Mercy Ojoyi among 10 L’Oréal-UNESCO regional fellowship winners

29-year-old researcher Mercy Ojoyi is among 10 winners of the prestigious 2012 L’Oréal – UNESCO Regional Fellowships for Women in Science (FWIS) in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Kenyan researcher was honored with the others at a colorful ceremony held in South Africa last Friday.

“I am honored to receive the L’Oréal UNESCO fellowship which will go a long way in helping facilitate my research requirements, particularly fieldwork, which is a major challenge with field data having to be collected in extremely remote and inaccessible areas,” said Ojoyi.

Ojoyi who is currently studying for her doctorate in Environmental Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) walked away with Ksh 1.7 million (US $ 20,000) which she hopes will help in her research work.  

The other winners include:

J        Fatemah Thawer-Esmail (Tanzania)

J        Mopo Leshwedi-Radebe (South Africa)

J        Marisa Klopper (South Africa)

J        Gerda Fourie (South Africa)

J        Gcineka Mbambisa (South Africa)

J        Britt Drögemöller (South Africa)

J        Oluwasola Fasan (Nigeria)

J        Tsige Ketema (Ethiopia)

J        Vivian Boamah (Ghana)