Simplicity in research

Takeaways from today's episode:

• Simple science is beautiful, but you must be open and be quick on your, learn on the job and do NOT minimise the advantage of soft skills.
• There is no curriculum that will teach you all the skills you will need to succeed as an independent researcher but you can seek out good mentorship, engage with the public, pioneer flat leadership systems, and where you can, employ virtual systems/communications to increase visibility and learning.
• There is room to analyse a problem in smaller bitesize chunks using available resources
• Remember a little can go a long way to prioritise peoples health and well-being
• Focus on scalable ways to address regional problems - “Regional focus with international footprint” and remember that the mission is to improve health for everyone.

Resources:

Fredros’ TED talk on developing creative innovative solutions for malaria prevention in rural Tanzania :https://www.ted.com/talks/fredros_okumu_why_i_study_the_most_dangerous_animal_on_earth_mosquitoes

Bill Gates on supporting Fredros’ work: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/williamhgates_would-you-put-your-arm-in-a-cage-with-500-activity-6703376045862600704-WFq2

Ubuntu philosophy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_philosophy

Redzone podcast interviewing Dr. Jeff Karp on “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B01FSkPgS2k

Guest information:

Dr. Fredros Okumu is Director of Science at Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania. He is a mosquito biologist and public health expert working on sustainable approaches for controlling vector-borne diseases. He is also passionate about improving ecosystems for young researchers in Africa. @Fredros_Inc (on twitter) blogs here [malariaworld.org], and has ~100 scientific publications archived here[scholar.google.co.uk] & here [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov].

Prof. Marco Mello is a Brazilian biologist with a PhD. in ecology, alumnus of the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung. He worked as an associate researcher at Ulm University, Germany, and currently works as an associate professor at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. His research focuses on ecological synthesis, mainly about species interactions. Connect with Marco on twitter: @marcoarmello and his website: https://marcomellolab.wordpress.com

Acknowledgements

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

Research: Alice Matimba

Producers: Alice Matimba (Senior Producer), Isabela Malta (Producer), Christine Boinett (Creator and Executive producer), Emmanuela Oppong (Producer)

Host: Alice Matimba

Media and Marketing: Catherine Holmes

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

Sponsors:

Wellcome Genome Campus Advanced Courses and Scientific Conferences

Wellcome Sanger Institute

Social Entrepreneurship to Spur Health