
Dr Olivia Reddy
BSc (hons), MRes, PhD
Expertise
Current positions
Research Associate
School of Civil, Aerospace and Design Engineering
Contact
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Biography
Research interests
My research is interdisciplinary, with interests lying at the intersect of humans and the environment, and how climate change effects these relationships. I am interested in exploring the nexus of environmental pollution (such as sanitation), effected ecosystems, and development politics.
Currently, my work is focused on environmental pollution, whether this be greenhouse gas emissions or water quality, caused by poorly managed sanitation in rapidly growing urban settings in Sub-Saharan Africa. As I work in predominantly data-sparse areas, I take a mixed-methods approach to research, combining field measurement (e.g., flux chamber methods, water quality), household surveys, data synthesis and GIS modelling. In addition to publishing in peer-reviewed journals, my work translates evidence into practice with government, NGO and multilateral partners. I contribute to open, reusable research outputs—including publicly archived datasets with DOIs—so that methods and evidence can be built on by others. I am an advocate for knowledge sharing and making science accessible.
Presently, I am working on the FCDO funded WASH Systems for Health (WS4H) in Sierra Leone and Nigeria. Working with local partners (Self Help Africa, GOAL), our research ensures that the changing climate is fully considered when making policy and implementation decisions in terms of water and sanitation. I have worked on UNICEF funded projects aimed at developing country specific knowledge on emissions from sanitation in Nigeria, Mozambique, and China.
My PhD developed empirical approaches to quantify methane emissions from non-sewered sanitation in Sub-Saharan Africa. This included undertaking field work in Ethiopia, Senegal and Uganda, with the results contributing to new measurement methodologies and global datasets.
I continue to work across international projects, aiming to be collaborative rather than extractive with my research practice.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
UNICEF GHG and systems strengthening
Principal Investigator
Role
Researcher
Managing organisational unit
School of Civil, Aerospace and Design EngineeringDates
01/11/2024 to 31/10/2025
8035 Sanitation And Climate Change: Assessing Resilience And Emissions
Principal Investigator
Role
Researcher
Managing organisational unit
Dates
30/09/2020 to 31/08/2023
8035 Sanitation And Climate Change: Assessing Resilience And Emissions
Principal Investigator
Role
Researcher
Managing organisational unit
School of Civil, Aerospace and Design EngineeringDates
30/09/2020 to 31/05/2025
Publications
Recent publications
20/11/2024Improving Access to Urban Piped Drinking Water Services in Africa
Water Supply
Environmental hygiene in outdoor food markets in Africa
Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development
Infiltrated pits: using regional groundwater data to estimate methane emissions from pit latrines
Hydrology
Field-based Methods for Measuring Greenhouse Gases Emissions from On-Site Sanitation Systems
Heliyon
Thesis
Methane from Onsite Sanitation
Supervisors
Award date
13/05/2025



