In the January membership election, we elected six African women scientists to become members of the Society, complimentary for five years, through our partnership with African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD). These six are all recipients of an AWARD fellowship.

AWARD is a career-development program that equips top women agricultural scientists across sub-Saharan Africa to accelerate agricultural gains by strengthening their research and leadership skills.

To date, more than 325 women scientists from 11 African countries have benefitted from the two-year fellowship program.

Jon Kudlick, director of membership, marketing & communications at the Society of Biology, says: “We are extremely pleased to welcome these scientists as members and to support this innovative scheme that prepares women for influential leadership roles in the African agricultural sector.”

The new members are:
Dr Mary Mamle Apetorgbor, Senior Research Scientist, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Forestry Research Institute of Ghana
Dr Hewan Demissie Degu, Assistant Professor, Dilla University, Ethiopia
Dr Nessie Dietrich Luambano, Principal Agricultural Research Officer II, Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Cooperatives, Sugarcane Research Institute, Tanzania
Dr Delphina Peter Mamiro, Senior Lecturer, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
Dr Pauline Mounjouenpou, Senior Researcher, Institut de Recherche Agricole pour le Développement, Cameroon
Dr Nina Nawanjaya Wambiji, Research Officer I, Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute

Dr Josephine Songa, AWARD’s acting science coordinator, says: “AWARD is most grateful to the Society of Biology for the outstanding opportunity the selected scientists will have to collaborate with peers in their areas of research, as well as the access to scientific information and resources that are available only to members.”