Young Sierra Leonean Inkovator Jeremiah Thoronka has successfully passed his his PhD Proposal défense exams officially becoming a Social Innovation and Sustainability PhD Candidate.

Thoronka confirmed on his Facebook page that in Summer he will join 20 other PHD and post-doctoral candidates summer, from 19 Universities globally for the New Energy Summer 2024 cohort at the Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society at Dartmouth College.

He further revealed that they will be engaging in interdisciplinary scholarship and collaboration to accelerate the transition to a just, equitable, and sustainable energy future for a healthy planet.

Expressing his excitement, he affirmed that he is excited to discuss his research on innovation diffusion during the energy transition process.

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Growing up in a slum camp for displaced people on the outskirts of the capital Freetown, Sierra Leone, raised by his single mother, Jeremiah saw how the effects of burning charcoal and wood for lighting and heat were having a detrimental impact on health and children’s progression. This prompt Jeremiah’s interest renewable energy and climate change, making him an advocate.

At 17, while studying at Rwanda’s African Leadership University, he launched a start-up called Optim Energy that transforms vibrations from vehicles and pedestrian footfall on roads into an electric current, generating power without relying on changeable weather and not needing connection to an external power source.

He invented a device that uses kinetic energy from traffic and pedestrians to generate clean power for which he was named the winner of the Chegg.org Global Student Prize 2021.

He became the first winner of this $100,000 award to the Global Teacher Prize which is given to one exceptional student who has made a real impact on learning, the lives of their peers and on society beyond.