Nutreco’s Young Researchers’ Prize 2022 went to Agboola Jeleel Opeyemi’s project “Can fish grow on trees? Yeast as future feed ingredient”.

Agboola Jeleel Opeyemi has been crowned the winner of this year’s Young Researchers’ Prize, securing the top €12,000 cash prize to help further his research.

The prize-winning project “Can fish grow on trees? Yeast as future feed ingredient”, presented by Agboola Jeleel, a graduate from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NBMU) caught the judges’ eye because of its exploration into the nutritional and functional potential of yeasts produced from wood sugars as sustainable fish feeds.

Agboola Jeleel said: “I’m extremely honored and excited to be named this year’s Young Researchers’ Prize winner. Having my research recognized in such a way reassures me that I’m making a proactive and meaningful contribution towards feeding our growing population more sustainably. I’m looking forward to using the prize money to further my aquaculture research as well as dedicating some time to my own personal and professional development.” “My advice to every young scientist is to always cultivate a curious mindset and I’d thoroughly encourage anyone considering applying to next year’s prize to do so. Having also applied in 2019, I’m a prime example of no matter the challenge, you can achieve anything you put your mind to if you work hard and strongly believe in yourself. Thank you again to all the judges and Nutreco for their ongoing support of young researchers like myself. Also, I would like to appreciate all my mentors, this couldn’t have been possible without the incredible support I received from everyone of them over these years.”