Stories of alumni

The first official GRÓ alumni association, GRÓ Alumni Network Mongolia, was established at an inaugural meeting on the 4th of July in Ulaanbaatar. The meeting brought together 28 GRÓ alumni, including 22 participants that attended online and 6 in-person attendees.

Mohamed Altamash Khan, a GRÓ GEST alumnus from India, has built a career dedicated to reshaping harmful gender norms by engaging boys and men in conversations around equality. Currently, he works as Senior Gender Trainer and Program Manager at the NGO Men Against Violence and Abuse (MAVA), and is also pursuing a Master’s Degree in Education and International Development at University College London (UCL).

Taalai Mambetov, GRÓ LRT 2024 alumnus, works as a lecturer at the American University of Central Asia (AUCA) and Kyrgyz National University (KNU), where he teaches courses on environmental sustainability, climate science, botany and plant physiology. Alongside teaching, he conducts research on ecological restoration, sustainable land use and soil carbon assessment. One of his main challenges in his work is promoting sustainable management of natural ecosystems, particularly pasturelands and degraded soils, which are crucial for Kyrgyzstan's agricultural sector. Currently, Taalai is pursuing a PhD at the Institute of Biology, National Academy of Science of Kyrgyz Republic, focusing on grass species for land restoration.

Kunzes Dolma GRÓ GTP alumna and PhD scholar is the first woman to be trained in the geothermal profession in India. She has also, since her return, been promoting the use of geothermal in her region of Ladakh, but also having a real impact in improving gender equality, focusing on the participation of women in decision making in Ladakh and opening people’s eyes to domestic violence against women and the need of shelters for women living in such conditions. She is India’s Ambassador for Women in Geothermal (WING), an international organization aimed at promoting the professional development, and advancement of women in the geothermal community.