Kvarøy Arctic names scholarship winners

Two young aquaculturalists, from Greece and Ghana, have been named as the recipients of Kvarøy Arctic’s Women in Aquaculture Scholarship for 2022.

Abigail Ebachi Tarchie from Ghana and Eliza Syropoulou from Greece were the winners following a process that involved assessing applications from 85 countries.

The scholarships, now in their third year, means a grant of $10,000 (£8,256) for each of the two successful candidates. One of the scholarships is dedicated to applicants from all around the world and the other is designated for applicants from countries in Africa only.

This year, Kvarøy Arctic received double the number of applications. 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.”

Kvarøy worked with Imani Black, from Minorities in Aquaculture, and Julie Kuchepatov, from Seafood and Gender Equality, as the judges. The scholarship aims to not only support women but to act as a leader in an industry that lacks gender inclusion, by eliminating boundaries and opening the door to women for a career in aquaculture.

Abigail Ebachi Tarichie from Ghana is a PhD student at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. She centres her studies on fish nutrition and welfare with a focus on sustainable resources research. Abigail comes from the coastal area of western Ghana where fishing is the main livelihood for locals.

She said: “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 sensitisation. My aim is to educate more people about aquaculture to increase fish production and thereby improve livelihoods and enhance nutrition security, especially for the most nutritionally vulnerable.”

The scholarship was also awarded to Eliza Syropoulou, from Greece. Eliza is a PhD student at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, focusing her studies on fish welfare and nutrition specifically as it relates to RAS and microbiology, ultimately optimising water treatment methods in recirculating aquaculture systems. She also wants to find ways to benefit the community of women in aquaculture.

Eliza Syropoulou