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Xueqing He is a Chinese student, with a master’s degree from China Agriculture University in Beijing, currently on her last year of her PhD at the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences at the University of Copenhagen. I met with Xueqing, to learn more about her experiences and findings, on how to utilize insects to regulate plant pests, as a sustainable alternative to the predominant use of pesticides.

Four PhDs from China, Pakistan and Bolivia currently studying in Denmark presented their research at a DDRN seminar during the Danish Science Festival 2019. Listen to the DDRN podcasts.

One of Uganda’s key concerns in education over the years has been the growing rift in performance between urban and rural schools. Primary and Secondary school grades in the national examinations largely tend to decline with distance moved from the country’s capital, Kampala. Solutions to bridge this gap and restore parity, however, could be in a book gathering dust in Gulu University’s library. Dr. Stephen Odama is fully aware that the knowledge in his PhD thesis could go unutilised, the way of most academic research in Uganda, unless there is publicity and awareness about his findings and recommendations.

Dr. Christine Oryema’s experience studying in Denmark would be the envy of any Ugandan PhD student who does not get the opportunity to study abroad, especially in countries that provide an ideal study environment. An ethnobotanist based at Gulu University, one of Uganda’s public universities, Dr. Oryema was among the beneficiaries of a PhD sponsorship through DANIDA’s ENRECA programme. This gave her the opportunity to spend more than 12 months of study time at the University of Copenhagen as part of her PhD programme.

Dr. Peter Tumuteygereize who started publishing his research in 2011 has transformed the lives of 500 women in Hoima District located in Western Uganda. While pursuing his PhD, he visited Germany University of Hohenheim in July-September 2009 as a student researcher focusing in the area of biogas.

Bolivian PhD student at University of Copenhagen, Carla Colque-Little, researches resistance towards diseases in quinoa plants. This is important, not only for the Bolivian economy, but also for the recovery of the Bolivian identity after years of colonialization

Standing at the entrance of the Faculty of Medicine at Gulu University, Dr. David Musoke looks a calm man. He has been waiting here for some minutes to receive a journalist from Kampala with whom they have only interacted through...

Consumers and the broader public have been more and more interested in what organic and sustainable agriculture can offer, namely, pesticide-free food and reduced environmental impact. The overuse of pesticides as a strategy to prevent disease has raised concerns with farmers and scientists, too, as resistant diseases are on the rise.

Researcher Abdel García from Humboldt Center, one of Nicaragua’s most renowned environmental institutions, is passionate about involving local population in climate change adaptation research. “In the near future Nicaragua as a country where people live, might stop existing,” he fears

PhD-student from Pakistan, Sajid Shokat, collaborate with University of Copenhagen and International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Mexico on adapting wheat to climate changes. According to him, his stay in Denmark will make a difference in his home country for both farmers and students.