Isaac is the Head of Earth Sciences Department and is also a lecturer in Climate Sciences. He holds a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Manchester and a Master of Science in Sustainable Development from the University of London. Before joining MUST, he has held teaching and research positions in England and South Africa including as a research fellow at the University of Witwatersrand where he also taught political economy of environment and development. Isaac has briefly served as a Senior Lecturer in Development Studies at the Catholic University of Malawi. His interdisciplinary scholarly work combines the social and natural environmental science approaches with a political ecological theoretical disposition. Isaac’s eclectic areas of research and teaching interests, among others, span themes such as environmental governance, hydro-meteorology, climate change science and policy, disaster risk planning and management, socio-ecological resilience, and international development.

Isaac’s passion is in the production of knowledge through practically-oriented research work that improves policy and practice. At MUST, he has been part of spearheading efforts in establishing a Centre for Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management. Isaac has been at the forefront of forging partnerships and collaboration between the university and local and international organisations.

He is currently coordinating a collaboration between MUST and the World Food programme (WFP) on Integrated Context Analysis for Three-pronged Approach. MUST is providing technical support in the national-level geo-spatial analysis of recurring food insecurity and natural shocks in Malawi to inform and complement WFP’s programmatic interpretation and food security and resilience-building interventions. He has also been part of an international research team investigating the practices and politics of climate change mitigation and adaptation in the poor urban settlement of Malawi led by Professor Stephen Marr of Nordic African Institute at the University of Malmo (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G8dE6sAMbI). Locally, Isaac serves on the National Technical Committee for the Multi-actor Partnerships on Climate Financing in Malawi being implemented by the Civil Society Network on Climate Change (CISONECC).

Isaac is a reviewer for the Journal of Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, and has published his work in internationally acclaimed journals such as the Journal for Southern African Studies and Capitalism Nature Socialism (CNS).