Affiliateship: 2016 - 2020
Cohort 1
Country (Nationality)
Kenya
Discipline
Agricultural & Nutritional Sciences
Bio
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Murungi is a crop protection expert in the Department of Horticulture at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT). Her role in the department includes, but is not limited to, capacity building and research. Dr Murungi, who holds a BSc, MSc and PhD in Horticulture from JKUA, has specialised on the ecological interactions between plants and pests found below- and above ground. She recently completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) where she was evaluating allelochemicals involved in the interactions between high value vegetables and root-knot nematodes. Dr Murungi is a principal investigator and a collaborator in various vegetable integrated pest management projects both locally and internationally. She has published several scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals and is supervising a number of postgraduate students working on various crop pests. Recently, she was awarded the first prize for demonstrating progressive laboratory research of the 2013-2015 fellows when she completed her two-year fellowship with the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD). Dr Murungi belongs to six professional associations one of them being the Horticultural Association of Kenya where she is serving in the executive board as the secretary. She is working closely with various stakeholders in order to apply scientific knowledge to develop simple and affordable tools to solve pest problems at the smallholder farmer level and improve food security. |