South African student scoops 2017 Green Talents award

2017 Green Talents awardees

Cape Town's Megan Lukas was one of this year's awardees. She conducted her PhD in Environmental Geographical Science at the University of Cape Town where her research focused on the human connection to the environment in an under-resourced township setting regarding pro-environmental behaviour, sustainable living and place attachment.

This year’s competition attracted 602 applicants from over 95 countries. For the first time Egypt, Fiji, Iraq, Slovakia, Sweden and Uganda are among the Green Talents winner countries. A high ranking-ranking jury of experts selected the most outstanding ‘green’ visionaries, who come from an impressively wide range of academic research areas with diverse achievements.

Engaging the science community

This year’s focus was on 'Sustainable Production and Consumption'. The two-week science tour provided the Green Talents with insights into the German research landscape and with the opportunity to meet leading experts and visit some of the most renowned research institutions in the focus area, including the German Remote Sensing Data Centre (DFD), the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the Technical University of Munich (TUM), and VAUDE – the sustainable, innovative outdoor outfitter. By establishing contacts with the science community and exchanging ideas with its key innovators, the winners will be able to lay the foundations for future cooperation. Their efforts are supported by the invitation to return to Germany in 2018 for a fully funded research stay at an institution of their choice.

View the full list of awardees. For more info, go to www.greentalents.de.