Graduate fieldwork in Malawi connects restoration, data and community

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — For two Penn State geography graduate students, fieldwork in Southern Africa offered more than a research assignment. It provided a front-row view of how science, community and collaboration come together in the effort to restore landscapes undergoing rapid environmental change.

Faisal Elias and Abdul-Salam Jahanfo Abdulai spent more than a month in Malawi this summer as part of the Socio-Ecological Outcomes and Monitoring of Restoration in Mosaic Dry Forest-Grassland Ecosystems (ECO-DRYFOREST) project, a U.S. National Science Foundation-funded collaborative and interdisciplinary project led by Penn State Assistant Professor of Geography Ida Djenontin. The international initiative investigates how restoring dry forest-grassland mosaics affects both the environment and the people who rely on it.

The $1.3 million project connects researchers from Penn State, Duke University, the University of Minnesota, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) in Malawi and the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. Together, they are investigating the ecological and social impacts of restoration in tropical woodland and mosaic forest-grassland ecosystems. The research combines ecological and social data methods through household and social network surveys, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, stakeholder-engagement workshops, ecological field measurements and remote sensing. The goal, the researchers said, is to better understand the tradeoffs between expected ecological health and community well-being from restoration efforts.

Elias and Abdulai worked on the project’s social science team, responsible for collecting social data that would complement ecological surveys of trees, soils and biodiversity. Their days began before sunrise, often with long drives down narrow, dusty roads to reach rural villages surrounded by hills and farmlands. There, they met with farmers, village leaders and forestry officials to discuss how restoration programs are affecting local livelihoods, decision-making on natural resources and the social fabric in the targeted socio-environmental landscapes.

Elias, a now third-year doctoral candidate, said working alongside scholars from Penn State and partner institutions in the United States and Africa gave him an inside view of how large research teams operate.

“The field work experience in Malawi was very enriching,” Elias said. “These scholars brought to the fore diverse expertise. The most important takeaway for me was the importance of collaboration. No one person has it all, hence the need to collectively work towards a desired goal.”

The social team gathered both quantitative and qualitative data. They used household surveys to capture how restoration affected income, food security and access to forest resources, and they conducted social network surveys and key informant interviews to understand restoration governance and how information about restoration spread between communities, local authorities and government agencies. Elias, whose doctoral research focuses on resource governance, institutions and political ecology, also designed and implemented the surveys and instrument guides in the field and led quality control efforts each evening.

“Creating the surveys and qualitative instruments was only the first step,” he said. “True success depended on a constant cycle of communicating with field research assistants, troubleshooting and working diligently to guarantee the best possible data.”

Abdulai, a second-year doctoral student whose research centers on environmental governance and climate adaptation, supported the household survey and focus group discussions while helping organize outreach workshops that brought together community leaders and restoration officials.

“I describe my time in Malawi as a work-learn-fun experience,” Abdulai said. “It was an experience to behold because I did not only learn more from the local people about restoration, but the engagement allowed me to immerse myself in the activities of the people whose invaluable experiences shape my research.”

Abdulai added that the work required flexibility and problem-solving in the field. He recalled advice from Djenontin that guided him throughout the summer.

“Fieldwork requires you to be ready to adjust and troubleshoot and make quick decisions that will allow the work to continue,” Abdulai said. “Another thing that stood out for me was the important role of maintaining good communication because I saw that in the field it was the foundation that kept the balance between getting the work done and ensuring the right thing is done.”

Both students said that the partnership with Malawian researchers and community members was central to the project’s success. Local partners from LUNAR and the Malawi Department of Forestry helped identify study areas, translate interviews and build trust with communities.

“Collaboration is the backbone of any successful transdisciplinary project, even when people bring different perspectives to the table,” Elias said. “As researchers from the United States, we couldn’t have gathered the data we needed without our partners in Malawi. Having trusted local partners on the ground is truly essential — their firsthand knowledge of the environment and connections within the community are indispensable.”

Abdulai said those partnerships extended beyond field logistics and became a source of connection.

“It was incredibly enriching working with partners in Malawi,” he said. “While learning the importance of building and maintaining trust with local partners, engaging directly with them on the ground helps me further my understanding of the important role situated knowledge and lived experience play in the success of data collection.”

When the pace of fieldwork slowed, the team explored Malawi’s natural beauty, including a trip to Lake Malawi, one of the largest lakes in the world. Abdulai said those quiet moments away from the field gave them space to reflect on what the experience meant beyond the data.

“The most rewarding part of the fieldwork was the learning and the connections built,” Abdulai said. “I made friendships that I can rely on for future work, and that’s something I’ll carry with me.”