Round 6 CLIFF-GRADS awardees (2023-2024)
We are excited to announce that 40 PhD candidates from low- and middle-income countries will receive scholarships in Round 6 of the Climate, Food and Farming – Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases Development Scholarships programme (CLIFF-GRADS). Along with the 40 students above, 4 awardees from previous rounds–who have been reallocated to new projects–will also start their research stays.
The 44 Round 6 CLIFF-GRADS fellows come from 19 countries from Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Pacific. During 2024, each fellow will undertake applied research on quantifying and mitigating agriculture greenhouse gas emissions at 29 institutes in a total of 21 countries.
The full list of awardees, their research projects and the host institutes where the fellows will be based during their research stays can be found below.
CLIFF-GRADS offers short research visits of up to 6 months providing opportunities for early-career scientists to gain exposure to equipment, software and expertise that they would not otherwise have access to at their home institute.
During their research visit CLIFF-GRADS recipients will research rumen microbiology, rice production, soil emissions, and pasture management, among other topics.
We’d especially like to acknowledge the support of fellow GRA country members and international partners, particularly Mitigate+: Research for Low Emissions Food Systems (Mitigate+) for supporting these technical training opportunities for students.
The Round 6 awardees are:
Listed by Name, Nationality, Host Organisation, Host Country, and Project Topic
Atish Chand Nationality: Fiji Bangor University, United Kingdom Marginal Abatement Cost Curve of livestock production in East Africa (#28)
Awouminassi Marcellin Atakoun Nationality: Benin Instituto Nacional de Investigación Agropecuaria (INIA), Uruguay Assessing soil nitrogen fluxes and GHG mitigation in integrated crop-livestock production systems (#13)
Ayesha Mustafa Nationality: Pakistan National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA), Argentina Management of nitrogen fertilization to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions: environmental impact assessment (#16)
Bamikole Peter Akinde Nationality: Nigeria Embrapa Instrumentação Centre, Brazil Advanced Tools to Soil Carbon Sequestration Analysis from Agricultural Integrated Production Systems (#12)
Bantamlak Yimer Nationality: Ethiopia International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Kenya Greenhouse gas emissions from manure digesting biodigesters in smallholder farms (#54)
Carla Sofía Stadler Nationality: Argentina Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, Norway Greenhouse gas emissions from managed peatlands in Norway (#5)
Dadirai Chauruka Nee Chinamo Nationality: Zimbabwe Plant & Food Research, New Zealand Benchmarking nitrous oxide emissions in apple orchards (#47)
Daniel Aja Nationality: Nigeria The Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Colombia Monitoring deforestation leakage associated with scaling of sustainable land use systems in Colombia (#31)
Dejene Worku Nationality: Ethiopia Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Italy Quantifying potential carbon sequestration from smallholder agroforestry (#62)
Elias Nelly Bapfakurera Nationality: Rwanda Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), Kenya Contribution of fruit trees to climate change mitigation (#53)
Francisco Cafaro La Menza Nationality: Argentina Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain Mitigating soil GHG emissions in semiarid croplands through improved management (#49)
Franklin Uvere Nationality: Nigeria Climate and Agriculture Group, Agroscope, Switzerland Mountain grassland soil organic carbon sequestration (#17)
Girmay Darcha Gebramlak Nationality: Ethiopia Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria, INTA Balcarce, Argentina Assessing Carbon Balance in two pecan orchards with different management systems (#50)
Haftu Gebremichael Nationality: Ethiopia International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Kenya Gap-filling carbon dioxide, methane, water and energy fluxes for improved Net Ecosystem Exchange quantification for agricultural systems in Africa (#44)
Inviolata Lusweti Nationality: Kenya Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO). Department of Biogeochemistry and Soil Quality, Norway Biochar and Organic Fertilization to Promote Greenhouse Gases Mitigation and Soil Health in Agroecosystems (#8)
Isaac Bazugba Nationality: South Sudan Alliance of Bioversity International & CIAT, Addis Ababa office, Ethiopia Agronomic solutions to mitigate soil carbon losses in the agriculture-forestland frontiers (#6)
Jane Omenda Nationality: Kenya Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, Norway Soil carbon sequestration through diversified cropping systems (#2)
Kedir Abate Fentaw Nationality: Ethiopia Bangor University, United Kingdom Assessing the effect of nanobiochar on soil carbon cycling and soil and plant health (#15)
Kum Christian Tegha Nationality: Cameroon Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria, Spain Soil organic carbon stock on Spanish agricultural soil: Temporal change over the last 20 years (#18)
Lais Leal Da Cunha Nationality: Brazil Institute of Global Food Security, Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland Investigating the influence of microbiomes on ruminant phenotypes: methane emissions and more (#33)
Mebrahtu Haile Berhe Nationality: Ethiopia Bangor University, Soils and Ecosystems Research Group, Environment Centre Wales, School of Natural Sciences, United Kingdom Investigation of biochar applications on C and N dynamics and the rhizosphere microbiome in agricultural peatlands (#10)
