The ACU is delighted to announce the winners of the 2016 ACU Titular Fellowships. These awards provide academics from various disciplines with the opportunity to visit prestigious institutions across the Commonwealth between October 2016 and September 2017. This year's Fellows are:

The George Weston Limited, Canada, Fellowship is awarded in the areas of agriculture, forestry, and food science or technology, and this year has two recipients: Dr Jacob Agbenorhevi at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science And Technology (KNUST), Ghana, and Dr Sofie De Meyer at Murdoch University, Australia.

Dr Agbenorhevi will visit the University of Huddersfield, UK, to continue his collaborative research into the okra plant. Okra remains an underutilised crop in much of Africa, despite the many and varied potential uses of okra pectins. Meanwhile, Dr De Meyer will visit the University of Cape Town, South Africa, to investigate the root nodule bacteria of lebeckia – a South African legume with great potential as an agricultural pasture plant – using soil analysis to better understand its survival.

The Gordon and Jean Southam Fellowship has been jointly awarded to Professor Heather Lotherington at York University, Canada, and Dr Anna Pienkowski at MacEwan University, Canada.

Professor Lotherington will visit Curtin University, Australia, to explore mobile language learning for culturally and linguistically diverse learners. Meanwhile, Dr Pienkowski will visit Bangor University, UK, to gain an in-depth understanding of sclerochronology, the marine counterpart to the study of tree rings.

The Martha Farrell Memorial Fellowship was launched earlier in 2016 and is specifically aimed at combating sexual harassment on campus. The first of these new fellowships has been awarded to Mohammad Mojibur Rahman at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Mr Rahman will receive training and support from the Martha Farrell Foundation in India to instigate an effective anti-sexual harassment initiative at his home institution.

The Swansea University Fulton Fellowship has been awarded to Dr George Okwadha at the Technical University of Kenya. Dr Okwadha's fellowship will explore the use of alternative materials for the concrete industry, ultimately aiming to promote the use of sustainable materials that will lower the cost of cement in Kenya and reduce the environmental degradation associated with its manufacture.

The University of Manitoba Fellowship has been awarded to Dr Sujata Dash at North Orissa University, India, and Professor JA Gareth Williams at Durham University, UK.

Dr Dash will undertake research into high-level algorithmic frameworks for big data analytics, which ultimately aim to provide a better understanding of clinical data used in cancer research. Dr Williams' research will look at selected platinum and copper-containing molecules that have relevance to contemporary applications, such as low-energy lighting and solar energy conversion.

The University of Oxford Fellowship has been awarded to Dr Shadreck Chirikure at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Dr Chirikure's fellowship at the University of Oxford, UK, will develop his existing work on archaeological material analysis, with a focus on the metallurgy of iron age crucibles recovered from the ruined city of Great Zimbabwe.

The Wighton Titular Fellowship in Engineering has this year been awarded to Dr Sobia Baig at COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Pakistan. Dr Baig's fellowship at Lancaster University, UK, will look at powerline communication and its utilisation in smart grid communications, with the ultimate aim of improving energy conservation measures in Pakistan.

Titular fellowships are offered on an annual basis to staff at ACU member institutions and aim to support Commonwealth universities in developing their human resources through the interchange of people, knowledge, skills, and technologies. To find out more, visit www.acu.ac.uk/titular-fellowships