Research

Dr. Mohammad Shamsudduha ("Shams") has led and contributed to interdisciplinary and international research projects in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa largely on the assessment of vulnerability to community drinking-water supply, and human health impacts (e.g. high blood pressure, adverse pregnancy outcomes) using an array of methods ranging from geospatial mapping of environmental exposure to contaminated drinking water to the understanding of resilience of groundwater in the Indo-Gangetic Basin to climate and anthropogenic changes. In his current research, in collaboration with researchers from various institutions in Bangladesh, India, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Niger, Nigeria and the UK, Shams is investigating sustainability and equitability of access to freshwater for good health and food security with a special focus on poverty alleviation through groundwater-fed irrigated agriculture. Shams' core research interest revolves around the following themes:

Improving community water supply by reducing water scarcity and poor water-quality risks (e.g. arsenic, salinity contamination) to human health, and access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services;
Understanding the impacts of changes in global climate and land-use, and increasing risks of hydrometeorological hazards on water-food-health nexus in the Global South; and
Application of geospatial (big data) & remote sensing techniques, and global models to hydrological studies and sustainable development of earth’s water resources.

Over the last two decades, Shams has collaborated with researchers from all around the world. Shams has long-standing and active research collaborations across the UK and internationally including Auburn University (USA), Columbia University (USA), University of Texas at Austin (USA), Emory University (USA), IIT Kharagpur (India), Indian Council of Agricultural Research, University of Dhaka (Bangladesh), Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB), Institute of Water and Flood Management (Bangladesh), University of Engineering and Technology (Bangladesh), Université de Rennes1 (France), IRD (France), Sokoine University of Agriculture (Tanzania), Université Abdou Moumouni de Niamey (Niger), University of Maiduguri (Nigeria), Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden), and Southern University of Science and Technology (China). At the University of Sussex, Shams is closely collaborating with researchers from the School of Global Studies, the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), and colleagues within the Sussex Sustainability Research Programme. Outside of Sussex in the UK, Shams works closely with researchers and scientists from the University College London (UCL), British Geological Survey (BGS), Cardiff University, and University of Oxford.

Current research in Sub-Saharan Africa: GroFutures [see the link]

Key publications:

Cuthbert, M.O., Taylor, R.G., Guillaume, F., Todd, M., Shamsudduha, M., Villholth, K, MacDonald, A., Scanlon, B.G., and twenty-four others (2019). Observed controls on resilience of groundwater to climate variability in Africa, Nature 572, 230–234 [link to the paper].
Kolusu, S.R., Shamsudduha, M., Todd, M.C., Taylor, R.G., Seddon, D., Kashaigili, J.J., Ebrahim, G.Y., Cuthbert, M.O., Sorensen, J.P.R., Villholth, K.G., MacDonald, A.M. and MacLeod, D.A., 2019. The El Niño event of 2015–16: Climate anomalies and their impact on groundwater resources in East and Southern Africa. Hydrology and Earth System Science, 23, 1751-1762 [link to the paper].
Bonsor, H.C., Shamsudduha, M., Marchmont, B., MacDonald, A.M., and Taylor, R.G., 2018. Seasonal and decadal groundwater changes in African sedimentary aquifers estimated using GRACE products and LSMs. Remote Sensing, 10, 904, doi:10.3390/rs10060904 [link to the paper].
Shamsudduha, M., Taylor, R. G., Jones, D., Longuevergne, L., Owor, M. and Tindimugaya, C., 2017. Recent changes in terrestrial water storage in the Upper Nile Basin: an evaluation of commonly used gridded GRACE products. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 21, 4533-4549 [link to the paper].