Team Bio

Mid-2015, Darja contacted Athanase when looking for collaborators enthusiastic about edible insects, & in Dec 2015, she met Charlotte at an edible insect conference. We saw the potential of shea caterpillars.

In 2016, Charlotte and Athanase collected field data in Burkina Faso, and Darja began lab analyses.

In Dec 2016, we received 8000EUR after competing in BCFN Yes!

Now, with your help, this project can become a reality.

Charlotte Payne

I began doing research out of a curiosity about human origins and a love of jungles and great apes. But I soon realised that no matter how we got here, we're now a species that is heading downhill fast, and taking most of the planet with us.

So I switched my focus to trying to understand how we can improve the health and wellbeing of humans and the planet as a whole.

Working on insectivory in chimpanzees taught me the value of insects as food. I became interested in the potential public health value of insects as human food. And while I certainly became somewhat skeptical about the framing of insects as a panacea, I still believe in their value - not least because I know that so many others do, too, although they might not have the platform to talk about it.

My current focus is conservation science and edible insects, so for my PhD I'm also monitoring the impact of caterpillars and caterpillar harvesting on biodiversity, agricultural yields and rural food security in Burkina Faso.

Athanase Badolo

To catch insects and play with insects is very common for kids in the rural Burkina Faso. So, I started very early, when I was around three years old, to try and catch insects such as grasshoppers. I would play with them, dissect them, grill and eat them: I was doing Entomology and Entomophagy without knowing it. At University, I was very comfortable with Biology. When attending the Entomology class of the late Prof. Albert Patoin Ouedraogo, I realised that the world of insects is the most beautiful, most joyful and most colourful world, and my choice was very clear.

Recently, I realised that we need to anticipate the protein crisis. If we wish to preserve the planet, we must also to change our habits, and insect consumption is one way to get protein at little cost to the planet. My interest in shea caterpillars comes from the fact that they are the most consumed insects in Burkina Faso. The number of people eating them is increasing and the start of small manufacturers is increasing the pressure on this natural resource. The only way to preserve this natural resource is to breed the caterpillars independently of their natural host plant.

Darja Dobermann

I began doing research very much by accident. Having always been adamant that "I would not be a scientist like my dad," I started working in the furthest field from his (he is a tropical agronomist), developmental psychology.

I worked on executive function (working memory, inhibition etc) development with preschoolers in Canada during my Bachelor's degree. I shifted my focus slightly by pulling in the international development angle during my Master's thesis.

Shortly after this I found myself with a gap year on my hands and spent time working in developmental nutrition with Dr. Jessica Fanzo. In those same summer months I also got my first experiences in a wet lab. After years of denying my fate I accepted that perhaps I was meant to be a research scientist in a field much more closely aligned to my dad than I ever anticipated.

Ultimately, this brought me to the PhD I'm working in now which, although in nutrition, utilises a cross section of nutritional, agricultural, entomological, biological and biochemical skills. My PhD aims to look at the potential benefit of insects in malnutrition and aquaculture. Throughout the PhD there is a strong emphasis on employing methods, skills and resources which can easily be accessed in the developing countries the research targets and relationships with researchers abroad is always paramount. I strongly believe the only way forward is together.