Scientist scoops top fellowship for researchers

University of Namibia-based geneticist Dr Percy Chimwamurombe has been awarded the prestigious Georg Forster Fellowship for Experienced Researchers, placing him among the best scientists from developing and transition countries.

The Zimbabwean, who was recently appointed deputy director of the school of postgraduate studies at the University of Namibia, conducts research in innovative community approaches to improving the economic status of ordinary people towards self-sufficiency using local resources.

He is the lead investigator in an 18-year project to domesticate the marama, a highly nutritious wild bean noted in Namibia for its superior protein and starch content.

Germany’s Alexander von Humboldt Foundation administers the fellowship, which is open to all leading researchers in all disciplines from developing and transition countries who have achieved international visibility through previous research and whose work contributes to solving development policy issues.

Forty-eight of the recipients of the fellowship have gone on to become Nobel laureates.

Chimwamurombe said: “I felt like I had just been baptised. This is an opportunity to carry out more applied research that enables development of value-added agricultural products from local resources.”

Recipients of the Georg Forster Fellowship get the opportunity to visit laboratories and other facilities in other parts of the world to carry out research that generates empirical data, which can be used for technological advancement in their home countries.

Chimwamurombe’s fellowship is for nine months, but can be split.

He said he would use it to study the cryptic interaction of soil micro-organisms and the marama bean. He would not go into further detail, for reasons including potential patentable products out of the proposed study and rampant bio-piracy, which could lead to the university losing out.