Temidayo Joseph Oluwafemi

Dr. Temidayo Joseph Oluwafemi is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Engineering and Technology Management at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He is an applied mathematician and mathematical epidemiologist whose research applies mathematical modelling and analytical methods to investigate infectious disease dynamics and public health challenges. His research has examined malaria, dengue fever, typhoid, and other disease systems, with publications addressing disease transmission, co-infection, stability analysis, and sensitivity analysis. Previously, he lectured in mathematics at Newgate University Minna, Nigeria, and has research experience in applied mathematics and epidemiological modelling in Indonesia. He holds a Ph.D. and an M.Tech. in Mathematics, as well as a B.Tech. in Mathematics and Computer Science, from the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Education.

My scholarly interests are situated at the intersection of mathematical epidemiology, infectious disease modelling, climate and environmental change, occupational health, and public health, with a particular commitment to addressing health challenges within African populations. My research is driven by the conviction that infectious diseases in Africa cannot be adequately understood through biological mechanisms alone; they are also shaped by environmental conditions, human behaviour, socioeconomic circumstances, occupation, and health-system factors. I therefore develop mathematical and data-informed approaches that can integrate these interacting determinants and generate evidence relevant to African health policy and intervention.

My scholarly trajectory has been strongly rooted in infectious disease modelling. My earlier research examined the transmission dynamics and stability of malaria, dengue fever, and typhoid, including co-infection and triple-infection models. I have investigated disease-free and endemic equilibria, global stability, sensitivity of model parameters, and numerical and semi-analytical solutions. My work on malaria has subsequently expanded to examine the influence of hygiene and environmental practices on transmission dynamics, reflecting my growing interest in incorporating contextual determinants into mathematical models. More recently, my research has extended to other infectious disease systems, demonstrating an evolving interest in understanding diseases within interconnected epidemiological and social environments.

My proposed research at the Kansas African Studies Center, titled “Climate-Driven Occupational Exposure and Silicotuberculosis Dynamics: A Data-Informed Mathematical Model,” seeks to examine how climate variability and occupational exposure may interact to influence silicosis-associated tuberculosis, particularly among vulnerable worker populations in Africa. The proposed framework will integrate climate variables, occupational exposure, epidemiological information, and socioeconomic determinants into a mathematical model, using available secondary data, statistical methods, sensitivity analysis, and scenario-based simulations.

This research is particularly important within an African context because climate change and occupational health risks are unevenly distributed. Workers exposed to hazardous environments may simultaneously experience socioeconomic vulnerability, limited access to healthcare, and changing climatic conditions. Understanding these interacting pressures requires approaches that connect quantitative disease modelling with broader questions of inequality, labour, environment, development, and public health. My objective is therefore not simply to construct a mathematical model, but to use modelling as a framework for understanding a distinctly African public health problem.

Through the KASC Virtual Affiliate Program, I hope to broaden the interdisciplinary and contextual dimensions of my scholarship by engaging with researchers working in African studies, environmental change, geography, occupational health, development, and public policy. Such engagement would strengthen my ability to interpret mathematical findings within the historical, socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental realities of African communities.

KASC is therefore particularly attractive to me because it offers an opportunity to connect my quantitative expertise with wider African scholarship. I hope to contribute to KASC through my experience in mathematical epidemiology and infectious disease modelling while developing interdisciplinary perspectives that can inform future collaborative research.