Congratulations FTP fellows 23rd cohort
Fellows of the 23rd cohort of the GRÓ Fisheries Training Programme graduated from their six-month training in a ceremony held yesterday, 1st of March at the Marine and Freshwater Research Institute in Iceland.
Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, Ms. Svandís Svavarsdóttir, addressed the graduating fellows: “The training you received in this programme contributes to the ongoing task of making the world a better place. Indeed, to make progress it is very important that we share our knowledge and research. Even though we live oceans apart, there is so much we can do together, and now, facing the challenge of climate change, we simply must. Congratulations fellows. Congratulations all of us.”
In the 2021-22 academic year 27 fellows graduated from the GRÓ-FTP six-month training programme, 15 females and 12 males. They come from 16 countries in Oceania, Asia, Africa and Central America. Eleven of them specialised in fisheries policy and management; six in aquatic resource assessment and monitoring; six in quality management; and four in sustainable aquaculture. Since the programme started in 1998 over 440 fellows have completed the training in Iceland.
The graduation ceremony was officiated by the director of Marine and Freshwater Research Institute, Mr. Þorsteinn Sigurðsson.
In her address director general of GRÓ – International Centre for Capacity Development, Ms. Nína Björk Jónsdóttir, noted that with this graduation the total number of fellows to have completed training from one of the four programmes run under GRÓ, had passed the 1.500 mark. The other programmes are the Geothermal training programme, the Land restoration programme and the Gender equality studies and training programme.
On top of that over 100 fellows have finished either a master’s or PhD level degree at an Icelandic university with a scholarship from the GRÓ programmes.
Director of GRÓ-FTP, Ms. Mary Frances Davidson, expressed her gratitude to the programme’s staff and institutional partners, at home and abroad. During the presentation of certificates, she introduced each fellow and their research projects. “It is always a joy to watch the progress the FTP fellows make during their time with us, and we love to see how they develop into agents for change when they return home, building upon what they learned here in Iceland”
Speaking on behalf of the graduating fellows, Ms. Diana Elizabeth Barahona Hernandez from El Salvador, thanked the FTP staff and all the supervisors, lecturers and others who contributed to the programme for their assistance throughout the training period.
She summarised some of the challenges the fellows had to overcome in Iceland and reminded them that now “is the time to take with us what we learned and to return to be leaders in our countries and to apply our knowledge to the development of our countries”.
Diana concluded with extract from a Spanish poem by Antonio Machado “Wanderer, no roads lie waiting, you make the roads as you explore”.
Wanderer, no roads lie waiting
All things pass and stay forever,
Yet we pass eternally,
drawing footpaths in our passing,
Footpaths on the restless sea…
Concluding the ceremony Þorsteinn thanked the graduating fellows for their stay in Iceland and wished them a safe journey back home. Afterwards, a reception for guests was held at the Marine and Freshwater Research Institute, where a poster exhibition of the final projects of the fellows had been set up.
