PhD Candidate University of Minnesota St Paul, Minnesota, United States
Gross underrepresentation of applied ecological research from middle and low-income countries is a global problem that limits our ability to address food insecurity at the complex interface between soil health and climate change. As a result of myriad limitations within and beyond the academic realm, collective knowledge of soil biodiversity is constrained to a handful of largely English-speaking, high-income industrialized countries. This represents a real problem for soil ecologists, farmers, and policymakers because our understanding of soil biological processes is constrained to a handful of sites around the globe. The regions of the world with the lowest representation in the sciences (Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia, and the Middle East) also have the highest need for greater soil biodiversity research to feed burgeoning populations under growing climate uncertainty.
What will it take to broaden and democratize soil biodiversity research? Forming international research collaborations with scientists and institutions in underserved areas of the world is crucial to advancing soil biodiversity research and building expertise abroad. However, this is often easier said than done. Current graduate students are future principal investigators that will soon be tasked with solving pressing global problems. This talk will offer insights and lessons learned from one graduate student’s attempt to form a collaborative research network in Rwanda. We will discuss a roadmap of the funding and decision-making processes that resulted in a Rwanda-based dissertation project. Next, we will briefly outline key findings from this work within the context of soil biodiversity and discuss how it relates to Rwandan smallholder interests. Along the way, we will also suggest tangible steps that can be taken to address barriers that graduate students face in meaningfully and intentionally engaging with international stakeholders.
