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Aspen Institute Italia contribution to fund one OWSD Early Career fellowship

  • Rome
  • 13 January 2023

        Rome, January 13, 2023 – The Aspen Institute Italia is this year funding for the first time, one Early Career fellowship with the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD), a programme unit of UNESCO based in Trieste, Italy. The fellowship provides a grant of USD $50,000 to an outstanding scientific researcher to create a centre of international excellence in the institute where she is employed.

        The Aspen Institute-funded fellow, Dr. Mary Adjepong is a Registered Dietician and Lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), in Ghana. She is passionate about research that can improve the health outcomes of vulnerable individuals by focusing on nutrition and lifestyle. Thanks to the OWSD Early Career Fellowship, she will be able to focus her research on producing complementary food products that are rich in essential fatty acid (EFA) and carotenoids to reduce childhood stunting, enhance cognitive development and improve ocular health in children.

        Dr. Adjepong was selected within the 2022 cohort of Early Career fellows, a larger programme funded by the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC), which supports outstanding women scientists to create centres of international excellence in the institutes where they are employed. These institutes are based in the 66 countries identified by OWSD as ‘scientifically and technologically lagging’ (and 39 are in Africa). As well as funds to build up laboratories and purchase equipment, the flexible grant pays special attention to the challenges that women researchers face and the funds can be used to hire MSc students and technicians, invite international speakers, produce webinars, develop training programmes as well as establish connections with industry. Each Early Career Fellow undergoes training too, to support them in managing a research team, creating a budget and learning leadership and negotiating skills as well as how to develop international networks.

        Alberto Quadrio Curzio, President Emeritus of the Italian Academy of Sciences, OWSD Ambassador and Member of the Executive Committee of Aspen Institute Italia, had a pioneering role in proposing this agreement between Italian scientific institutions and OWSD, building a bridge towards future opportunities. “It is an agreement that marks the first step of a collaboration that already has its foundations between the Italian science system and OWSD” said Quadrio Curzio.

        Tonya Blowers, Coordinator of the OWSD Secretariat said that “The Aspen Institute Italia shares a similar mission to OWSD, a belief in the importance of diversity and inclusion in order to ensure international economic progress.” Women from developing countries are typically marginalised in scientific debates and research. The Aspen Institute recognises that OWSD can bringwomen to the table not only to be heard but to lead their country’s scientific projects. Blowers added, “we hope that other Institutes and Foundations in Italy will follow the Aspen Institute’s lead and sponsor an OWSD Fellow.”

        About Dr. Mary Adjepong

        Dr. Mary Adjepong is a Registered Dietician and Lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), in Ghana. She obtained a doctoral degree from Michigan State University, USA, an MPhil in Human Nutrition and Dietetics from KNUST and a professional certification as a Registered Dietician from the Allied Health Professions Council, Ghana.

        Dr Adjepong is passionate about research that can improve the health outcomes of vulnerable individuals by focusing on nutrition and lifestyle. Her research area is the prevention of chronic complications related to diet in infants, children and women. The role of diet can be crucial in slowing or even stopping the progression of disease in vulnerable populations. Food availability, accessibility and utilization are a problem in Ghana, and these problems are exacerbated for women who are often responsible for the health and wellbeing of children and the elderly as well as needing specific nutritional care themselves when pregnant or breastfeeding.

        The outcomes of Dr Adjepong’s PhD research showed that essential fatty acids (EFAs) play a crucial role in growth and cognition in Ghanaian children and that seeds, nuts and oils rich in EFAs can be used in to curb stunting and improve cognition. She was able to establish partnerships with food scientists and a food company to produce fortified biscuits destined for children aged 2-5 year olds in a Northern Ghana population. This innovative and sustainable approach can be adopted in other populations in Ghana and Africa to improve food security and improve healthy lives and livelihoods in developing countries.

        Dr Adjepong is a recipient of the Borlaug Higher Education in Agricultural Research Development PhD scholarship and the Borlaug Leadership Enhancement in Agricultural Program award, and a $20,000 award for research from USAID. She is a founding member of the Ghana Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and has set up her own business as a nutrition consultant. She is also a member of the Women in Science Technology Engineering Mathematics, the Convention of Biomedical Research Ghana, and the Ghana Science association and American Society of Nutrition.

        Mary Adjepong attended the 2022 OWSD Early Career Fellowships Orientation Workshop in Trieste where 18 talented female scientists from developing countries gathered to receive training and support in establishing international research centres of excellence in their respective countries.

         

        About OWSD

        The Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) is an international organization founded in 1987 and based at the offices of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), in Trieste, Italy. It is a programme unit of UNESCO.

        OWSD unites women scientists across the Global South with the objective of strengthening their role in the development process and promoting their representation in scientific and technological leadership.

        OWSD provides research training, career development and networking opportunities for women scientists throughout the developing world at different stages in their careers.