At Tropentag 2019, I had the chance to meet Sèyi Fridaïus Vanvanhossou, a 25-year-old researcher from Benin. Sèyi is pursuing his Ph.D. in animal breeding and genetics at the university of Gießen, Germany.

Sèyi is so excited to join Tropentag 2019. He believes in the power of communication as an essential tool to reach people. Additionally, He seeks new inspiration in tropical agricultural research, sustainable use of local resources, and hopes he can increase his scientific network.

With his attention to details and passion for photography, Sèyi is adding value to the Tropentag 2019 by sharing the efforts of agricultural sciences to the world. At Tropentag 2019, he will be contributing to the student reporter team through shooting interviews and capturing Tropentag's 2019 insights and best moments.

" I am so excited to gain best practices in science communication”

This is the main interest of Shorouk Elkobros, one of the Student reporters of Tropentag 2019.
Native from Egypt, Shorouk is currently pursuing her Master’s study in integrated climate systems sciences at the University of Hamburg, Germany.
She feels that there is a gap between the efforts of scientists and what is communicated in the media. Hence, she is well engaged in science communication and would like to pursue her career in this filed.
Besides editing video during this Tropentag conference 2019, Shorouk would like to get updated information and new trends on agriculture, climate action and sustainability research.

Naji is a PhD student at the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, he is researching about Ethnobotany and wild plants in Syria. He competed his MSc study at the faculty of the Tropical Agrisciences in the same university.

Naji came to the student reporters team to participate as a part of the video filming group. He believes that sharing sciences with the public and making it accessible for non-specialized persons is no less important than science itself.

Beside his joining the reporters' team Naji contributed two poster presentations this year. He is looking forward to meeting new colleagues and experts in his field.

Meet the Brazilian saving her forests.


Not all heroes wear capes they say, it is certainly not every day you meet dream chasers; this is what Tropentag associated with, telling the special stories of those trying to save our planet.

It was an exciting experience getting to meet the young Miss Feranada Martinelli, one of the student reporters at the Tropentag 2019. She is on a mission to save the depleting natural resources of South-eastern Brazil, a biome believed to contain more biodiversity than the famous Brazilian Amazon. This passion was borne out of a childhood love for plants and animals. This in turn led to her earning a bachelor of Biology from the University of Viçosa, where she continuously questioned the status quo. Why am I thinking about birds and tree species, when I can not ascertain their availability tomorrow? After all, questions and not answers create knowledge.

On graduation, she got to pursue her passion by working with Conservation International.

Jana Bauer is a master's student at the Universities of Göttingen and Kassel. She is starting her second year in Sustainable International Agriculture. In her spare time, she is trying to make the world a better place through her commitment in VUGA e.V., a NGO engaged political education, and WUO - a NGO working with Youth in Entebbe/Uganda. Before her Masters, she spent one year in Uganda, volunteering in a NGO which is tackling environmental and food issues in Western Uganda. Otherwise, she is very passionate about the topic of post-colonialism, zero waste and swimming.

At Tropentag 2019, Jana engages as a student reporter because she would like to approach the topic of sustainable resource management from a different perspective. She would like to learn more about transferring knowledge from science to the 'normal citizen'. She is interested in agroforestry, climate smart land use and participatory resource approaches. Student reporter means to her meeting new people, solving challenges, and working in an amazing team to find joint solutions.

During the Tropentag 2019 you'll see her running around and shooting photos, so don't miss out on meeting her!

Hannes Wilms is currently a second-year PhD student at KU Leuven. After completing a master’s in bioscience engineering he decided to continue his studies, working on a coconut invitro culture. Hannes's aim is to conserve coconut species, and propagate strong tree species, to promote future diversity.

Hannes grew up in Ham, Belgium and was always interested in biological sciences. In his spare time (when he has some), Hannes enjoys handball, judo and diving.

As a student reporter in 2019, Hannes is a part of the photography team and will be seen smiling with camera in hand around Tropentag 2019. Hannes looks forward to sharing a positive experience with fellow student reporters and displaying positive photos with a broad audience.

Being passionate about sustainabilty and mindfulness, Rebecca came to Tropentag eager to find out more about research and projects around the world, seeking to accomplish the SDGs.
She came to Kassel straight after her Bachelor defence in Hohenheim, which explored the growth of tropical grasses through monitoring the leaf elongation of rice, maize, and panicum. This is also when things fell into place: after the defence, her professor asked her to replace a reporter that had left. Now she is part of the student reporter team- what an amazing coincidence!

Not only does she follow her passion for sustainability in her academic career but she also puts it into action as an active member of Greening Hohenheim, a student group rising awareness about mindfulness and sustainability at the university of Hohenheim.
Apart from saving the world, her dream is to build an earthship in Tanzania. As a first step after Tropentage2019, she is going to leave for an internship at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in Sri Lanka.

Amina Ahmed is one of the student reporters for the Tropentag 2019. Our team asked her some questions about her participation during this week and the participant told us a little about her experience so far:

Why are you a student reporter at the Tropentag this year?

As a scientist, I believe I can effectively communicate results obtained from research and experiments with colleagues and professors from the same field, but I find it hard to vehiculate these pieces of information with people from other fields. Some of the participants or enthusiasts of Tropentag are not scientists or natural scientists - and reporters work as tools to give a chance to the outer public to understand what is going on during the conference and to connect people that share the same interests.

How did you come here?

Checking the website from the University I attend - University of Goettingen - I read the news that Tropentag was looking for student reporters. Fortunately I applied and was accepted into the team.

What are your expectations?