Fighting Malaria with Geography

Dr. Andy Hardy
Senior Lecturer in Remote Sensing and GIS
Aberystwyth University

Dr. Andy Hardy is a senior lecturer in Remote Sensing and Geographical Information Systems in the Dept of Geography and Earth Sciences at Aberystwyth University. His main area of expertise is the analysis of satellite and drone imagery for environmental and hydrological applications. For nearly a decade, Andy has focussed his research on the use of spatial technologies for understanding and controlling diseases like malaria. This has included UK Research Council funded projects in Zambia and Tanzania studying the hydrological and geomorphological controls on malarial mosquitoes, UK Space Agency funded work exploring the use of spatial technologies for community-level malaria control schemes in Guyana and Gates Foundation funding to develop novel ways of combatting malaria using drone technology in Zanzibar. Andy is also involved in a range of other projects including precision agriculture in South America, mapping and monitoring the global mangroves, the use of drones for extracting market-ready products and other malaria-focussed activities in Rwanda and Mozambique. Andy is keen to collaborate with multiple sectors including public health, economics, ecology and social science for tackling some of the World’s biggest challenges.