Keele workshop in Kenya
A Keele-led research project to provide alternatives to pesticides for the control of thrips pests on cowpeas has just held a workshop at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) in Nairobi, Kenya.
The project is funded by a Global Challenges Research Fund Foundation Award from the BBSRC. Dr William Kirk (PI) and Dr Falko Drijfhout attended from Keele University and Dr Tom Pope attended from Harper Adams University. They were joined by local members of the research team and industry representatives. The event was followed by training for the two post-doctoral research fellows employed on the project. One of the research fellows, Adeyemi Akinyemi, has just completed his PhD at Keele. An aim of the project is to build capacity for thrips research in Africa and develop a thrips research network. Researchers from Kenya, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are involved in the project.