Diasporan scientists-The big return home

Your Digital Mentor Podcast

Researchers are moving to other countries for different reasons, such as building a career, lack of funding, lack of mentoring. However, many face a dilemma between returning home, transferring knowledge and skills to local research, or staying. So when is the right time to return home? And when you get home, how do you prepare for the challenges around settling down?

We asked our guests Daniela and Brighton their own experiences; how they decided to go back and what motivated them to overcome challenges and strengthen the research in their home...

Guests Information:

Dr. Daniela Robles-Espinoza is an assistant professor at the International Laboratory for Human Genome Research (LIIGH), National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and an international fellow at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, UK. She studied a BSc in genome sciences at UNAM and a PhD in cancer genetics at the University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on using large-scale sequencing data for investigating the driver alterations, risk factors and potential therapeutic targets of types of cancer important in Mexico and Latin America, such as acral lentiginous melanoma and hepatocellular carcinoma. https://liigh.unam.mx/drobles/ @daniela_oaks

Dr. Brighton Samatanga is founder & CEO of The Biotech Institute (Zimbabwe). He is a molecular biophysicist with general interest in genome regulation and control. He did his PhD at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and was Professor for Physics for Soft and Biological Matter in Germany.https://twitter.com/drsamatanga https://www.biotechinst.com

Resources

1. Fangmeng, T. (2016). Brain circulation, diaspora and scientific progress: A study of the international migration of Chinese scientists, 1998–2006. Asian and Pacific migration journal : APMJ, 25(3), pp.296–319.
2. Mwampamba, T.H. et al. (2021). Challenges encountered when doing research back home: Perspectives from African conservation scientists in the diaspora. Conservation science and practice.

Acknowledgments

Editing by Mariana Vaz, https://www.marianacpvaz.com/

Research: Alice Matimba

Producers: Christine Boinett (Creator and Executive producer), Alice Matimba (Senior Producer), Isabela Malta (Producer and Research Lead), Emmanuela Oppong (Producer), Nagehan Ramazanoglu (Producer), Catherine Holmes (Marketing Lead).

Host: Alice Matimba

Media and Marketing: Catherine Holme

Music: https://freesound.org/s/477388/

Contact us

Email: [e-mail]

Twitter: @mentor_podcast

Support

WCS: https://www.wellcomeconnectingscience.org/

WSI: https://www.sanger.ac.uk

SESH: https://www.seshglobal.org/

OR for simplecast

Support:

Wellcome Connecting Sciences

Wellcome Sanger Institute

Social Entrepreneurship to Spur Health