In Rome, Italy, Czaneil Gomez an Aston University, UK visiting researcher from the University of the Philippines Los Baños and Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) has been announced as the recipient of the 2024 GBEP Youth Award.
Initiated in response to the Gleneagles Plan of Action in 2005 by the G8 +5 countries, the Global Bioenergy Partnership (GBEP) is hosted at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that leads international efforts to defeat hunger.
GBEP’s mission is to “support wider, cost-effective biomass and biofuels deployment, particularly in developing countries where biomass use is prevalent”, and the partnership focuses on sustainable development, climate change mitigation, and food and energy security.
Inaugural Bioenergy Youth Day
The GBEP Youth Award celebrates outstanding student research in diverse bioenergy fields, including policy, technology, sustainability, supply chain, and climate change.
Czaneil Gomez received the 2024 GBEP Youth Award on June 17, 2024, as part of the first Bioenergy Youth Day, in partnership with the Youth and United Nations Global Alliance (YUNGA), and ahead of the official opening of the 11th GBEP Bioenergy Week held on June 17-21, 2024, in Rome, Italy.
Attended by more than 100 high school and university students, the event aimed to raise awareness among young people about the potential of sustainable bioenergy in addressing global challenges such as climate change, energy access, and rural development.
Czaneil Gomez is an early career researcher from the Philippines based at the University of the Philippines Los Baños and Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA).
She received the honour for her research conducted at the UK’s Aston University’s Energy and Bioproducts Research Institute (EBRI), globally recognized for its expertise in the area of sustainability and bioenergy.
During the spring of 2023, she conducted her research titled “Harnessing Rice Straw to Empower Rice Farming Communities in the Philippines.”
Receiving this award recognizes my passion and dedication to finding sustainable approaches for rice farming communities in the Philippines. My recent research visit to Aston University and working with world-leading experts in sustainable bioenergy was a great experience and has excelled my research skills and knowledge. Receiving the GBEP Youth Award is a big honour and made me realize that regardless of your background, as long as you keep moving forward, anything is possible. I am very grateful to the people and institutions who supported me in this. I am now more inspired to continue exploring innovative solutions that promote a more sustainable world, believing that each of us has the power to make a significant impact, said Czaneil Gomez.
Czaneil was supervised by EBRI researchers Dr Mirjam Röder and Dr Katie Chong.
EBRI is committed to capacity building and supporting early career researchers. Czaneil’s GBEP Youth Award success is a fantastic achievement. It shows the importance of empowering future generations to develop skills and knowledge in the field of sustainability and renewable energy for local communities. Czaneil is a female engineer from a low-income background, and I have found working with her insightful and inspiring. The experience has emphasized that all ideas, perspectives, and voices are relevant to finding inclusive solutions in tackling climate change, Dr Mirjam Röder said.
This year’s Global Bioenergy Partnership Week focused on bioenergy within food production and private sector collaboration to improve sustainable production and use of bioenergy.
Czaneil’s work is a shining example of how multifunctional, integrated agrifood systems can benefit both the environment and farming communities. Her innovative approach to harnessing rice straw for biogas demonstrates how sustainable bioeconomy supports rural livelihoods, enhances food and energy security, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. This is precisely the kind of innovation we need to achieve our climate and development goals, concluded Dr Tiziana Pirelli, GBEP Secretariat Coordinator.
