Hirut Assaye Cherie
Academician and Researcher · Bahir Dar University
Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
About
Hirut Assaye Cherie is a researcher and university teacher in food science and nutrition with a particular interest in indigenous and underutilised cereals, especially millets, and their potential to improve nutrition and livelihoods in Ethiopia. Her research covers millet processing, fermentation, germination, nutritional quality and the development of traditional and innovative millet-based foods. She is committed to collaborative research, knowledge exchange and capacity building, and to translating scientific knowledge into nutritious, acceptable, affordable and culturally appropriate foods for communities.
Millets track record
She has been actively involved in a major multidisciplinary millet research project conducted with leading international institutions, including the University of Cambridge (UK), ICRISAT (India) and research partners in The Gambia, serving as Principal Investigator for the Ethiopian component and providing overall scientific leadership in Ethiopia. She supervised two Ethiopian PhD students whose research focused on finger millet and pearl millet, covering nutritional quality, processing, fermentation and improved utilisation of these important but underutilised cereals. The Ethiopian research team has produced five peer-reviewed scientific publications from this work. This experience has strengthened her expertise in millet research alongside leading international collaborations and mentoring young researchers.