The Blue House Fellowship Programme aims to build the capacity of young ocean and kelp scientists. By providing scholarships and skills training, our scientists, students and apprentices obtain the necessary knowledge and capacity to support this industry.
The Blue House Programme is a partnership between Stuchtey Daughters & Sons, Kelp Blue, the Kelp Forest Foundation, and other potential supporters aimed to develop scientific and practical talent in natural ecosystems.
The program provides rolling scholarships and apprenticeships of Namibian students (with a bias towards women) and twinning them with peers from leading universities abroad. The ultimate objective is to foster knowledge exchange and deliver climate and social impact.
We currently have 6 Namibian MSc Students, 1 apprentice, and 2 rolling international interns.
Protasius Mutjida is an MSc student focused on establishing the geochemistry baseline at the giant kelp cultivation site.
Angelique Dodds is studying the impact on algal biodiversity of cultivated giant kelp as part of her MSc programme. Her co-supervisor is Dr. Ian Hendy at University of Portsmouth.
Arisha September, our MSc student focusing on the fauna biodiversity impact of the giant kelp farm. She is co-supervised by Dr. Narissa Bax at the University of Tasmania.
Michael Mateus is doing his MSc on the Net Primary Production (NPP) of cultivated giant kelp. He is co-supervised by Dr. Tom W. Bell at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
Beata Tooleni is studying the impact on benthic biodiversity during her MSc (the biodiversity under the cultivated kelp on the seafloor). She is co-supervised by Dr. Dan Crossett at the Cawthron Institute, NZ.