iLEAPS Early Careers Scientist Podcast

During this podcast we discuss the paper: "Reconciling the optimal and empirical approaches to modelling stomatal conductance" Published in Global Change Biology, 2011. We talk to the lead author Belinda E. Medlyn. Follow this link to view the published article: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2010.02375.x

Today on the podcast we have a great opportunity to talk with Simon Clark, who is pursuing a career in Science Communication. Simon is communicating the findings from a broad range of topics within the Environmental Science, in video form on his successful YouTube channel, but also in his newest popular science book about the history of atmospheric research. In this episode, Simon is sharing his story from being interested in all aspects of nature as a child, through his days as a PhD student at the University of Oxford and until today where he works as a full-time science communicator. He also talks a little bit about what his thesis in Atmospheric physics was about and shares a wealth of information about the amazing things, but also some of the challenges of the work that he does. Finally, he gives valuable advice to anyone who would like to start a career in Science Communication. Check out his website to see and be up to date with everything Simon is doing: https://www.simonoxfphys.com/.

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.

Today we chatted with Antonio Randazzo, a PhD student at the Fluid Geochemistry research group at the University of Florence. He studies gas emissions from soils around landfills, geothermal systems and volcanoes. In this episode talked about his passion for inorganic nature and about his academic career path that included many exchange periods around Europe. He shared some of the challenges in his PhD studies, but also the excitement to contribute to the scientific commnity. Finally, he admits that doing a PhD is not easy, but he does encourage potential new PhD students to join a group that is supportive, believes in them and encourages them to grow.

Jing Tang is an ecosysem modeller in the Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science in Lund University in Sweden and in the Ecoystem-Atmosphere interactions research group at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. She tells her story of doing the PhD studies in Lund after finishing her Master's degree in China, and continuing with a postdoctoral positoion in Copenhagen and Lund. She discussess the possibilities for learning and interesting scientific work in the field of ecosystem modelling, but also discusses a few of the challenges. She gives advice in the end to pay attention to not ignore some of the additional activities during scientific work, such as teaching and organizing courses and conferences, because they might be an important aspect in the selection for funding applications.

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.

Dr Eleinis Avila-Lovera is a plant ecophysiologist. Eleinis is currently an Earl S. Tupper postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. Eleinis talks about her career path and research undertaken during her undergraduate studies, PhD and previous postdoc at Chapman University, California. Eleinis explains more about her fieldwork and analytical equipment she uses to measure photosynthesis in plants. Eleinis also raises important points about work-life balance and mental health in academia. Finally Eleinis talks about a recent network that she has set up with a fellow colleague that is aimed at bringing together other scientists in Latin America who study plant ecophysiology, Red Latinoamericana de Ecofisiólogos Vegetales and passes on advice for other early career scientists who may be working in or visiting Latin America.

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.