27 | The story of Dr. Benta Abuya | The Scientist’s Path Series

Dr Benta Abuya moves from being a high school teacher to educational research at APHRC

This is repurposed interview from the science media Africa interviews done in collaboration with Planet wizard Africa

Interview Questions:

1. Background
2. Prescience Student experience
3. Science Interest: How it began and who has influenced your path into science.
4. University experience: Bsc to PhD
5. How did you get your first job and subsequent jobs
6. Mentorship: Did you have a mentor, Is it important to others, Do you mentor
7. What kind of opportunities are there in science or for science graduates
8. Highs and Lows in your career
9. Mistakes and what you learnt from it, advise to younger self
10. Tell us about your research….How you got into it, and how it helps the society: Past Present and Future if any.
11. Future prospects
12. Experience as a woman in science: The changes over the years…Advantages and disadvantages of being a woman in science.
13. Let’s talk about mental health: Any personal experience or things you would like to share about it.
14. Advice to a young scientist.
15. Anything you would like to add: Questions you wish I asked and wish to answer.

The Vulnerable Scientist is a Kenyan-based podcast that focuses on scientists' stories about their daily lives, work, and how they got to where they are. I am your host Sarah Nyakeri, a scientist, informal science communicator and a hiker. I am a multidisciplinary individual that does digital marketing and website design during my free time.

The main questions asked that scientists are expected to answer vulnerable are: How are you, Introduce yourself, how did you become a scientist, What are the highs and lows you have experienced in your science career, tell the listeners about your hobbies, what question would you like to answer that has not been asked and how do you feel after having this conversation.

Why did I start this podcast? You might ask. When doing my MSc project, my experiments started to fail at a certain period and it was very frustrating. I thought, If I finally get a new vaccine target for CBPP in cows, it would be all smiles but no one will ever know what I went through. I also wondered how many scientists were going through the same rough patch but did not openly talk about it?

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