Mohamed Boullouz Nationality: Morocco Alliance Bioversity International and International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Colombia Tier 2 methane and nitrous oxide emission factors from rice cropping systems in Colombia and validation of mitigation strategies (#25)
Monica Feksa Frasson Nationality: Brazil Estación Experimental del Zaidin, Spanish Research Council (CSIC), Spain Testing combinations of feed additives to reduce enteric methane production (#36)
Mukund Narayanan Nationality: India Food Systems and Bioeconomy Research Centre, Ryan Institute, University of Galway, Ireland AI-enabled satellite remote sensing for estimation of emissions intensity of rice cropping systems under different CSA mitigation approaches (#20)
Mulundu Mwila Nationality: Zambia Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand Evaluating a potential pathway of nitrous oxide reduction to dinitrogen in agricultural soils (#7)
Murono Dorca Auma Nationality: Kenya Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), Brazil Refining Soil Conservation and Regenerative Practices to Enhance Carbon Sequestration and Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions (EJP-C-arouNd – Brazil) (#3)
Nabeeha Javed Nationality: Pakistan International Center for Agriculture Research in the Dry Areas, Morocco Budgeting net CO2 uptake from cereal-legume mixture under conservation agriculture based mixed crop-livestock farming system of rainfed drylands (#56)
Oluwagbemiga Ademola Dada Nationality: Nigeria INRAE, France Regional databases to evaluate goodness of fit of GHG prediction models (#55)
Pawend-Taoré Christian Bougma Nationality: Burkina Faso Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad Pakistan, Pakistan Measuring, modelling and mitigation of GHG emissions from rice cultivation through agronomic strategies (#22)
Rachel Mutore Mawire Nationality: Zimbabwe University of Eldoret, Kenya Adaptive Production Practices to Increase Smallholder Dairy Farm Productivity through Low GHG Emission Feeds in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya (#42)
Rehema Mrutu Nationality: Tanzania The University of Connecticut. Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, USA Microbial Engineering to Mitigate Methane Emission in Ruminant Livestock (#35)
Sadar Ginting Nationality: Indonesia International maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Mexico Uncovering the Carbon Footprint of Food Systems and Opportunities for Climate Action at the National Level (#61)
Said Marzouk Nationality: Tanzania Universidad de Costa Rica, Costa Rica Effect of green manure in Costa Rican rainfed rice system on soil erosion and nitrogen mineralization (#21)
Samuel Onyuoki Angwenyi Nationality: Kenya Arba Minch University, Ethiopia Co-compost with biochar as soil amendment in low-input cropping system (#9)
Sèwanou Frimence Allogbènou Tossou Nationality: Benin USDA-ARS, Fort Keogh Livestock & Range Research Laboratory, USA Effects of livestock grazing management on soil carbon sequestration (#19)
Simon Mburu Nationality: Kenya UMR AgroEcologie, INRAE, France Use of rhizobia to mitigate soil N2O emissions (#14)
Stephen Mailu Nationality: Kenya Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, Laos Country Office, Laos Evaluation of the mitigation potential and feasibility of silvopastoral practices in rural Lao PDR (#27)
Victoria Bulegeya Nationality: Tanzania Delta Water Management Research Unit, USA Achieving low greenhouse gas emissions in non-flooded rice system through hybrid selection and N management (#23)
Vinay Sharma Nationality: India International Rice Research Institute, Philippines The Effects of Pyramiding Bacterial Blight Resistance Genes on Root-Associated Methanotrophs (#24)
Zenebe Amele Sahile Nationality: Ethiopia International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Kenya Sustainable utilisation of digestate from farm biodigesters of cattle manure for forage grass production (#46)
Below is the list of reallocated students from previous rounds and their projects:
Abdoulaye Tyano Nationality: Burkina Faso Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria, Spain Soil organic carbon stock on Spanish agricultural soil: Temporal change over the last 20 years (#18)
Muhammad Arowolo Nationality: Nigeria Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI), United Kingdom Mitigation of enteric methane emissions in cattle and sheep production systems (#34)
Razak Kiribou Nationality: Burkina Faso Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), Brazil Synergies in integrated systems: Improving resource use efficiency while mitigating GHG emissions through well-informed decisions about circularity (SENSE-Brazil) (#45)
Tulasi Prasad Paudel Nationality: Nepal Animal Nutrition and Physiology Team, AgResearch Limited, New Zealand Effect of fermentation intermediates due to methane inhibition on the health and functioning of rumen epithelium (#32)
Keep an eye out for further information about the awardees coming soon.
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About CLIFF-GRADS: CLIFF-GRADS is a joint initiative of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA) and the CGIAR Initiative on Low-Emission Food Systems, also known as Mitigate+. CLIFF-GRADS aims to build the capability of early career agricultural students in developing countries to conduct applied research on climate change mitigation in agriculture. Funding is provided by the New Zealand Government, the CGIAR Trust Fund and bilateral agreements in support of Mitigate+.
