Doreen Anene

The STEM Belle, Nigeria

Doreen Anene is a 3rd year PhD student at the University of Nottingham, where she is investigating the relationship between hen feed efficiency and egg safety. Her research encompasses animal husbandry, biochemistry, and molecular microbiology. She is a recipient of the prestigious Schlumberger Faculty for the Future awards and received travel awards from Australia Egg to support her scholarly activities as a visiting Scholar at the Poultry Research Foundation, within the University of Sydney, Australia. Doreen has presented her research findings at various international scientific conferences and has won several awards for her presentations. She has a keen interest in global food security and hopes to lead a career in livestock research for international development.

Doreen is a dedicated representative for women in science from developing countries. She is the founder of The STEM Belle, a female and youth led initiative that is stimulating the interest of schoolgirls towards science subjects and disciplines. Her objective is to close the gender gap in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. As a STEM education advocate, she believes that women and girls can be everything: elegant in stilettos and confident in steel toes. Her work to recalibrate the female representation in STEM fields has been recognised by Nature Research and Estee Lauder, where she was named the 2019 Innovating woman in Science. Her host institution, University of Nottingham, has featured her outstanding outreach activities and in 2020, She received the prestigious Cascade grant from the University of Nottingham. She has been featured by print and electronic media in Nigeria and the UK.

Doreen, a Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) alumni and a UN Women Global Champion for Change is inspired by Michelle Obama’s words to young people, to ‘get a good education, and then use the education to create a country worthy of their boundless promise’.