Lucy Kiptui is one of our ’40 Faces of Plant Pathology’
BSPP members can be found in 51 different countries, with 30% of members based in countries outside of the UK. As part of the BSPPs 40th anniversary, we asked our membership to describe some things about themselves, what plant pathology challenges they would most like to see solved, and what could improve the world of plant pathology in terms of inclusivity. Click here to return to 40 Faces Home Page.
Lucy Kiptui
Institution and country of residence
Egerton University, Kenya
Position title
Student/Early Scientist
Area of expertise/study
I am a plant pathologist, my key interest is in improvement of livelihoods through crop protection. Currently, I am working on viruses causing woodiness disease in passion fruit, which entails interaction effects of causative strains and transmission.
About your early experiences in education
I developed interest of learning the cause of crop losses when I was in grade seven after an epidemic struck cassava plantation in my home area, which was our source of livelihoods .Thereafter, citrus fruits such as oranges, mangoes and lemons were wiped away by diseases. I undertook a bachelor of science in Botany and Zoology in my undergraduate. This program was exciting to me since units such as mycology, plant pathology, nematology, virology, and entomology opened my mind to know the cause of food insecurity back at home. With the help of dedicated teaching staff in biological sciences department with whom we share interest, my passion to study plant science increased and that is how my plant pathology journey began.
If you could solve one problem in plant pathology, what would it be?
Plant disease misdiagnosis that impacts crops production negatively
If you could solve one issue relating to inclusivity and diversity within the field of plant pathology what would it be?
Knowledge dissemination regarding the importance of plant pathology to people of all races and origins in the world.
If you weren’t a plant pathologist, what would you be?
Computational biologist
