Jared Nyang'au
Where do you call home? Can you describe it?
I was born and raised in a Ramasha town, a small town in Kisii county located in the western part of Kenya. Most of my family members stay there, and that is where I feel most connected to. The region is popularly known as Banana-land among the locals due to the large plantations of the bananas , which is the major cash crop grown in the area. A hilly topography characterises the town with several ridges and valleys, and it is part of this home county in Kenya, where most of the world’s soapstone comes from.
What are some of your personal interests and hobbies?
I am interested in hiking, which made me join an adventure club where we used to visit some places for hiking quarterly while in Kenya. In addition, I love basketball, a game I play on our Campus whenever there is an opportunity. Above all, I am a great fan of athletics, and it is a must-watch competition for me all the time.
What is your biggest personal achievement so far?
On academics, my most significant personal achievement is getting a Marie-Curie scholarship to pursue a PhD at Aarhus University, Denmark, under FertiCycle-ITN. Professionally, it is by being part of the successful team that designed a risk-based monitoring program for contaminants in food products in the Kenyan market and being part of trainers that promoted good agricultural practices among small-scale farmers to enhance market access of Kenyan export products through improved food safety standards.
What is the title of your PhD project? Can you explain it to a non-academic?
The title of my PhD project is “Designing pre-treatment and anaerobic digestion of biowastes for higher crop nutrient utilisation.”
Simply, we want to improve the fertiliser value of the digestate (a by-product of anaerobic digestion) by designing treatments methods for biowastes prior to their digestion and optimise anaerobic digesters’ operation conditions so that the degradation efficiency of biowastes and nutrient solubilisation to the digestate is improved. Bioenergy recovery techniques such as anaerobic digestion (AD) can achieve nutrient recovery from biowastes for a circular economy. However, despite AD being known to increase nitrogen availability in the digestate, it is usually designed without considering the quality of the digestates for use as a bio-based fertiliser. Additionally, there is limited information on how nutrient availability in the digestate is affected by different biowastes pre-treatment methods and anaerobic digestion operation parameters, a gap this study targets to meet
What drives your interest in bio-based fertilisers?
There is a high demand for food with the increasing human population, necessitating increased production using natural resources, i.e. mineral fertilisers. However, mineral fertilisers have contributed to environmental pollution, and some of the resources are finite. Therefore, in achieving a circular economy, minimising environmental impacts of mineral fertilisers and reducing dependency on fertiliser imports, there is a need for increased substitution of nutrients in synthetic fertilisers with waste-derived nutrients originating from bio-based sources such as bio-based fertilisers.
Describe your experience with the FertiCycle ITN so far?
The experience has been great. Despite having only zoom meeting in the first year when most of us enrolled for our studies, I felt connected with the other ESRs and part of one big FertiCycle family. During our annual meeting in October 2021, It was exciting to meet and interact physically, and I look forward to a COVID-free world to have more of such meetings.
What would you say are the benefits of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Doctoral Fellowship?
There is an excellent opportunity for networking and collaborating with different expertise within the network during project activities and the secondment period. Additionally, the training program is well designed to equip the ESR’s with hard and soft skills required in the competitive job market.
How has the experience travelling abroad for this program been for you?
My experience moving to Denmark to start the PhD program was good and smooth. My supervisors and colleagues at Agroecology Department were helpful, enabling me to settle down quickly. Moreover, Danish people are so friendly and welcoming. I plan to enrol for Danish language classes, and every day I am keen to learn about Danish culture and history.