.png)
Our Community of Purpose
Many of the shortcomings and dysfunctions afflicting ABS are rooted in the organisation of modern society into interrelated but distinct functional spheres, including the political system of sovereign nation-states, the legal system of positive law, the scientific system of knowledge production, and the capitalist market economy. To address these problems through collaborative transformation, TEGA brings together various actors from these different spheres of society in a 'Community of Purpose' (CoP) that constitutes a circle of equals and a collective space for transformative experimentation. This CoP, which transcends institutional boundaries, includes a core team of researchers from various scientific disciplines, and a diverse group of ABS stakeholders including policy-makers, indigenous leaders, biotrade business actors, and representatives of scientific users of genetic resources.
Tega's core team
Tega's team is responsible for the methodological design of TEGA's action research, stakeholder engagement, analytical inputs and empirical research which both flow into the collaborative change process, project management, as well as science communication.
Dr Damien Krichewsky (PI)
University of Bonn, Germany
Dr Damien Krichewsky is a sociologist with expertise in social theory, qualitative research methods and transdisciplinary collaboration. His current research examines how political and economic responses to the destructive side-effects of modernisation tend to reproduce the latter’s unsustainable patterns of development, and how pluriversal action research can contribute more potent responses that extend beyond the imaginaries and institutional logics of modern development.
​
Prof Ahmad Cheikhyoussef
University of Namibia
Prof Cheikhyoussef is a biologist and food scientist with extensive experience in interdisciplinary research. His work focuses on the ethnobotanical knowledge of food and medicinal plants, traditional fruits and vegetables, the development of food-grade supplements with biological activity for product safety and potential applications, as well as examining the nutrition and safety of traditional food and beverages. He is passionate about plants, and how ABS regulates interrelations between bioprospecting, indigenous knowledge, and the welfare of local communities.
Prof William Ellis
University of the Western Cape, South Africa
Professor William Ellis is an anthropologist and ethnographer of plants. He has researched plants in a variety of contexts including among the San of the southern Kalahari, herders and healers in Namaqualand, and Rastafarians in the Western Cape. He is interested in how plants feature in the everyday lives of people, how people think plants work, and more so, the kinds of work that plants do. He has also done work on land reform and community based natural resource management and retains a strong interest in these fields. He has most recently published on a land reclaim in the Western Cape and how the people there struggle to come to terms with their authenticity.
Dr Michael Shirungu
University of Namibia
Dr Michael Shirungu is an anthropologist specialising in medical anthropology and ethnopharmacology. He obtained his Ph.D. in 2017 and was a key member of a national team dedicated to documenting indigenous knowledge related to the use of medicinal plants in Namibia. He has also been involved in an international collaboration between the University of the Western Cape and the Multidisciplinary Research Centre (UNAM) on local knowledge, both individual and communal, related to medicinal plants, their cultural significance, use and conservation. At TEGA, Dr Michael Shirungu contributes his expertise on Southern African Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and works to strengthen the positive outcomes of ABS for rural communities and the biocultural rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Ulrike Tröger
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Germany
With a background in landscape ecology and nature conservation, Ulrike Tröger has worked for German government institutions, nature conservation NGOs and in international development. The focus of her work have been links between nature conservation and human development. She contributed to and led participatory ecosystem services assessments in Africa and EECCA with the aim to create policy relevant information and build capacities. She is currently working as a scientist in the Transformative Governance and Science-Policy Interfaces working group .
​
Tobias Dierks
Non-academic Advisor
Tobias Dierks studied sociology and started his career in German print media and television. He has been working as an expert in international cooperation - at the UN, an agricultural research institute and GIZ. His thematic focus has been on biodiversity, ABS, social and behaviour change and transformation. He currently works at the German Council for Sustainable Development under the German Chancellery. Tobias Dierks designs and manages high-impact initiatives for governments, business, civil society and academia, including negotiations at global levels. He thrives on agile management in intercultural and interdisciplinary teams.
ABS Stakeholders
TEGA's Community of Purpose includes about 25 ABS stakeholders from international ABS politics, South African and Namibian environmental authorities, representatives of southern African Indigenous Peoples and local communities, biotrade business associations and entrepreneurs from various sectors, as well as scientific users of genetic resources.