Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Bern, Switzerland – A senior researcher and group leader at Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Switzerland Dr Zerihun Tadele has won this year’s Lotte and Willi Günthart-Maag Foundation Prize for his contributions to research on Ethiopia’s staple crop tef. The Prize will be awarded on Wednesday, June 12, 2013 at the Foundation’s headquarters in Regensberg, near the city of Zürich.
The Foundation, which is based at “House Engelfrid” in Regensberg regularly awards the Dr. Rudolf Maag Prize to Swiss and foreign personalities who have contributed to the care and promotion of plants. Since its establishment in 1971, the foundation has the prize to forty scholars.
Dr Zerihun, made his undergraduate studies in Alemaya University, Ethiopia and completed his doctoral degree at the University of Basel, Switzerland. Currently, the project he leads supports the national tef improvement program in Ethiopia through the provision of scientific and technical support.
Dr Zerihun is donating the prize money to a charity organization he founded (http://www.opportunitykids.org/) to provide rural children in Ethiopia the opportunity to attend school mainly through providing school supplies and uniforms.
