Mpholo, Moeketsi / Steuerwald, Dirk / Kukeera, Tonny

Moeketsi Mpholo is the leader of the Energy Research Centre (ERC) at the National University of Lesotho (NUL). He is the chair of the 2nd Africa-EU Renewable Energy Research & Innovation Symposium (RERIS 2018) Scientific Committee. He served in the executive management of NUL as a Director of ICT before leading the ERC. He obtained his PhD from Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge. He co-founded a Cambridge Lab on Chip start-up company based on PhD research in Cambridge, UK. He received a Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) Award in 2005 for being the best candidate in Lesotho in a Physics related discipline. He has been featured in Marques Who’s Who In Science and Engineering in America since 2011. He has organised a number of national workshops on energy and climate change related matters on behalf of both the academic institutions and the private sector. He has published widely on energy matters primarily on Solar and Wind Resources. He continuously works with a number of institutions, companies and development partners on energy projects. He is currently working in the Cost of Service Study in collaboration with MRC Group of Companies for the electricity regulator (Lesotho Electricity and Water Authority). Moreover, he collaborates on research projects and teaching programs with a number of regional universities (University of Botswana, Namibia University of Science and Technology, etc.) and a number of international universities (University of Pennsylvania (USA), Case Western Reserve University (USA), Hochschule Darmstadt – University of Applied Sciences (Germany).
Tonny Kukeera is an energy engineer and researcher with experience in energy systems and bio processing. Tonny holds an MSc. in energy engineering from the Pan African University Institute of Water and Energy Sciences (PAUWES), and a BSc. in agricultural engineering from Makerere University. He has previously worked with R20 ¬¬- Regions for Climate Action and Microenergy International in the fields of energy efficient buildings, energy efficiency and management, bio waste management and energy recovery, energy access and off-grid systems. Tonny held a research position in the department of Agricultural and Bio systems engineering Makerere University (2014-2015). His current research focus is on energy efficiency in off-grid households through demand side management.
Dirk Steuerwald holds a PhD from ETH Zurich and did his Diploma at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, as well as at Universität Tübingen, Germany. He is working in development cooperation on higher education as well as on science teaching at schools in Southern Africa. He furthermore has work experience with entrepreneurship projects in Northern Africa as well as in Papua New Guinea and as a (science) journalist and editor. He currently works for the Swiss Academy for Development as well as for the Africa-EU Renewable Energy Cooperation Programme.