معرفی
Dr. Patience Mguni serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management within the Faculty of Science at the University of Copenhagen. She also holds an honorary research fellowship at the Future Water Institute, University of Cape Town, and has held positions at Wageningen University & Research as a Post-Doc (2017-2019). Her institutional address is Rolighedsvej 23, 1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark.
Her educational background includes a PhD in Landscape Architecture and Planning from the University of Copenhagen (2015), an MSc (Eng) in Urban Planning and Management from Aalborg University (2010), and a BSc (Hons) in Rural & Urban Planning from the University of Zimbabwe (2007).
Dr. Mguni's research focuses on understanding African urban dynamics, particularly investigating how cities can become more resilient to climate change through nature-based solutions and improved governance of urban water systems. Her work emphasizes the interconnectedness of water, energy, and food systems in urban contexts, with special attention to vulnerable populations in East and Southern Africa. She employs interdisciplinary approaches that bridge engineering, social sciences, and urban planning to address complex sustainability challenges in rapidly growing cities.
Analysis of her recent publications reveals a strong emphasis on decolonial approaches to urban resilience, with increasing focus on co-production of knowledge between researchers and communities. Her work consistently addresses the Water-Energy-Food Nexus in African urban contexts, with recent publications exploring nature-based solutions in Cape Town and Johannesburg. There's a clear trajectory from analyzing vulnerability (2019-2020) toward proposing actionable pathways for water resilience (2022-2025).
Dr. Mguni actively supervises MSc students and has taught courses including Urban Ecosystems: Structures, Functions and Designs at IGN, and Governance for Sustainable Cities at Wageningen University. She has served as Work Package Leader on the Danida-funded 'Pathways to Water Resilient South African Cities' project and previously contributed to significant research initiatives including the 'Water Resilient Green Cities in Africa' project (2014-2018) and the 'Resilience and vulnerability at the Water-Energy-Food nexus' project (2016-2019).
Her research group collaborates extensively across institutions, with strong connections to universities in South Africa, Uganda, and other parts of the Global South. She organized and hosted the 'Resilience and Vulnerability at the WEF nexus' International Conference at Wageningen University in 2018, demonstrating her leadership in this research domain.
