Professor Tsunekawa Receives Honorary Doctorate Degree (Honoris Causa) from Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia


On September 18, Bahir Dar University of Ethiopia awarded an Honorary Doctorate Degree (Honoris Causa) to Prof. Atsushi Tsunekawa of Arid Land Research Center (ALRC). This honorary doctorate is awarded to individuals who made distinguished contributions to Ethiopia and other developing countries awarded Bahir Dar University aiming at transforming the nation through scientific research and technological innovations. Prof. Tsunekawa was unanimously selected as the recipient of the award in recognition of his longstanding contributions to dryland science research, education, and capacity building by the Senate of Bahir Dar University.
Prof. Tsunekawa has been working on the "Development of Next-Generation Sustainable Land Management (SLM) Framework to Combat Desertification" under the Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS) in Ethiopia since fiscal year of 2016. Since the star of this project, he has been making significant contributions to developing countries like Ethiopia by improving land management measures reflecting project's findings and capacity building through research supervision of Ethiopian students.
Due to the recent pandemic of Covid-19, Prof. Tsunekawa was unable to attend the award ceremony held at Bahir Dar Stadium on Saturday, September 18. However, his video message and the ceremony were widely covered by the local media, and many congratulatory messages were received from local research collaborators and Tottori University alumni.

You can watch the ceremony at the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_0In_KMKfs (Source: Amhara Media Corporation)