ParisTech and four schools of the network – AgroParisTech, Chimie ParisTech – PSL, École des Ponts ParisTech, Mines Paris – PSL – as well as CentraleSupélec signed a year ago a strategic partnership agreement with the University of Nairobi in order to accompany it for the Complex in Engineering and Science. Serah Wanjiku’s PhD, a « cotutelle » between the University of Nairobi and Chimie ParisTech – PSL, is one of the first long-term activities implemented in the frame of this partnership. 

On May 11, 2023, Serah Wanjiku, who was then doing a master’s internship in the i-CLeHS laboratory of Chimie ParisTech – PSL, attended in Paris the signing of the Tripartite agreement between the University of Nairobi, ParisTech and four schools – AgroParisTech, Chimie ParisTech – PSL, École des Ponts ParisTech, Mines Paris – PSL – as well as CentraleSupélec. This signature launched the partnership between French schools and the University of Nairobi alongside the construction of the Engineering and Science Complex. This partnership, financed by the French Development Agency (AFD), is built around university-business relations, a subject broken down into five pillars: governance, training, research, innovation, and internationalization. Serah is one of the first beneficiaries of this partnership: the University of Nairobi and Chimie ParisTech – PSL has signed a joint supervision agreement to supervise her PhD.

Serah’s Phd is entitled « Multiparametric biosensors designed by surface modification based on metallic and organic nanoplatforms for the detection of emerging pollutants ». The PhD is co-supervised by Sophie Griveau, Professor at Chimie ParisTech-PSL, and Immaculate Michira, Professor in the Department of Chemistry/Faculty of Science and Technology at the University of Nairobi. I also work with lecturers Cyrine Slim and Laura Trapiella in Paris and Peterson Guto in Nairobi. I began the PhD in Paris in January and I will stay here till the end of July. Then I go home to Nairobi and I will come back to Paris in March 2025.

Find out more about Serah on the ParisTech website.