Two Nigerian-born scientists—Adesola Adegoke, a researcher at Arizona State University (ASU), and Seunnla Adelusi, a PhD candidate at the Université de Sherbrooke, Canada—have been named among the 20 global winners of the Digital GreenTalents Award 2025.
These two Nigerians were announced among the winners during a virtual ceremony held on 25 November. In a statement following the virtual announcement ceremony, the organisers said the 20 awardees for this year joined from different time zones, including “very early morning in Canada and evening hours in the Philippines.”The digital Green Talent Award is an annual initiative of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) that recognises outstanding young researchers whose work advances sustainability through digital innovation.Each year, 20 scientists are selected from a competitive global pool for their cutting-edge ideas at the intersection of digitalisation and environmental sustainability.
The award package includes a fully funded three-month research stay in Germany, participation in a Spring School featuring workshops and high-level networking, admission into an exclusive international alumni network and support toward integrating into Germany’s research and GreenTech ecosystemAdegoke’s Mycelium innovationThe two Nigerians were recognised for their research projects across the field of environmental sciences.Mr Adegoke was recognised for his research work that centred on the use of fungi (Mycelium) to enhance sustainable environmental practices.He argued that the construction sector is responsible for nearly 40 per cent of global CO₂ emissions, and faces growing pressure to adopt environmentally friendly materials.For Mr Adegoke, the answer may be found in mushroom roots. He works with mycelium, the dense root-like network beneath mushrooms, exploring its potential as a sustainable replacement for carbon-intensive construction materials.
His research leverages machine learning and large language models to speed up the design and testing of these natural composites.“We are essentially teaching the construction industry to build with nature rather than against it,” he said, describing his work in ASU’s Salifu Lab.Mr Adegoke explained that integrating AI allows him to analyse complex biological patterns and predict material performance more efficiently, making the solutions more scalable in real-world construction.He said he envisions “a future in which infrastructure development becomes a driver of environmental restoration rather than degradation.”Similarly, Nigerian scholar Seunnla Adelusi, who was also among the awardees, joins winners from institutions across Canada, the UK, India, Iran, Vietnam, the US, Morocco, Indonesia, and other countries.According to her profile posted on the award organisers’ page, she is committed to research and science communication, sharing her work on waste-to-energy solutions with both scientific and general audiences.Ms Seunnla is a doctoral researcher at Université de Sherbrooke (UdeS), where she develops high-value feedstocks from non-recyclable municipal waste using torrefaction, a low-energy thermochemical conversion method.She is passionate about advancing SDG 7 (Clean Energy) and SDG 13 (Climate Action) by diverting waste from landfills and harnessing it as an alternative energy resource.
At the award ceremony on 25 November, Germany’s Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space highlighted the importance of international collaboration.In his remarks, Rainer Müssner, representing the German ministry’s Division for Resources, Circular Economy, and Geosciences, said “Projects won’t change the world; people will. Innovation is driven by people, not only by technology.”According to the organisers, the 2025 edition introduces a mentoring programme that pairs each awardee with senior researchers and industry professionals to support long-term career development.
Based on this, all recipients will undertake a three-month research stay in Germany in 2026, and also attend a Summer School near Frankfurt in June 2026, hosted by the German Informatics Society and the Project Management Agency KarlsruheSee the Full List of the Digital GreenTalents 2025 below:Abinesh Ganapathy, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (India)Adesola Habeeb Adegoke, Arizona State University (USA)Bendjedid Rachad Sanoussi, Euromed University of Fes (Morocco)Elprida Agustina, Institut Teknologi Bandung (Indonesia)Hayley Smith, University of Victoria (Canada)Joel Jie Foo, Xiamen University (Malaysia)
Joshua Dimasaka, University of Cambridge (UK)Kar Woh Chong, University of Agder (Norway) / Universitas Gadjah Mada (Indonesia)Kelsey Shaw, University of Victoria (Canada)Kivanc Saglik, Nanyang Technological University (Singapore)Malcolm Isaac Fernandez, Heriot-Watt University (Malaysia)Moazzam Shah Bukhari Syed, Technological University Dublin (Ireland)Nicolas Charron, Polytechnique Montréal (Canada)Nilesh Kumar, Indian Institute of Technology Madras (India)Seunnla Adelusi, Université de Sherbrooke (Canada)Omidreza Heydaritafreshi, Sharif University of Technology (Iran)Phuong Le Huynh Mai, Vietnamese German University (Vietnam)Sandesh Poudel, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (USA)Supraja Kolli Venkata, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (India)Zorobouragui Loukaiya, University of Parakou (Benin)