About

Dr Iris M. Fynn is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Geography and Resource Development. She deploys RS/GIS tools to explore human-environment interactions at multiple temporal and spatial scales. She loves interacting with her students and enjoys writing boring environmental science-based poetry in her free time.  She teaches various courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Some of the courses she teaches are:

1. GEOG 325 Theory and Practise of Geography
2. GEOG 321 Soils and Biogeography
3. GEOG 327 Introduction to Remote Sensing
4. GEOG 344 Introduction to Geographic Information System
5. GEOD 604 Natural Resources Management and the Environment
6. GEOG 605 Remote Sensing Applications

Education

2019: PhD Geospatial and Environmental Analysis, Virginia Tech, USA 

2018: Graduate Certificate, Future Professorial Certification, Virginia Tech, USA

2017: Graduate Certificate, Remote Sensing Applications, Virginia Tech, USA

2014: MSc Natural Resources Management, Virginia Tech – Virginia, USA

2010: BSc Natural Resources Management Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana

Research Interest

GIScience and Landscape Ecology, including remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), spatiotemporal analysis, and visualization; Climate change and anthropogenic interactions, including modelling and forecasting. 

Current and past research 

2022: Pathways to Equitable Healthy Cities, Wellcome Trust

2022: Sustainable Wastewater Systems for Ghana, DANIDA 

Publications

Publications

1. Fynn, I. E. M., Sullo, B. and Fynn, O. F. 2024. Monitoring changes in parts of the Guinea-Savanna woodlands, a case study of Jirapa in Ghana. Journal of Environmental Geography. 17 (1-4), 57 – 72. https://ojs.bibl.u-szeged.hu/index.php/jengeo/article/view/45594/44418
2. Sarfo, I., Qiao, J., Yeboah, E., Puplampu, D., Kwang, C., Fynn, I. E. M., Batame, M., Aboagye A. E., Hagan, D., Ayelazuno, R., Boamah, V.  and Sarfo, B. 2024. Meta-analysis of land use systems development in Africa: Trajectories, implications, adaptive capacity, and future dynamics. Land Use Policy. 144. 107261. 10.1016/j.landusepol.2024.107261.
3. Owusu, A. B., Fynn, I. E. M., Adu-Boahen, K., Kwang, C., Adjei Mensah, C. and Atugbiga, J. A. 2024. Rate of Desertification, Climate Change and Coping Strategies: Insights from Smallholder Farmers in Ghana's Upper East Region. Environmental and Sustainability Indicators (23) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indic.2024.100433
4. Kwayisi, D., Nyavor, E., Dzikunoo, E. A., Fynn, I. E. M., Kutu, J., & Nude, P. M. (2023). Cryogenian-Ediacaran crustal growth and evolution of the active margin of the Dahomeyide belt, Ghana. Geological Magazine. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016756823000808
5. Owusu, A. B., Adjei Mensah, C., Fynn, I.E.M., Kwang, C., Arthur, I.K. and Adu-Boahen, K. 2023. Indicator-based assessment of the liveability of communities in the Accra Metropolitan Area, Ghana: A transdisciplinary approach. Social Sciences & Humanities Open. 8 (1). (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291123003078)
6. Owusu A. B., Mensah C. A., Blay J. and Fynn I. E. M. 2023. Urban growth and land surface temperature dynamics: Lessons from Ghana. Journal of Theoretical and Empirical Researches in Urban Management. 18 (3) pp 50-65
7. Fynn I. E. M. 2022. Understanding changes in Wood Thrush and Ovenbird population in Virginia – the role of forest fragmentation and connectivity. Journal of Environmental Protection. 13 (11): 797-818.
8. Fynn I. E. M. and James B. Campbell. 2019. Forest Fragmentation Analysis from Multiple Imaging Formats. Journal of Landscape Ecology. 12 (1): 1 – 15.
9. Fynn I. E. M. and James B. Campbell. 2019. Forest Fragmentation and Connectivity in Virginia between 2001 and 2011. Journal of Landscape Ecology. 11 (3): 98 – 119.