14 | Vulnerable Milcah Kigoni | Part 1: Introduction

In this Episode, Milcah introduces herself and a gives short summary of the journey to where she is as a PhD Student in the US from Kenya while mentioning some of the highs and lows of her career journey before we dive into the podcast.

Episode summary;

• How COVID-19 affected Milcah Kigoni's PhD funding
• Research for new vaccine candidates for tickborne diseases.
• How Networking Helps in getting career opportunities in Research and Bioinformatics
• Getting a career rolling in Bioinformatics in Kenya
• PhD Research in Oats, at the University of Illinois, breeding in small grains and intercropping

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?

One day when I had just had a rough day, I talked into a mic about my day and I felt better. That was the first episode. At first, I thought it would just be journalling but after some fellow scientists heard it, they wanted to be Vulnerable too. Since then I have brought scientists from different fields to tell their stories of the highs and lows they have experienced with honesty and authenticity being the lead of our informal and long conversations.

I enjoy asking questions since I am a naturally curious person. Feedback from the audience including scientists and non-scientists is the main motivation why I message scientists or accept their request to be on the podcast, schedule an interview, edit audio, design the artwork and post it and share it on social media platforms. It is a full-time job that requires me to spend from my pocket with no monetary returns so far but I enjoy it.

If you want to be Vulnerable on the show, send me an audio message either on speak pipe (https://www.speakpipe.com/VulnerableScientistVoicemail ) or anchor (https://anchor.fm/thevulnerablescientist/message). If you want to talk about a certain topic in the science career space or anything as a scientist that might have nothing to with science but affects scientists, feel free to reach out too. The podcast is on social media @TVscientistPod and Website; TheVulnerablescientist.com. You can support the show (https://www.patreon.com/thevulnerablescientist) on Patreon or Paypal sarahnyanchera(at)gmail or Mpesa at (254)0718896962 under Sarah Nyakeri.

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