Cynthia Odili

Cynthia is a social entrepreneur and PhD candidate at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Nigeria. As a researcher, she is passionate about finding sustainable and climate-smart solutions to global water challenges. She and her team are currently working on producing biomaterials from renewable waste sources to provide solutions that extend our water resources, reduce waste, and promote a circular economy.

She has a strong interest in engineering education and is a student at the African Centre of Excellence on New Pedagogies in Engineering Education, ABU. In her spare time, she volunteers with the Centre of Water and Environmental Development in Kaduna, where she contributes to community-based tree-planting initiatives and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) programmes.

Cynthia is a Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Fellow, an alumna of the CLS-SustainFood Network, a member of the International Water Association, and Vice President of the Nigerian Youth Parliament for Water.

“I am motivated by the belief that science should not remain within the walls of academia, but should be translated into technologies that ordinary people can use and benefit from.”

Cynthia Odili is a part of the Falling Walls Female Science Talents Intensive Track 2026.