Dr. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted

Dr. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted

Trinidad-born Scientist Wins 2021 World Food Prize Award

Written by: Lesandra Scott

“And this year’s World Food Prize goes to Trinidad-born Scientist, Dr. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted!”

The World Food Prize is the most prominent global award recognizing an individual who has enhanced human development and confronted global hunger through improving the quality, quantity or availability of food for all.

Since 2010, Dr. Thilsted has been a researcher at WorldFish, headquartered in Penang, Malaysia where she focused on food and nutrition security in many developing countries, especially in Asia and Africa

The World Food Prize, an added prestigious honor to Dr. Shakuntala’s already decorated name, follows her groundbreaking scientific research in fish, nutrition, and aquatic food systems which she pioneered.

Named a true food systems thinker, Dr. Thilsted says that “aquatic foods offer life-changing opportunities for millions of vulnerable women, children, and men to be healthy and well-nourished.”

Dr. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted attended Naparima Girls’ High School in Trinidad and went on to earn a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Tropical Agriculture in 1971, from the University of West Indies, St Augustine. She then worked as the first female agricultural officer at the Ministry of Agriculture in Tobago where she met her husband Finn Thilsted, a Danish citizen, and migrated to Denmark with him. In Denmark, she completed her Ph.D. in Physiology of Nutrition from the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University

Dr. Thilsted now sits in some impressive chairs. You can find her on the High-Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) on Food Security and Nutrition. The dual nationality scientist also wears the hat of the U.N Food Systems Champion and has the role of Vice-Chair For Action Track 4: Advance Equitable Livelihoods of the upcoming 2021 U.N. Food Systems Summit.

Besides winning the title, the globally celebrated scientist walked away with the prize money of $250, 000.

Caribbean Entertainment Hub extends a hearty “Congratulations!” and a warm “Thank you!” to Dr. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted.

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