Why Work For Us?

We are pioneers, innovators, researchers, modellers, practitioners, and teachers. We work on the ground at our centres in India and Africa; in our labs and research facilities in the UK and Europe; and in our offices, developing our physical and on-line facilities.

These include spaces for teaching, knowledge sharing, and interacting, building awareness and capacity with our many stakeholders, as well as the underpinning operations, administration, monitoring, evaluation, and continuous learning. 

Across our many CCN locations, we currently form a team of more than 80, yet we work cohesively as one collegial team. We work together to bring know-how, ingenuity, and agile thinking to everything we do.  We strive for an environment where creativity, talent, and hard work are rewarded - a place to be your best self.  We are supportive; whether facing success, setbacks, or anything in between, we are all in. And, we are serious about our commitment to the well-being, health, and safety of our colleagues, our students, partners, and the communities in which we operate.

Living the ACES values

At ACES, we believe our HR manual shouldn’t be just a static document; it should reflect who we are, how we work together, and how we grow as a team. The following comments come from real conversations with our team members about what makes ACES unique. They capture not just our rules but also our daily values, stories, and what truly matters to us in our work environment.

• On Innovation and Community: ACES isn’t about being just another organisation with a generic manual. We’re evolving, constantly reflecting and innovating, and this creativity is a part of our DNA. We build resilient, forward-thinking communities—inside and outside the team.
• On Time Management, Accountability, and Empowerment: At ACES, time management and accountability are shared responsibilities. Everyone is empowered to make decisions within their role, trusted to own their work, and encouraged to speak up early if something isn’t right—what we call “raising the flag.” This culture of trust means that staff don’t wait for approval for every small thing, but instead take initiative, consult colleagues, and move projects forward. 
• On Learning from Mistakes: Mistakes are inevitable in any innovative environment, but at ACES, the real value comes from learning from them. The expectation isn’t perfection, but continuous improvement: if something goes wrong, we discuss it openly, analyse what happened, and work together to put systems or SOPs in place so the same error doesn’t happen twice. 
• On Collaboration and Communication: Collaboration is at the heart of everything we do at ACES. We encourage open and respectful communication—across roles, backgrounds, and departments. Regular updates, shared meeting notes, and inclusive discussions ensure that everyone is informed and has the opportunity to contribute their ideas. 
• On Communication and Transparency: Clear, timely communication is a cornerstone of how we work. Whether it's a quick update, a meeting recap, or an informal conversation, we aim to keep everyone in the loop. Transparency builds trust—and trust builds momentum. 
• On Culture of Curiosity and Continuous Learning: ACES encourages curiosity as a key part of growth. Whether you’re technical, administrative, or new to the field, everyone is supported in asking questions, learning new tools, and exploring new areas.
• On Respecting Diverse Backgrounds and Experiences: We take pride in the diversity of our team—across age, background, discipline, and experience. At ACES, everyone’s contribution matters. We work to create an environment where ideas are heard regardless of role or seniority, and where different perspectives are seen as strengths. 
• On Inclusion and Diversity: Our strength comes from the diversity of our team. We welcome people from different backgrounds, expertise, and perspectives, and we work consciously to create an environment where everyone feels included and respected. Gender equality and social inclusion are not just policies—they are day-to-day practices. 

Meet the team

Meet the team from around the world.

Dr. Leyla Sayin

Deputy Director, Centre for Sustainable Cooling.
Centre for Sustainable Cooling, University of Birmingham

Leyla is Deputy Director of Centre for Sustainable Cooling and a senior research fellow at the University of Birmingham. Coordinating, leading, and supporting the Centre’s research activities from a systems-level perspective across multiple academic partners in the UK, EU, India, and Africa.

Research activities include developing methodologies and models for understanding and estimating current and future size and nature of cooling and cold-chain needs, the associated environmental impact, and unintended consequences; the assessment of social, economic, and environmental impacts of sustainable cooling and cold-chain provision to underpin investments; creating data gathering and audit frameworks for fit for market and purpose cooling and cold-chain solutions across technologies, services, policy, finance, and business models; identifying the policy, capacity building and financial interventions required to accelerate deployment of sustainable and resilient cooling and cold-chain solutions at scale equitably.

