Stories: OWSD Early Career Fellows

I want to be in the boardroom. I want to be part of the policy mechanism. I want my influence to go higher than the classroom.

The fellowship has really impacted my career. I was working in a university as an Assistant Lecturer, but with the OWSD fellowship I am undertaking a PhD that will allow me to reach the grade of Senior Lecturer.

The main problem in radiotherapy is that most cancer cells are resistant to radiation.

When you are following your passion, people will always see what you are doing. People will see that you are doing something different, and they will help you.

I’ve been working on reptile and amphibian biodiversity for 10 years, and I know that there are still new species that need to be described.

I wanted to do applied physics, not theoretical physics… I really wanted to use all of the knowledge that I acquired at university to explain our environment.

“Am very proud to say that I am encouraging other Cameroonian female scientists to apply for the OWSD fellowship programme and some of them have obtained the grant."

I found my niche, and I have not looked back.

What has surprised me is the way technology is emerging and affecting the current state of research. We are encountering a fourth industrial revolution that entails advances in computing power, quantum computing and artificial intelligence, which has already been shown to alter the way we conduct research.

In the challenging socio-economic context of developing countries, knowledge should serve to solve the varied problems faced by our societies.

OWSD's guidance and support allowed me to uncover hidden courage and realize aspects of myself that I never thought I possessed.

After my postdoc, I will return to Syria and work to achieve my big dream, which is to establish a research center.

I really want to do something for my country. Being part of the Sudan national chapter has given me that chance.

We’re waiting to get new opportunities for our future…We stay in our country, we try our best.

You must first be safe to be able to think about the environment.

OWSD fellowship represents a real empowering difference in my life and career

Due to the war in Yemen, I had stopped studying for two years. This opportunity gave me the chance to complete my postgraduate studies.

In today’s scientific environment, in which most PhD scientists concentrate on a single specific discipline, I might shift toward a more systemic view to approach the challenge in infectious diseases.

Just give me the seed and I will continue.

There is no reproduction without science. There is no electricity without science. There is no water without science…Life is science, science is life.