Meet the founding leadership
Professor Jimmy Adegoke
Professor Jimmy Adegoke is an internationally recognised climate scientist and academic leader with decades of experience advancing climate science, environmental sustainability and Earth systems research. He is an award winning climate scientist and Emeritus Professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) USA where he served as Chair of the Department of Geosciences from 2008 to 2010 and Director of the UMKC Center for Applied Environmental Research (CAER) for over a decade. He is currently an advisor and senior consultant with the Climate Change and Green Growth Department of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB).
Professor Adegoke served as Interim Executive Director/CEO of the West African Science Service Center for Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) from April to December 2017 and was previously Executive Director of the Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) Natural Resources & Environment (NRE) Division, Pretoria, South Africa from 2010 to 2012. At the invitation of the Government of Nigeria, Professor Adegoke served as Chair of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Agricultural Resilience in Nigeria (ACARN), which developed a national program on climate adaption and agricultural resilience for Nigeria in 2014. He sits on multiple international science advisory boards/committees and maintains permanent residence in Kansas City where he was an appointee of the Mayor of Kansas City Missouri (KCMO) on the city’s Environmental Management Commission (EMC).
As Chair and Convener of CESTLAP, he provides the strategic vision and intellectual leadership that anchors the consortium's mission — connecting world-leading scientists and practitioners to advance scientific collaboration, evidence-based policy engagement and meaningful climate advocacy across Africa and beyond.
Dr. Marian Osei
Dr. Marian Osei is a Climate Scientist at the UK Met Office working on translating climate information into scalable actionable adaptation insights. She obtained her Bachelors, Masters and Doctorate in Meteorology and Climate Science from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). Following her doctoral studies, she was appointed research fellow at UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (2022-2024) investigating the amplification of West African climate extremes by land-atmosphere interactions. This position was funded by the Royal Society under its Newton International Fellowship.
Marian now has a full-time permanent position as a scientist at the UK Met Office. Among her other leadership roles, Dr. Osei serves as Vice-Chair of the Awards Committee of the newly established African Meteorogical Society (AfMS). Her research focuses on understanding the drivers of climate extremes and advancing climate risk and adaptation strategies across Africa. She has contributed to major international research initiatives examining weather and climate extremes in West Africa, while applying regional climate modelling, climate projections, and participatory approaches to support community-based adaptation. Her interdisciplinary work also integrates machine learning, agricultural resilience, and stakeholder engagement, and she currently leads a Royal Society-funded project that equips maize farmers with climate knowledge and sustainable practices to strengthen resilience against climate-driven Fall Armyworm outbreaks.
Dr. Lala Kounta
Dr. Lala Kounta, is a Research Associate at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar and currently a postdoctoral research associate at Michigan State University where she leads research that connects climate science directly to the long-term sustainability of Africa's ocean economies.
She is a physical oceanographer and completed her dual-degree doctoral studies in 2019 simultenously earning a PhD in Environmental Sciences from Sorbonne University, Paris, France and a PhD in Physical Oceanography & Climate Sciences from Cheikh Anta Diop University, Dakar, Senegal. Her research focuses on understanding how global warming is reshaping ocean circulation and marine ecosystems, with particular emphasis on extreme events such as marine heatwaves and their implications for coastal communities. She also investigates the potential impacts of climate intervention strategies on marine environments and leads the TWAS and UNESCO-funded Monitoring the Senegalese Coast for a Sustainable Ocean project, which advances ecosystem-based management by translating ocean science into practical tools for fisheries management, coastal governance, and the development of a resilient blue economy across West Africa.
Within CESTLAP, Dr. Kounta leads on strategic partnership development, programme planning and the cultivation of interdisciplinary collaboration across regions. she is committed to ensuring that CESTLAP's work translates into tangible outcomes for communities and ecosystems most vulnerable to climate change.