project of FutureEarth since 2017. She is an Associate Editor for the Springer journal Food Security and a passionate advocate for climate change impact research, geography and spatial analysis. Dr Waha holds a Master’s degree in Geography and a PhD in Environmental Sciences and lives in Augsburg.