Aspiring to promote science in the African context
With Dr Stephen Aderinto
For Stephen Aderinto, who grew up in Nigeria, an interest in science was not something that was particularly strongly promoted as part of his educational environment. He started to study science mostly because he was doing well in the topic. Enrolling in a PhD was the necessary next step to become a scientist. The multicultural experiences that Stephen has acquired by studying in China and the UK have changed his thinking. He talks about having gained a “globalised thinking” and having shifted his mentality to an increased flexibility. Flexibility is a valuable skill in research.
It is still early days for him to know where his PhD will take him. He is fully aware that limited funding for African research makes it challenging for PhD graduates to see how to take forward their research skills. Getting people in African countries to develop new perspectives about the role and impact of science is something that he is committed to contribute to. Stephen knows that this starts from school when people are building or not an interest in science. Advising and influencing policy decisions based on scientific knowledge and understanding is also something on the cards for how Stephen may take his research skills. A great many possible future avenues to contribute to building science in the African context.
Organisations supporting African Science
https://scienceforafrica.foundation
https://www.aasciences.africa
https://yosa.org.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/NEMRAAfrica
Listening to our conversation will prompt your thinking:
For PIs
· How are your biases contributing to how you are considering PhD applicants from overseas?
· How do you engage with your PhD students from the Global South to explore their context and see how you could best support them?
· Have you considered how maintaining collaborative links with your PhD alumni from the Global South may be essential in their ability to continue to engage in their research endeavours?
For early career researchers
· Can you engage more often with your colleagues from the Global South to build your own understanding of research contexts in different countries?
· What are you learning about different ways of working from interacting with colleagues from multicultural backgrounds?
· Can you challenge your own biases through engaging with research colleagues who have very different experiences of the research environments?
For early career researchers from the Global South
· Are you building strong collaborations during your PhD that you could maintain once you go back to your country?
· Do you feel that you are open enough with your supervisor to share what the research context is like in your home country, so they can understand your context?
· What are you doing to build your leadership skills broadly beyond the scope of your research project?
Some reflections based on my discussion with Stephen
Four years ago (when I was still working at the University of Sheffield), I wrote a blog post for the Think Ahead blog inspired by my first meeting with Stephen Aderinto. It is hard to believe that it was so long ago and hard to accept that a researcher who had been so brave in taking a PhD abroad has had to go through his PhD during a world pandemic. It feels such a shame, as I am sure that the experience Stephen will have had could have been a much better one without all of the Covid restrictions and the impact on research progress.
In these few years since I wrote this post, I don’t think that much work has been done to consider how we best support Global South researchers undertaking PhDs in western countries to prepare them for their research leadership roles when they go back home.
During one of the Covid lockdowns, I had the privilege to run a series of workshops for the NEMRA network, who is a network of researchers in Uganda who are supporting each other build researcher development initiatives.
As far as I am aware, I don’t know of any specific networks that support PhD graduates from Global South countries in their transition post-PhD. Making choices about what to do next at the end of a PhD is never easy, but it feels that there is an added complexity when it comes to researchers from the Global South. What would be good for their own research career and research portfolio may mean that going back home is not the first option, as they know that research infrastructure and funding may be limited.
Navigating these choices will not be easy. I work as a coach and that’s what coaching does, helping people think things aloud, articulate the challenges of choices. Revisiting this interview with Stephen is prompting me to action in terms of thinking about what is missing in the way we offer support to Global South researchers during their PhD in the UK, but also as they prepare to decide what to do next. Some actions on me then to reach out to researchers who have gone back home after a PhD in the west and get to hear about their experiences. What do they wish they had received as professional development that would have prepared them better to go back to their own countries?
I am also thinking about researchers and research leaders I work with and about what they may be able to do to maintain links with PhD alumni from the Global South. Do they keep in touch? Do they know whether their ex-PhD students are still able to undertake research? Could they be exploring more collaborative opportunities so that PhD alumni are able to maintain research activities?
o Is this prompting you to action to have a conversation with a colleague from the Global South?
o What will be your own action to be a change maker in fostering research collaborations in countries with limited resources?
o Who would be a good contact to initiate conversations within your institution about how researchers from the Global South are better supported to maintain research opportunities when they graduate?
“I think what many supervisors need to do is to actually understand the situations of the students from the Global South better and to see how best they can support them”
