Dr. Charles Bakundukize is an Associate Professor and a researcher in the Department of Earth Sciences, at the University of Burundi. He oversees general geology, hydrogeology, environmental geology and engineering geology courses. He is also a visiting Professor at Universities in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo as well as at several private universities in Burundi. Besides lecturing and research, Charles Bakundukize is also a freelance consultant for private and governmental organizations in areas pertaining to his expertise. He has extensive long-track experience in water resources management, groundwater exploration and exploitation, environmental impact assessment, hydrological, and hydrogeological study of project sites, and natural hazards assessment and management.
Dr. Charles Bakundukize holds a PhD in hydrogeology/hydrology from Ghent University, Belgium. His doctoral research focused on the hydrogeology and hydro-geochemistry of a Precambrian basement aquifer in the Bugesera region, northeastern Burundi. He is involved in several collaborative research projects with academic institution partners from East African and European Universities and research institutes such as the Sokoïne University of Agriculture, University of Dar es Salaam, and Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology in Tanzania, Bahir Dar University and Mekelle University in Ethiopia, Ghent University and the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Belgium, Tübingen University and Rottenburg University in Germany. His research interests mainly focus on hydrogeology and hydro-geochemistry of basement aquifers, climate change impacts on water resources, groundwater balance including aquifer recharge estimation, groundwater modelling, and natural hazards such as mass movements and floods.
Dr. Charles Bakundukize has published a number of scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals:
Bakundukize, C., Mtoni, E. Y., Van Camp, M., & Walraevens, K. (2018). Occurrences of evaporitic salts in Bugesera region (Burundi) and relation to hydrogeochemical evolution of groundwater. Journal of Environmental Earth Sciences (2018) 77: 223.
Walraevens, K., Bakundukize, C., Mtoni, Y. E & Van Camp, M. (2018). Understanding the hydrogeochemical evolution of groundwater in Precambrian basement aquifers: a case study of Bugesera region in Burundi. Journal of Geochemical Exploration, 188(2018), 24-42
Bakundukize, C., Mtoni, Y., Martens, K., Van Camp, M., & Walraevens, K. (2016). Poor understanding of the hydrogeological structure is a main cause of hand-dug wells failure in developing countries: A case study of a Precambrian basement aquifer in Bugesera region Burundi. Journal of African Earth Sciences, 121(2016), 180-199.
Van Camp, M., Mtoni, E. Y., Mjemah, I. C., Bakundukize, C., & Walraevens, K. (2014). Investigating seawater intrusion pathways with schematic model simulations: the example of the Dar es Salaam aquifer in Tanzania. Elsevier, J. of African Earth Sci. 96, 71–78.
2023 - 2024
January 2017