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The Institution of Agricultural Engineers (IAgrE) has formally accredited the Train the Trainer Programme delivered by the Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold-Chain (ACES) and the Clean Cooling Network (CCN) at the ACES campus in Kigali, 27th October 2025.
This recognition confirms that the program now offers students a Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert) in Train the Trainer – Clean Cooling and a Master of Science (MSc) in Clean Cooling, marking a significant step forward in professionalizing the global clean cooling and cold-chain workforce.
The accreditation recognizes the program’s high academic and professional standards and its alignment with IAgrE’s mission to promote engineering excellence, innovation, and sustainability in agriculture, the environment, and food systems.
With this approval, the following qualifications are now formally recognized:
- Postgraduate Certificate (1 year): PGCert Train the Trainer – Clean Cooling
- Master of Science (2 years): MSc in Clean Cooling, with three specialization streams:
- Sustainable Cold-Chain Cooling for Postharvest Management and Value Addition
- Cold-Chain and Business Models
The deep-dive TtT course provides community leaders and mobilizers with comprehensive knowledge in refrigeration, cold chain applications, cooling hub design, and the essential business models for food and pharma. It includes 10 x 1-week modules; at the end of the course, successful candidates will receive a PGCert. The program can be extended by one year for students who wish to gain specialized knowledge in specific fields in relation to the sustainable cold chain. At the end of which they will be awarded an MSc.
Building Capacity for Climate-Resilient Development
Globally, an estimated 526 million tonnes of food are lost each year due to the absence of effective cold chains, equivalent to nearly 12% of all food produced for human consumption. In Africa, this challenge is particularly critical, where 30–50% of perishable produce is lost post-harvest, contributing to food insecurity, economic losses, and avoidable greenhouse gas emissions.
By equipping engineers, technicians, and trainers with world-class skills and credentials, this program helps transform these statistics into opportunities, empowering communities to design and maintain efficient, low-carbon cold chains that protect food, health, and livelihoods.
Charles Nicklin CEng FIAgrE, Chief Executive Officer of the Institution of Agricultural Engineers, said, “We recognize the high standards applied to your program and the alignment with our core professional and educational values. We look forward to our continued collaboration in maintaining the quality and relevance of professional training provision.”
A Global Model for Professionalising Clean Cooling
The IAgrE endorsement signifies a milestone not only for ACES and CCN but also for the broader international effort to develop the next generation of clean cooling professionals. The Train the Trainer pathway provides several module learning structures covering refrigeration technology, postharvest management, telemetry and data logging, gender inclusion, sustainable finance, and policy leadership.
Professor Toby Peters, the Founding Director of ACES and Co-Founder of the Clean Cooling Network, said, “This is a moment of genuine significance for our program, for the communities we serve, and for the growing global network working to make cooling a critical infrastructure for climate resilience.
To move from our first pilot course to full accreditation at PGCert and MSc levels reflects the collective rigor, innovation, and shared vision that underpin our mission. This endorsement strengthens our commitment to creating a recognized professional pathway, one that connects evidence, education, and empowerment to build a workforce ready for a sustainable cooling future.”
The courses were developed through an academic partnership led by the University of Birmingham, Cranfield, and London South Bank Universities with funding from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra). Defra is investing more than £25M into the program to accelerate the delivery of sustainable, resilient, and equitable cooling and cold chains in the developing countries of the world, harnessing them to improve food security and resilience and social, One Health, environmental, and economic goals—locally and globally.
With over 3,000 members worldwide, IAgrE’s endorsement provides international recognition for the program and reinforces ACES and CCN’s growing institutional foundation for future partnerships, accreditations, and research collaborations.
About the Institution of Agricultural Engineers (IAgrE)
Founded in 1938, IAgrE is the UK’s professional body for engineers, scientists, and technologists working in agriculture, the environment, and agri-tech industries. The institution promotes the application of engineering and scientific principles to enhance productivity, sustainability, and innovation across global food and environmental systems.
About CCN and ACES
ACES is a first-of-its-kind global Center of Excellence, focused on developing holistic and sustainable system-level cold-chain solutions. Built on a “Hub and Specialized Outreach and Knowledge Establishment (SPOKE)” model, ACES shares knowledge, training, and technical support across markets. ACES serves as the first regional hub, while SPOKEs, developed with in-country expert partners, provide local training and community support to put tested real-world solutions into practice.
The CCN platform connects all Hubs and SPOKEs, offering a single, consistent source of data, delivery models, tested technologies, training resources, governance frameworks, and standard operating procedures.
