Guest Post: From the 2012 AAAS Annual Meeting

[This post is by AuthorAID graduate assistant Alejandra (Alex) Arreola-Triana, whose work includes translating AuthorAID materials into Spanish. Thank you, Alex, for all you do!]

Recently I attended the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting in Vancouver, Canada. During the meeting, I attended the session “Toward a Global Lab: Building Science Capacity in Developing Countries”.

The session included 3 talks, 1 of which was about AuthorAID. All 3 talks shared a common theme: advancing research in the developing world.

The first speaker was Iruka Okeke, from Haverford College in Philadelphia. She used the example of Africa to illustrate the obstacles faced by researchers in developing countries. Dr. Okeke mentioned the importance of teaching networking and grant-writing skills. These skills allow researchers to obtain resources, form collaborations, and publicize their work—goals also promoted by AuthorAID.

The next speaker was Lina Nilsson, from the University of California, Berkeley. She talked about a project called Tekla Labs. Dr. Nilsson noted that sometimes a shortage of lab equipment can slow scientific progress. Tekla Labs is a website where scientists can find instructions to build their own lab equipment.  These instruments are easy to build and maintain and are very inexpensive. The site also features an online community where researchers can interact and exchange ideas and solutions.

Large conferences also offer a chance to network. After the session, I talked with people from the International Development Research Centre, a Canadian entity that supports research in developing countries.

The session was very productive, and I was happy to find so many people interested in promoting research in developing countries.