In this episode we talk with Aino Korrensalo, a postdoctoral researcher at the department of Enivronmental and Biological sciences at the University of Eastern Finland in Joensuu campus. She is researching the carbon cycling in boreal peatland ecosystems. She talks about the interesting aspects of her work as well as the challenges of writing the research proposals. In the end she gives advice to PhD students who are unsure if they would like to continue the academic career that they should not stress about that decision because most paths in life can be walked in both directions.
In this episode of the iLEAPS podcast we have the opportunity to chat with Flobert Ndah who is doing a PhD in the Environmental Ecology research group at the Universty of Easter Finland in Kuopio. Flobert is originally from Cameroon in Central Africa, but moved to Finland for his Master's studies and stayed there until today. He talks about his experiences of moving to a far-away country. He states his passion for nature that inspired him to conduct research in environmental science and talks about the details of his Master's and PhD work. He discussess the challenges of establishing a network of colleagues and aquiring new skills, but says that the learning process is rewarding and fun. Finally, he gives some very good advice for current and future PhD students, such as establishing the healthy work-life balance, staying positive and enjoying the opportunities that PhD studies provide.
Dr Cleo Davie-Martin is a laboratory manager in the Ecosystem- Atmosphere Interactions research group at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and comes from New Zealand. In this episode, she talks about what inspired her to study chemistry and the ins and outs of working in a position of a lab manager and particularly about the opportunities for travel. She also gives advice about structuring the working time to avoid stress over the various different tasks such a specific scientific position often implies.
During this episode of the iLEAPS podcast we chat with Brenda D'Acunha who is currently a PhD student at the The University of British Columbia, Canada. Brenda is originally from Peru and currently studies the biosphere-atmosphere exchange of water and carbon over different types of ecosystems and land-use regions within Brazil utilizing a network of eddy covariance towers to collect data. Brenda talks about the challenges of carrying out fieldwork and collecting data during the global corona virus pandemic and also those challenges associated with fieldwork. Brenda also talks about her role as co-director of the REPU program, Research Experience for Peruvian Undergraduates, an organisation that arranges internships for Peruvian students to enable the development of technological and scientific capacity in Peru.
For this episode of the iLEAPS podcast we talk to Manuel Flores who is a Masters research student in the Department of Plant Biology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Manuel had the opportunity to conduct fieldwork in the forest of Costa Rica during his undergraduate studies at Texas A&M University. Manuel explains more about his experiences as a visiting researcher to Costa Rica and more about the scientific findings behind his recently published article "Assessing Forest Level Response to the Death of a Dominant Tree within a Premontane Tropical Rainforest" published in the journal Forests. During the podcast Manuel also talks about the challenges he has encountered and good experiences that he has had during his academic journey so far.
Dr. Flávia de Souza Mendes is a remote sensing research scientists from Brazil who has made the transition from academia to industry. Flávia works at Remote Sensing Solutions , a company in Munich, Germany. During this podcast Flávia chats with us about her career path, how she established a career in remote sensing, the challenges she faced along the way and how she overcame them. Flávia also discusses what inspired her to become a scientist and her current research and role at Remote Sensing solutions, including useful groups that she is a part of such as Ladies of Landsat, @LadiesofLandsat and Remote Sensing Applied to Tropical Environments (both on twitter). Flávia raises important points about mental health and having a support network (friend, family and other scientists) to help overcome the challenges that she has faced during her career such as going to university initially, learning a new language, moving to a new country and finally undertaking a PhD.
Dr. Eliane Gomes-Alves is a Post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Biogeochemical Processes, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Germany. Eliane studies Biogenic Volatile Organic Compound (BVOCs) at the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO) field station in Brazil. Eliane is an early career member of LAECESS - Latin America Early Career Earth System Scientist network. During this podcast Eliane talks about her current research, career highlights and discusses the challenges faced by both women and Latin American early career scientists and how she tackled navigating her way through these challenges.
This podcast forms part of a series in which we introduce members of the iLEAPS Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) and also the Early Career Scientist Network (ECSN) Committee and forms part of the iLEAPS Online conference during March 2021. Our guest for this podcast is Professor Allison Steiner who is a Professor of atmospheric sciences in the Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering and the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Michigan. Allison is also a member of the iLEAPS Scientific steering committee. Her research uses and develops models to explore the interactions of the biosphere and atmosphere, with the goal of understanding the natural versus human influence on climate and atmospheric chemistry. In this podcast Allison talks about her scientific interests and how these have shaped her career path. Allison also talks about her role within iLEAPS, what the future might hold for this area of research and gives great advice for early career scientists.
Dr. Xianhong Meng is a scientist in Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Science, Lanzhou, China. She is interested in how land surface conditions respond to climate change, and affect weather and climate substantially, based on observations, satellite data and modelling, particularly over the arid and semi-arid regions, including the high-altitude and cold Tibetan Plateau regions. Now she leads a field observational station called “Zoige Plateau Wetlands Ecosystem Research Station” in Northeast Tibetan Plateau in China. In this podcast Dr. Meng discusses her career path and talks about her research and gives information on the iLEAPS conference March 2021 session that she is co-convening related to research in the arid and semi-arid environments.
This podcast forms part of a series in which we introduce members of the iLEAPS Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) and also the Early Career Scientist Network (ECSN) Committee and forms part of the iLEAPS Online conference during March 2021. During this podcast, we talk to Prof. Sebastian Leuzinger, who is a plant ecologist in the School of Science at Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand and an active member of the iLEAPS Scientific Steering Committee. Sebastian talks about his career and his motivation to become a researcher/scientist rather than working in the industrial sector much more well paid. He also talks about his role as a member of iLEAPS SSC, the collaboration with other members of the committee both SSC and ECSN, the support iLEAPS to carry out research and to organise science outreach activities such as conferences and podcasts. Sebastian also mentions the importance of social like Twitter for collaboration. He concludes on his current research activities on water flows and carbon distribution in trees, mainly the role that roots play in the communication between plants.