July 3, 2014: Dr. Caleb Oluwafemi from South Africa is one of 15 postdocs who were just awarded with a Leibniz-DAAD Research Fellowship. Starting in January 2015 he will work for one year at the ATB in the field of postharvest quality and safety of fresh produce.

In particular, his research will focus on developing strategies for removing ethylene from fresh produce packages for maintaining the postharvest quality of broccoli.

Dr Oluwafemi Caleb is a qualified scientist from South Africa. He obtained his BSc Hons (Molecular techniques and Microbiology), MSc (Microbiology), PhD (Postharvest Technology and Food Science) degrees from Stellenbosch University (SU), South Africa in 2007, 2010 and 2013, respectively. His PhD research was focused on the development of mathematical models for predicting physiological responses of pomegranate fruit and the application modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) technology towards extending the postharvest quality / shelf life and maintaining microbial safety of pomegranate fruit.

At ATB he will be mentored by Dr. Pramod Mahajan from the Department of Horticultural Engineering.

Thus, ATB was successful for the second time in the recruitment of Leibniz-DAAD Research Fellows.
In 2012/13, Reshma Anjum, PhD, from Aligarh Muslim University, India, worked for a year as a Leibniz-DAAD research fellow at the ATB. She worked on "Mutagenicity potential of products and residues during biogas and biochar production from energy crops". Her ATB mentor was Dr. Michael Klocke.

For the fourth year, the Leibniz Association and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) assigned scholarships for a research stay at a Leibniz Institute. The "Leibniz-DAAD Research Fellowship Programme" adresses qualified postdocs from around the world who graduated not longer than two years ago. The scholarship enables them to conduct research for a year at one of the 89 institutes of the Leibniz Association and, thus, will support them in starting an international career.

In 2014, a total of 15 Leibniz-DAAD postdoctoral fellows were selected from the almost 200 applications from 53 countries. Selection criteria were, in addition to the scientific excellence of the candidates, the suitability and connectivity of their research concepts. This is being assessed  in advance by the respective Leibniz Institute.