Gikundiro Anitha

Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold Chain (ACES)

Supply chain expert with over 8 years of experience in procurement, logistics and operations, with expertise spanning private sector, Government of Rwanda regulations, and NGO/donor-funded projects. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Procurement and Logistics Management and I am currently completing Level 6 of the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS). My experience covers the full spectrum of procurement and supply chain functions. I also have exposure to operations management and compliance with diverse procurement frameworks. With strong analytical, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills, I have built effective relationships with colleagues, partners, and stakeholders throughout my career. I currently serve as the Director of Operations at ACES, where I contribute to driving efficiency, compliance, and impact across our programs.

Sonja Mettenleiter

Head of SPOKEs

Sonja has extensive experience in agricultural value chains, sustainable cooling, and renewable energy technologies and has worked in various geographies in the tropics, like Kenya, Rwanda, Zambia, Brazil, and Guatemala. Her expertise lies in the development and implementation of energy-efficient cold chains, creating enabling environments for them, and through that driving forward the productive use of energy in the tropics to build resilient ecosystems and communities.

Chris de Bode

Visual Imagery Director at CCN/ACES
Clean Cooling Network

Chris is an international award winning documentary and portrait photographer / filmdirector. He became interested in photography during his previous career as a professional climbing instructor. Following a trip to Palestine he decided to focus his work on humanitarian issues. He travelled to more than 90 countries collecting stories.

Chris always tries to find different angles to visualize a story. Examples of this approach are his story “One Meal a Day” and most recently “Marie’s Table”. He received recognition from Stephen Mayes calling the “Exodus from Libya” collage in an Aperture publication "...remarkably innovative..."

He just released his latest book “DREAM” in which he visualized the dreams of 58 children in 13 countries. It took him 8 years to finish this body of work. The 320 page book is a co-production with Save the Children NL.

Chris is commissioned by several NGO's like Save the Children, Aids Fonds, British Red Cross, Concern Worldwide, MSF, Greenpeace, IRC, CARE, St. Vluchteling and Cordaid. Also several UN branches like UNFPA, UNHCR and WHO work with him. He also has broad experience in mentoring workshops in several countries educating photographers on all levels focusing on story telling in pictures. His work appears around the globe in all leading magazines and papers like the Guardian, National Geographic, Vanity Fair Italy, Sette, GEO, Newsweek, Time, de Volkskrant etc etc.

Jean Pierre Musabyimana

Research Lead
Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold Chain (ACES)

Jean Pierre Musabyimana is Research Lead at Africa’s Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold Chain (ACES), where he heads a One Health program that synchronizes immunization systems, seed systems and farming resilience, nutritional security and food safety, and health systems resilience—recognizing that human, animal, plant and environmental health are inextricably linked.

In this capacity, he actively contributes to conceiving and implementing innovative cold chain models for vaccines, diagnostics and antibody development that span sectors and geographies, applying renewable energy refrigeration, IoT-enabled temperature monitoring, and robust biobanking to safeguard biologicals and bolster supply chain integrity in low-resource settings.

An infection biologist with a PhD in Cell and Applied Infection Biology and dual MScs in Biotechnology & Bioinformatics and Global Health Delivery, Jean Pierre leverages his expertise in structural/comparative genomics, vaccine and therapeutic R&D, and advanced bioinformatics pipelines to align laboratory innovation with field needs.

He forges multisectoral partnerships with universities, industry, and government to pilot context-adapted interventions, drawing on One Health insights into urban agriculture, food systems, and resilience and addressing food safety risks through integrated approaches.

Regionally, he co-leads pandemic surveillance, genomics and climate modelling consortia, most notably the EDCTP3-funded GREAT LIFE initiative, which deploys field-portable genomics and novel diagnostics across the African Great Lakes, advancing early detection and response. As Co-PI of the KIVU JUA consortium, he spearheads Mpox epidemiology and immunology research in Central Africa, contributing to the WHO Mpox Genomic Surveillance Community of Practice and serving on Africa CDC’s RISLNET committee. He also co-leads malaria drug resistance surveillance in East Africa, integrating NGS workflows into routine monitoring for artemisinin resistance.

Passionate about sustainable cooling, Jean Pierre weaves environmental engineering, data analytics, and One Health principles to reinforce vaccine delivery, food safety, and overall health system resilience, positioning ACES and Rwanda as models for cross-sectoral, climate-smart public health preparedness.

Join our team

If you want to play a part in our shared purpose - making a positive impact by shaping the future of cooling - but don’t see a position that describes your talent and experience, email your CV and cover letter to [email protected]. Clean Cooling wants to connect with you.