Clovis Che Awah, a 38-year-old environmental and biotechnology researcher from Cameroon, arrived in South Korea in August 2016 through a government scholarship and now works as a postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University Global Campus in Songdo, developing technologies to transform waste plastics and food waste into valuable chemical resources, Yonhap News Agency reported.
“I study what we can recover from the things we throw away,” Awah said during an interview on Oct. 14, describing a decade-long journey that has taken him from a farming family in the Northwest Region of Cameroon to industrial laboratories and academic research centers in South Korea.
Growing up in Mankon village near Bamenda, Awah balanced farm work and household chores with his education, entering university in 2008 with his father’s support and earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in plant science while funding his studies through part-time work. His path to South Korea began by chance when he overheard a classmate discussing a Korean government scholarship during a master’s thesis defense. After researching the country’s public safety and technological capabilities, he applied with a professor’s recommendation.
Following Korean language training at Konyang University, Awah entered a doctoral program at Pukyong National University in Busan. Guided by his adviser to switch from ecological engineering to marine and environmental biotechnology to gain hands-on laboratory experience, he spent late nights conducting experiments on microalgae for biodiesel and omega-3 production, as well as wastewater treatment, allowing him to complete his doctorate ahead of schedule.
From Industrial Waste Labs to European Research Projects
After earning his doctorate, Awah transitioned into the private sector. At Hypersolution, a waste-resource technology firm, he worked with high-temperature, high-pressure water systems to convert waste into carbon materials. He later joined Eco Clean to research thermal decomposition methods for recycling waste plastics.
That industrial background paved the way for his current role at Ghent University Global Campus, which was established in Songdo in 2014 under a South Korean government initiative to attract overseas institutions. There, he contributes to the eLECTRO project, an initiative under the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation program. The project investigates electrified pyrolysis and high-temperature steam cracking to turn waste plastics into high-value chemicals. More recently, his work has expanded into recovering materials from spent lithium-ion batteries.
Awah cautions that recycling processes are not automatically environmentally benign. He emphasizes that assessing their true footprint requires accounting for the entire lifecycle, including collection, sorting, energy consumption, and resulting byproducts.
| Milestone | Year / Date | Location / Institution |
|---|---|---|
| Undergraduate Entry | 2008 | Bamenda, Cameroon |
| Arrival in South Korea | August 2016 | Konyang University, Nonsan |
| Permanent Residency Awarded | December 2023 | South Korea |
Awah Builds Ties with Konyang University and Industry
Outside the laboratory, Awah’s early time at Konyang University included active participation in campus events, where he formed a close connection with then-President Kim Hee-soo, earning the affectionate nickname “Kim Clovis” and serving as an honorary university ambassador. His ties to the institution deepened when his wife later enrolled in a doctoral program there.
When Awah secured his first research team leader position in industry, he noted that his nationality and race presented no barriers to leadership responsibility.
To foster bilateral academic ties, Awah established the Korea International Institute for Multidisciplinary Research, a network connecting roughly 20 researchers in South Korea and Cameroon to support joint studies and funding applications. He also co-founded “Waegook,” an information platform designed to assist foreign nationals with settling into life in South Korea.
Having obtained permanent residency in December 2023, and with his wife working as an assistant professor of public health at a university in Seoul, Awah views South Korea as his permanent home, where a chance conversation about a scholarship ultimately unlocked an unexpected career.
