Congratulations to Makrita Solitei, who is the recipient of the Cherry Gertzel Bursary Award for 2019.

Makrita is a Maasai Indigenous woman from the Kaputei plains of Kenya currently studying an interdisciplinary Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Wollongong (Faculty of Social Sciences and Business). Her particular research interest is founded in the concept of waste circular economies and the process and development of waste into product and energy. The research is founded on the concept of Circular Economy and Grassroots Innovation theories and how grassroots innovation in resource constrained communities can be adopted to drive circular economies in waste and how these can be up-cycled. Makrita’s research is currently focusing on rural and remote communities of Kenya. Funds from the Bursary will be used to travel to Kenya to work with grassroots innovation communities in the area of waste circularity, and to attend relevant conferences in Australia and Europe.

The Cherry Gertzel Bursary Award is an annual award of $10,000 to assist female post-graduate students to complete study or research in African Studies. Information about the Award is available at https://cherrygertzel.net/postgraduate-scholarship/.