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Taalai Mambetov, GRÓ LRT 2024 alumnus, works as a lecturer at the American University of Central Asia (AUCA) and Kyrgyz National University (KNU), where he teaches courses on environmental sustainability, climate science, botany and plant physiology. Alongside teaching, he conducts research on ecological restoration, sustainable land use and soil carbon assessment. One of his main challenges in his work is promoting sustainable management of natural ecosystems, particularly pasturelands and degraded soils, which are crucial for Kyrgyzstan's agricultural sector. Currently, Taalai is pursuing a PhD at the Institute of Biology, National Academy of Science of Kyrgyz Republic, focusing on grass species for land restoration.

Andrew Evans Opiolo is a committed advocate for sustainable land management in Uganda and a GRÓ LRT 2021 alumnus. His current work focuses on improving food security and sustainable agricultural practices in Uganda. Andrew says that his participation in the GRÓ Land Restoration Training Programme significantly enhanced his expertise, equipping him with the tools necessary to tackle pressing land management challenges.

Dr. Sumjidmaa Sainnemekh, the first GRÓ LRT PhD scholarship recipient, graduated from the Agricultural University of Iceland in 2022 with a doctoral degree in Environmental Science. Today she works as a rangeland management specialist at The Nature Conservancy in Mongolia where she can directly apply her wealth of knowledge to contribute to rangeland science and tackle overgrazing and rangeland degradation, which is a major environmental challenge in her home country Mongolia. The GRÓ centre asked Sumjidmaa to share information about her career and how her work is contributing to sustainable land management in Mongolia.