Dr Happy Mathew Tirivangasi (PhD) is a political and environmental sociologist in the Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Drawing on Afrocentric and decolonial perspectives, his research examines how communities in Africa and the wider Global South understand and respond to climate-related and socio-political risks. His work connects local knowledge and lived experience with wider debates on climate change adaptation, Indigenous knowledge systems, climate justice, disaster management, migration, food security, gender, resilience, just transitions, and sustainable development.
Dr Tirivangasi has published more than 60 peer-reviewed journal articles. His work has appeared in journals including Climate Policy (Taylor & Francis), Environmental Politics (Taylor & Francis), Development Southern Africa (Taylor & Francis), and the International Journal of Heritage Studies (Taylor & Francis); Energy Research & Social Science and Scientific African (Elsevier); Sustainable Development (Wiley); and Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal (Emerald). He has also contributed chapters to academic volumes published by Springer Nature, Palgrave Macmillan, and Rowman & Littlefield, including the Handbook of Climate Change Management and the African Handbook of Climate Change Adaptation. He is currently co-editing several contracted volumes for Palgrave Macmillan, Springer, and Routledge, working with co-editors from Ireland, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.
His research experience includes externally funded and collaborative projects addressing climate change, disasters, inequality, and development. In 2020, he received a competitive grant from the South African National Research Foundation’s Centre of Excellence in Human Development for the project Evaluation of Humanitarian Strategies in the Aftermath of Climate Change-Induced Disasters in Southern Africa. In 2017, he was selected as one of 12 laureates for the CODESRIA Economic Justice Institute in Maputo, where he examined the relationships among climate change, inequality, and development in Africa. His research on climate change and food security in South Africa also received AOSIS’s Most Highly Cited Manuscript Award in the Science, Engineering, and Technology field.
Dr Tirivangasi contributes to scholarly publishing through several editorial and peer-review roles. He serves on the editorial boards of Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (Springer Nature) and the Journal of Afrocentric Governance and Public Affairs (North-West University, South Africa). He is a Review Editor for the Environment, Politics and Society section of Frontiers in Human Dynamics (Frontiers) and an Associate Editor of Jurnal Trias Politika (Universitas Riau Kepulauan, Indonesia). He is also a guest co-editor of the 2026 Discover Cities (Springer Nature) special issue, Urban Climate Change Adaptation in the Global South: Justice, Informality, and Climate-Induced Mobilities. Previously, he co-led a special issue on climate change and human health in Frontiers in Human Dynamics. He has reviewed manuscripts for more than 20 international journals and academic publishers and has served on scientific committees for international conferences.
His academic development has been supported by several merit-based scholarships and leadership programmes. These include the Zimbabwe Presidential Scholarship for his undergraduate studies in South Africa and a VLIR-UOS Scholarship for the Advanced Master in Governance and Development at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. He also completed the Civic Leadership track of the Young African Leaders Initiative at the Regional Leadership Centre Southern Africa and continues to support the programme as an admissions reviewer.
Alongside his research, Dr Tirivangasi has experience in university teaching, postgraduate supervision, mentoring, and academic assessment. At the University of Jyväskylä, he served as the responsible teacher for Essentials in Development Studies, a five-ECTS online course jointly offered through the Finnish University Partnership for International Development, the University of Jyväskylä, and the University of Helsinki. In 2025, he became a FORTHEM Alliance mentor, supporting doctoral researchers from several European universities. He also holds an Adjunct Professorship at the University of Venda, South Africa, where he supervises master’s and doctoral researchers, and serves as an external examiner for doctoral work at the University of Pretoria.
Beyond academia, Dr Tirivangasi works as a public speaker and workshop facilitator. Across these roles, he seeks to connect research, policy, and community knowledge and to build equitable collaborations between African and international institutions. His current work focuses particularly on climate change adaptation, Indigenous knowledge systems, climate justice, just transitions, and sustainability in Africa.
