Success Stories

Professor Ogugua Charles Aworh, AWARD Mentor, Nigeria

AWARD Mentor Ogugua Charles Aworh, a professor at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria was elected as a fellow to the International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST), a country-membership organization that is the global voice of food science and technology. The current Academy members identified Aworh as having contributed significantly towards advancements in food science and technology.

Olutayo Modupeola Adedokun, 2011 AWARD Fellow, Nigeria

AWARD Fellow Olutayo Modupeola Adedokun, was recently promoted to the rank of Lecturer I in the Department of Crop and Soil Science Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Previously, she held the position of Lecturer II in the department.

In addition to her teaching duties, Adedokun chairs the mushroom management committee and is researching the cultivation and medicinal value of indigenous Nigerian mushrooms, collaborating with colleagues from the Faculty of Pharmacy to analyze their nutraceutical and medicinal values. Adedokun’s dream is to see women cultivate mushrooms for food security, improved nutrition (micronutrients, proteins, minerals), and income generation.

Subuola Fasoyiro, 2010 AWARD Fellow, Nigeria

Subuola Fasoyiro was appointed as the Head of the Product Development Program at the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training in Ibadan, Nigeria. Fasoyiro holds a PhD in Food Technology from the University of Ibadan. “I hope to utilize all the skills that I have learned during my AWARD Fellowship, especially in the leadership and management course, to contribute and bring positive changes that will take my institution to a higher level,” she says of her promotion.

Fasoyiro also recently attended the Society for General Microbiology conference where she presented a paper titled “Microbes in street- vended soy cheese in Oyo State, Nigeria” and learned about current trends in food research, specifically in terms of new techniques and equipment used in the field.

Felicidade Margarida Macome, 2011 AWARD Fellow, Mozambique

Felicidade Margarida Macome recently received acceptance for her PhD studies at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, as well as a scholarship from the Islamic Development Bank. She is currently in the Netherlands pursuing a short training course and will start her studies next year.

Macome graduated with her master’s of animal science at Brazil’s Universidade Federal da Bahia in 2007. She returned to Mozambique in 2009 and joined the Agricultural Research Institute of Mozambique (IIAM) as an animal nutrition researcher, initially looking at goat feeding and value-chain analysis.

As a team member on a joint project between IIAM and the International Livestock Research Institute, Macome says she really enjoys learning alongside rural people. “It’s so satisfying to go to the field to develop a strategy to solve a problem that a community is facing,” she says enthusiastically. “They have so much knowledge, and I definitely learn from them. By combining indigenous knowledge and scientific research, we can find new solutions together.”

Sheila Ommeh, 2008 AWARD Fellow, Kenya

Sheila Ommeh was recently awarded her PhD in Chicken genetics from Tuscia University in Viterbo, Italy. “This achievement was no mean feat for me, but I sailed through because of AWARD’s support. I sincerely wish to thank AWARD as the fellowship has played a large role in making me who I am today,” says Ommeh.

Ommeh is currently on a six-month postdoc assignment with the Biosciences Eastern and Central Africa (BecA) Hub, where “One of my longer term scientific goals is to reduce Africa’s hunger and poverty through a genetically improved chicken breed that will be resistant to disease and easily adopted by the rural community,” she says. Her research is focusing on the study of candidate genes in different chicken populations for resistance, tolerance, or susceptibility to chicken viral diseases, such as Gumboro and Newcastle disease. She is eager to adopt a genetic control towards these viral diseases that currently do not have an effective cure or vaccine.

Three AWARD Fellows on scientific attachment in Montpellier

The Agropolis Foundation Newsletter features interviews with three AWARD Fellows on attachment with Agropolis this year. Interviewed for the newsletter are:

• Ruth Amata, a senior research officer at the Kenyan Agricultural Research Institute;
• Christine Mukantwali, a senior scientist with the Rwanda Agriculture Board’s Post-harvest Research Activities and a PhD candidate at the Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania; and
• Alda Tomo, a research assistant at the Socio-economic Research Studies Center at the Agricultural Research Institute of Mozambique (IIAM). The dates of her research attachment at the Renewable resources and environment management (GREEN) Research Unit are still being finalized.

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