Learn about our community: spotlight on Dr. John Mulwa Ndisya
Dr. John Mulwa Ndisya is a postdoctoral researcher at ATB Potsdam in the Department of System Process Engineering. His work focuses on the design and optimisation of food processing systems integrating renewable energy, biological materials and sensor technologies to address food security and sustainability. John is also a member of the Steering Committee of the Leibniz Postdoc Network since June 2025 and coordinates the Working Group “Sustainability”.
Dr. John Mulwa Ndisya
Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB Potsdam)
Leibniz Section E – Environmental Sciences
Department: System Process Engineering
Profession: Postdoc in Process Engineering
What makes your institute a special place to work?
Interdisciplinary collaboration is essential for addressing the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, which cut across scientific and societal boundaries. At ATB, I am privileged to work with international colleagues from engineering, natural sciences and socio-economics to seek solutions to these pressing global challenges.
What particularly fascinates you about your research?
Food processing sits at the crossroads of science and everyday life. I am fascinated by how renewable energy, biological materials and novel computing technologies can be integrated to make food systems more adaptable and sustainable.
How is your work relevant for society?
Food is a universal human right and is central to our health, our cultures, and our economies. But the food must be adequate, safe and nutritious and produced with methods that don’t harm the our shared environment. My interests lie in food systems that are more resilient and sustainable. My research contributes to food security, healthy nutrition, clean energy and climate action, in line with the SDGs and the EU Green Deal’s objectives for resilient and just transitions.
What would you change to improve the situation of postdocs in Germany?
A successful research career depends on personal stability and adequacy of opportunities. More predictable career paths and longer-term contracts would reduce the uncertainty caused by fixed-term contracts. Greater stability would allow postdocs to pursue ambitious or high-risk research with confidence.
In your perfect research world, what would be different?
Transformative research should be guided by societal needs as much as scientific excellence. It would prioritise collaboration over competition. Although not all scientific results can be transferred immediately to practise, funding frameworks could at least assess not only scientific output but also sustainability and tangible societal impact, both at the proposal stage and in project impact evaluation stage.
In this series, we showcase postdocs working on society-relevant research questions at Leibniz Institutes.
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