New ETH4D Mentorship Programme kicked-off with 4 International Doctoral Candidates Collaborating with ETH Faculty
Through the ETH4D Mentorship Programme, 4 doctoral candidates across the globe collaborate with professors from ETH Zurich on their doctoral projects ranging from prediction of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in obese people to decision-making processes of community-managed boreholes in Ghana. Part of the mentorship is a 3-month research stay at ETH Zurich. The mentees talk about their motivation behind the mentorship and plans for their research stays.
Jacktone O. Akelo
Safe drinking water, though abundantly available in some countries, remains a scarcely available communal resource in some regions, with an estimation that a 1.6 billion world population having no access to safely managed ones. My study seeks to assess the influence and interaction of the water committee decision-making process and piped network designs on the sustainability of the community-managed borehole water kiosk service within Kisumu County, Kenya. It proposes to use a mixed research methods, guided by pragmatism philosophy.
For the analysis of the data collected for my thesis, activities during the the ETH4D Doctoral mentorship programme include training on statistical modelling software and programs available at the Sandec/EAWAG; technical support during the analysis of the raw data and reporting with close supervision and guidance by the EAWAG research team; and the international peer review and networks with other doctoral and postdoctoral candidates undertaking their research in water supply and related studies in various countries.
University: external pageSt. Paul's University, Kenya
ETH Mentor: external pageDr. Sara Marks, SANDEC, EAWAG
Simon Gwara
I am a Zimbabwean national and a PhD candidate in agricultural economics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). I am also a doctoral fellow of the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Research and Development center. My doctoral research looks into the social acceptability, market feasibility, and sustainability of human excreta reuse in agri-food value chains. As a proponent of inclusive evidence-based development practice and policymaking, I am currently also part of the team that is providing technical support in the drafting a 10-year Faecal Sludge Management Strategy in South Africa.
I came about the ETH4D Mentorship Programme through the RUNRES project and the guidance of Prof. Six and his team in the Sustainable Agroecosystems Lab. With their help and direction, I developed a proposal to investigate the long-term viability of waste-based closed-loop nutrient systems. During the research stay at ETH, I will attend courses in the areas of sustainability assessment using methods of life cycle-based science. I also plan to seek hands-on mentorship from several laboratories at ETH Zurich and other research groups, such as the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL).
University: external pageUniversity of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
ETH Mentor: Prof. Johan Six, Sustainable Agrosystems Labs, D-USYS
Parwiz Mosamim
I work as an Assistant Ph.D. student at USI Università della Svizzera italiana. At USI, I am working with Prof. Jean – Patrick Villeneuve’s research group in the faculty of Communication, Culture and Society. I take Public Administration, Policy, and Management courses in my Ph.D. courses. My doctoral research project focuses on Women’s Representation in Decision–Making Positions of Public Administration with a case study of Afghanistan (2001 - …). The research is exploring women’s representation barriers and opportunities in the bureaucratic system of the Afghanistan government through the Representative Bureaucracy Concept.
Through the ETH4D Mentorship Programme, I will be working with the “Spatial Development and Urban Policy” (SPUR) research group under the supervision of Prof. David Kaufmann & Dr. Stefan Wittwer. During this period of time, the main focus is on research methodologies, theories, and publishing research papers in high-ranked journals.
University: USI Università della Svizzera italiana
ETH Mentor: Prof. David Kaufmann & Dr. Stefan Wittwer, Spatial Development and Urban Policy, D-BAUG
Prosper Takam Ngakou
Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, NAFLD, a chronic liver condition involving fat accumulation in at least 5% of hepatocytes, without excess alcohol intake or secondary cause of fat accumulation, currently affects around 25% of the global population, lacks effective pharmacotherapies, and parallels the fast-growing epidemic of obesity and metabolic syndrome. My doctoral project aims at developing approaches for NAFLD diagnosis that meet the requirements to advance African population studies aiming to map NAFLD incidence in Africa, and we expect to lead to the validation of a non-invasive prediction algorithm for NAFLD useful for screening individuals at risk of end-stage liver disease, as well as supporting further epidemiological studies.
The ETH4D Doctoral mentorship programme will boost my entire career while developing myself personally and professionally from the international experience and will have a substantial positive impact on my successful progress to the timely completion and defense of my doctoral thesis. My three-month research stay at the ETH Laboratory of Toxicology will enable me to acquire a new set of skills and techniques, and we expect a long-term collaborative network between my home institution, the University of Yaoundé I and ETH Zurich through various projects in the framework of nutrition and toxicology.
University: external pageUniversity of Yaoundé I, Cameroon
ETH Mentor: Prof. Shana Sturla, Laboratory of Toxicology, D-HEST