Abigail Ebachi Tarchie from Ghana and Eliza Syropoulou from Greece are the new winners of the Kvarøy Arctic 2022 Women in Aquaculture Scholarship. For the third year in a row, the salmon brand awards two $10,000 scholarships to recipients who are passionate about the future of food and stewardship in sustainable aquaculture.
Firstly, Kvarøy Arctic developed the first-of-its-kind, international scholarship in 2020 one is dedicated to applicants from all around the world and the other is designated for applicants from countries in Africa only. Through this initiative, they seek to eliminate boundaries and help women build their careers in aquaculture.
In more detail, Jennifer Bushman, Chief Marketing Officer, said: "We're beyond thrilled by the recognition our scholarship is receiving as achieving gender equality and empowerment for women in aquaculture is something we at Kvarøy Arctic are deeply passionate about."
To clarify, the jury was formed by Imani Black from Minorities in Aquaculture and Julie Kuchepatov from Seafood and Gender Equality. Both, believe in educating and encouraging women and minorities to pursue a career in all aspects of aquaculture. Kvaroy Arctic received double the number of applications from 85 different countries this year.
Abigail Ebachi Tarichie is a Ph.D. student at Kwame Nrumah University of Science and Technology. She centers her studies on fish nutrition and welfare with a focus on sustainable resource research. Abigail comes from the coastal area of western Ghana where fishing is the main livelihood for natives.
"It is in this vein that I developed an interest to study aquaculture in order to acquire knowledge and insight so that I can help these farmers through training and sensitization. I aim to educate more people about aquaculture to increase fish production and thereby improve livelihoods and enhance nutrition security, especially for the most nutritionally vulnerable," she indicated.
On the other hand, Eliza Syropoulou is a Ph.D. student at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. She focuses her studies on fish welfare and nutrition specifically as it relates to Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) and microbiology, ultimately optimizing water treatment methods in these systems. Also, she shearches ways to benefit the community of women in aquaculture.