Ernest Chi Fru
Cardiff University, UK
Ernest was born in Cameroon. He obtained a PhD in Geomicrobiology from Gothenburg University, Sweden. Ernest was a Marie Curie fellow and a recipient of an ERC starting grant from the European Research Council. Studying and working in 8 academic institutions spread across Africa, Europe and North America, has exposed Ernest to diverse cultures and societies. He currently is a senior lecturer at the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Cardiff University, where he is the director of Postgraduate Research Studies. Being a first generation immigrant has afforded Ernest a unique perspective into life and living in an all-black society and the challenges of being a minority person in a western setting. He notes that discrimination exists in all societies. In Africa, tribalism and linguistic, sexual orientation and gender discrimination are rife. In western societies, chronic and systemic racism and religious discrimination are the most prominent, while gender and sexual orientation bias remain a major problem. Ernest’s experience with discrimination contextualised to these different societies and cultures is a major force for joining the EAG-DEI Committee. He seeks to lift up the voices of minority people at the fringes of society by focusing light on the biases that hinder exploration of their ingenuity, talent and potential to contribute towards humanity’s collective progress.