Kenyan Wins Audi’s SRM Award in Munich for Best Masters Thesis

I’m very excited about sharing this story, not only because the lady in question is a Mkenya reader (which she is), but also because her thesis involved Kenya and it was on a topic I’m very passionate about.

Pauline Chepchirchir Cherunya, a masters student at the Technical University of Munich, was last week awarded the „SRM-Award“ (Sustainable Resource Management) by the Audi Environmental Foundation (Audi Stiftung für Umwelt GmbH), for her outstanding thesis. Chepchirchir’s thesis specifically dealt with supply of drinking water in underserved households in Kenya. She created a valuable database to ensure underserved areas get access to safe, affordable drinking water. The solution presented in her thesis is the introduction of water kiosks in rural areas in Kenya to ensure access to safe, affordable drinking water.

In addition to the award, Chepchirchir also walked away with €1500.

I hope that thesis doesn’t gain dust in TUM and instead the Ministry of Environment, Water and Natural Resources in Kenya checks it out and get some tips.

Also awarded was the second prize winner, William Masters, who wrote on how to stringently and meaningfully measure the effectiveness of food aid projects. He developed a basis to better evaluate aid projects in developing countries and make them more effective.

The SRM Award was developed by the Audi Environmental Foundation (Audi Stiftung für Umwelt GmbH) for students studying sustainable resource management at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). This was the 4th time it is being awarded. This year’s award focused on theses on responsible use of resources to help improve the quality of life in developing countries.

“With the SRM Award  the Audi Environmental Foundation highlights on how important the careful use of resources is for our future. We therefore award young scientists who base their theses on sustainable human-environment interactions”, Dr. Dagobert Achatz, Managing Director of Audi Environmental Foundation GmbH commented. “The results of this year’s winners particularly, provide important insight”.

 

Congratulations Chep, from the whole MU family 😉