Credit: Sharon Muzaki

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Nature Africa is proud to share the announcement of Ugandan environmental journalist Sharon Muzaki as the first winner of the Mohammed Yahia Fellowship.

The Springer Nature Fellowship for Advancing Science Journalism in Africa and the Middle East, offered in partnership with the Knight Science Journalism (KSJ) Program at MIT, was established in 2023, to honour the life of pioneering science journalist Mohammed Yahia.

Credit: Mohammed Yahia
Mohammed, who died of a rare cancer in 2023 at the age of 41, was passionate about science journalism in the global south and was instrumental in the establishment of Nature Africa and Nature Middle East.

The more than 160 applications were reviewed by a panel of judges made up of Diran Onifade, Editor-in-Chief of AfricaSTI; Aliaa Hamed, Executive Editor for Nature Research in the Middle East; and Pallab Ghosh, Science Correspondent for BBC News, in association with Knight Science Journalism (KSJ) director Deborah Blum.

“Sharon impressed us with her intelligence, passion for science journalism, and commitment to empowering marginalized communities facing climate challenges,” Hamed said.

She will join other KSJ fellows in a programme of study at MIT and other Cambridge and Boston universities in August.