King's College London

Students from King's College London and Kenya have worked side-by-side on Lake Victoria to develop solutions to some of East Africa's most pressing environmental challenges as part of a new Sustainable Freshwaters field course.

The pilot programme brought together King's students, Kenyan students and researchers from the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) and the African Centre for Aquatic Research and Education (ACARE) to investigate issues including harmful algal blooms, plastic pollution and hypoxia - low oxygen events that can lead to large-scale fish deaths.

The initiative combined hands-on fieldwork, environmental monitoring and collaborative problem-solving with local communities and partner organisations.

Working in mixed teams, students explored how science and technology can support sustainable freshwater management while building international networks and learning from different perspectives and forms of expertise.

Field course leader and Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography and Earth Observation, Dr Emma Tebbs said the field course aims to provide students with a unique opportunity to develop skills in environmental problem solving and collaboration with diverse stakeholders in a real-world setting.

One group focused on developing an early warning system for hypoxia events using low-cost water quality sensors deployed in Lake Victoria. During the field course, students helped assemble, deploy and test the monitoring equipment, gaining first-hand experience of environmental data collection and analysis.

Andrea Bremner, an MSc Environmental Science for Sustainability student at King's, said:

"Being involved in this project was an incredible experience. Getting to build the water quality sensors, deploy them on Lake Victoria, and utilise their data to develop our project solution of an early warning system, enabled me to gain an understanding of the fieldwork process from start to finish and build technical and research skills.

"It was great to work with a variety of people including King's staff and students, local Kenyan partners and the local community, whom I was able to learn a lot from. Furthermore, witnessing a live hypoxia event showed that the concepts we were developing could genuinely help the local community. This experience completely reaffirmed my career change into environmental science."

The field course was designed to foster collaboration between students and local stakeholders, ensuring that sustainability solutions were grounded in local environmental realities and community priorities.

Bruno Odhiambo, a KMFRI intern who participated in the programme, said:

"The field course gave me invaluable hands-on experience, especially working with the hypoxia and early warning systems group; it was great to help assemble, deploy, and test the early warning system. I also appreciated the opportunity to meet like-minded scholars."

Alongside technical activities, students engaged directly with local communities, fish farmers and environmental practitioners to understand the social and economic impacts of environmental change on the lake.

The programme also strengthened King's long-standing partnerships in East Africa. Researchers worked closely with colleagues from KMFRI and ACARE, organisations that play leading roles in freshwater research, fisheries management and environmental education across the region. The collaboration builds on wider efforts to co-produce research and develop practical solutions to sustainability challenges affecting Lake Victoria and other African Great Lakes.

For staff involved in the programme, one of the most significant outcomes was seeing students from different backgrounds work together on challenges with real-world consequences.

Naing Oo, Senior Technician in the Department of Geography's John B. Thornes Laboratory, said:

"This field trip has been one of the most rewarding experiences I've been part of. It was inspiring to see King's College London students, KMFRI scientists, ACARE partners and local communities working together, sharing ideas and learning from one another.

"Watching students help build, deploy and maintain the water quality monitoring stations, then seeing the data come to life in the field, really showed how engineering, environmental science and collaboration can come together to address real-world challenges."

The field course reflects King's commitment to providing students with opportunities for experiential learning while addressing global sustainability challenges through international collaboration.

By combining education, research and community engagement, the initiative gave students the opportunity to apply their knowledge beyond the classroom and contribute to work with the potential to support environmental resilience and sustainable livelihoods around Lake Victoria.