Churchill Omondi Agutu, Visiting Fellow

Churchill is a PhD candidate carrying out research with the Energy Politics Group under ETH Zurich’s Engineering for Development (E4D) Scholarship. His research interests are in energy-service access in Sub-Saharan Africa with a focus on provision of electricity-based energy services in Rwanda. He is particularly interested in understanding how poverty can be tackled through the provision of these energy services in the off-grid sector. Further, Churchill holds a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering (focusing on PV technology) and Bachelor of Engineering Honours (Chemical Engineering) from the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Prior to his joining the Energy Politics Group, he worked as an analyst at global not for profit, Carbon Trust Africa and as a Climate Change Advisor at advisory firm Promethium Carbon, working in South Africa's Low carbon and Sustainability space. Further, Churchill is the founder of the Africa Green Collar Project, which is working to build a knowledge economy for young people in Africa to enable them to create a sustainable future for the continent. Churchill is a MasterCard Foundation Scholar and an alumni of the climate change programme Youth Encounter on Sustainability (YES). He is also former project leader for the Engineers Without Borders UP Litre of Light (LOL) Project in South Africa, and he has been involved in other projects such as student mentorship and the Student Energy Summit in 2017, where he worked with the international cohort of students to build cooking stoves for local communities in Zavalla, Mexico. Churchill enjoys music, listening to podcasts and finding new taste spots in countries he visits! He also makes podcasts in his free time.