Africa
This year’s recipients of the L’Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Prize for Young Talents in Sub-Saharan Africa include 25 doctoral students and five postdoctoral researchers working across multiple research areas to tackle grand challenges and improve quality of life in Africa and around the world.
They received the awards, which include funding of €10,000 (approximately $10,870) for doctoral students and €15,000 for postdoctoral students, at an annual awards ceremony in Kasane, Botswana, on November 9. They also received training before the ceremony, according to a statement.
“We received informative training on leadership, negotiation, assertive communication, media, and harassment. I learned a lot that I didn’t know before, which I believe will propel my scientific career to take off.” Kang, one of the winners Constance Chingwaru said. She is in her second year pursuing a PhD at the Bindura University of Science and Education in Zimbabwe.
university world news spoke with Chingwaru and four other recipients about their research.
Focus on sustainable development
Zimbabwean entomologist Chingwaru’s research focuses on developing a new biopesticide from local plants in Zimbabwe that is effective against Spodoptera Frugiperda – Fall Armyworm – An invasive pest that damages more than 350 plant species, including corn.
“In 2016, an armyworm invasion was reported in West Africa and to date it has spread to more than 38 African countries, including Zimbabwe. My research aims to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1 (no poverty) and SDG 2 (Zero Hunger),” Chingwaru said.
She said that in order to stop the spread of armyworms, farmers widely used synthetic pesticides, which had many negative impacts on human and animal health as well as the environment.
She said the aims of her research were to identify methods currently used by smallholders to control the worm in fall armyworm hotspots, assess the efficacy of plant interventions under laboratory and field conditions, and assess the impact of biopesticides on non-armyworms. -Target species.
Chingwaru said that after the study is completed, she hopes to develop a product for Africa by Africans that can effectively reduce the number of fall armyworms in corn fields.
Age is not a barrier
Another winner, Aderonke Korede (pictured above) from Akintola University of Technology, Ladoke, Nigeria, who is currently in her fourth year of a PhD program, said she is in food chemistry and is exploring the antioxidant health and flavor potential of ginger and turmeric spices to enhance the stability and sensory properties of shea butter.
“Shea butter, a soft ingredient of shea butter, is rarely used in the food industry around the world. The reason is poor consumer perception of its sensory quality and stability.
“However, shea butter is known to be rich in bioactive compounds… that react with free radicals in the body, halt the progression of oxidative stress, act as antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor agents – as well as immune modulators.
“So we are leveraging the bioactive components of shea butter and the antioxidant, health and flavor potential of ginger and turmeric to bring healthy and antioxidant-rich vegetable oils to the entire African population,” she said.
“My main interest in doing this research is to see results translated from the laboratory into marketable products. So in five years, I (hope) see shea butter transformed into healthy edibles in Nigeria and other African countries oil,” the researchers said.
Korede said her husband has been highly encouraging and financially supportive of her scientific journey, given her role as a married woman at work and at home. This support is important for married women pursuing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).
As the oldest scientist to receive this honor, Korede, who will celebrate her 50th birthday in February 2024, said the fact that she has been recognized shows that age is not a barrier to science, but rather what you have to offer the world. thing.
This must encourage girls and women to be courageous and focused on their pursuit of science, Korede said.
Kenya’s Faith Njeru (left) and Mozambique’s Felicidade Noémia Xerinda Niquice, photo courtesy
Agriculture Focus
Another winner, Faith Njeru, is a Kenyan studying food security and agribusiness at Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania.
She says her research aims to develop a cheap, effective, easy-to-use paper strip test for detecting plant diseases based on new molecules obtained from camel serum.
The test will be used by farmers, seed companies and plant protection agencies to detect diseases early and initiate warning campaigns to help reduce crop losses.
“Early detection can reduce food losses, thus ensuring food security and increasing incomes for farmers and seed companies,” she said.
inspired by her mom
Felicidade Noémia Xerinda Niquice is a Mozambican national studying at the University of Porto, Portugal, where she is studying for a PhD in Occupational Safety and Health.
she told university world news Mozambique, a country of about 33 million people, has only about 10 professional doctors.
Her research focuses on occupational risk assessment and management of three major blood-borne diseases (hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV) in health care settings, involving health care workers at hospitals in Inhambane Province, Mozambique.
“These diseases are highly contagious and can be prevented if necessary measures are taken,” she said.
Niquis, whose first degree was in medicine, said both hepatitis B and HIV have a high burden of infection in Mozambique. She added that while there are no national studies on the true prevalence of hepatitis B, the World Health Organization considers Mozambique to be a highly endemic country, while the country’s public health system neither tests nor provides There are treatments for hepatitis B and C, so her research is important.
Nyquis said her mother has been a role model in her journey. “Both my parents are mechanical engineers, but my mother, Noémia Francisco Xerinda, was the fourth woman in our country to earn this degree. I feel a lot of pride and inspiration from my mother,” she says.
School teacher sparked her interest in science
Ini Adinya, a Nigerian lecturer and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, said her research involves mathematics, finance and computing.
She said she became involved in science in mid-high school, and her physics and math teachers reinforced her interest through their teaching methods and enthusiasm for science.
But she said she faced discrimination.
“One of the biggest challenges I faced in my career in science was discrimination (because I was a woman). Sometimes the response from my male peers seemed to be: ‘What are you doing here? “It’s going to take tenacity and hard work to get through this, but it’s very rewarding,” Adiniya said. “
Regarding her current research, she says: “I am currently working on financial models with discontinuities in a real options framework for investment valuation. (It involves) determining the dynamics of random variables and appropriate numerical or analytical tools for solving the model .”
