We congratulate Sonnia Nzilani Musyoka who successfully defended her doctoral thesis with excellence on 31 March 2020. This was the first time that one of our scholars had to defend via video conference while being back home in Kenya. The topic of her PhD thesis is “The potential of earthworm and agro-industrial wastes to replace conventional protein sources in fish feed production”. She graduated from University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU). Sonnia reports about her experience:
“I did the defence online from Kenya due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to travel bans and lockdown in most countries. BOKU - through the student services and the examiners -tirelessly organised and ensured that the defence took place on the exact date and time as earlier planned. I would like to thank the Austrian Development Cooperation, my home University the South Eastern Kenya University and everyone else who made my PhD study a success. I dedicate my award to all children studying with very limited resources in remote rural areas. IT IS POSSIBLE.”
The picture was taken immediately after the examiners announced (online) that she had passed with distinction.
Sonnia Nzilani Musyoka did her PhD at BOKU Institute of Hydrobiology and Aquatic Ecosystem Management under the supervision of Herwig Waidbacher und Silke Drexler. She is employed in Kenya as tutorial fellow at South Eastern Kenya University. Furthermore Sonnia Musyoka works as a senior consultant at Human Development International and as technical expert and trainer for sustainable aquaculture at DNV GL Kenya. She has more than 10 years of local and international experience in consultancy and training on capacity building for fisheries and aquaculture as well as climate smart agricultural practices towards sustainable livelihoods.
