Congratulations! Dr. Michelle Nay has won the SFIAR PhD Award
Dr. Michelle Nay, a former E4D Doctoral Scholarship fellow, has won the SFIAR PhD Award for her project "Improving smallholder farmers’ food security through disease resistant common beans".
In many parts of the world, beans belong to the leading staple foods and most important protein sources. However, plant diseases like the angular leaf spot disease (ALS) pose a regular threat to bean yields – especially for smallholder farmers who often lack access to pesticides and safe application practice thereof.
As a more sustainable and effective solution, Dr. Michelle Nay from the Molecular Plant Breeding group focused her research on providing the scientific background to breeding plants resistant to ALS. As part of her study, she investigated the genetic basis of disease resistance in beans and developed tools that facilitate resistance transfer to new bean varieties through plant breeding. The project was conducted in close collaboration with the external pageInternational Center of Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). For her extensive fieldwork, Dr. Nay worked together with colleagues in Colombia and Uganda. Find out more about her research external pagehere.
The project was supported by the Engineering for Development (E4D) Doctoral Scholarship, which promotes innovative research that is directly relevant for improving the livelihoods of underprivileged people in low-income countries.
The external pageSwiss Forum for International Agricultural Research (SFIAR) offers an annual award for the best PhD or team project and the best Master’s thesis by graduates and scientists of a Swiss institution who work in agricultural research for development.
The award winners will be honoured at a public award ceremony on 8 December 2020 at BFH-HAFL in Zollikofen.