Event 'A Future Connected: Scientists of the World' shines spotlight on OWSD scientists

April 17, 2024

On Tuesday, 16 April, students, scientists, and other members of the local community gathered for the event 'A Future Connected: Scientists of the World' at the Teatro Miela in Trieste, Italy, where the OWSD Secretariat is based. The event combined screenings of a series of video portraits from the OWSD Visions film series with direct testimonies from three OWSD Early Career Fellows, who were in Trieste for the 2023 fellows' orientation workshop. 

Tonya Blowers, OWSD Coordinator, and filmmaker Nicole Leghissa who produces the OWSD Visions series, introduced the event. Leghissa explained that the OWSD Visions project emerged from a desire to support autonomous storytelling of science stories in the Global South, which came to fruition during the COVID-19 pandemic when she developed a distance training programme for filmmakers.

Six of the 20 films so far produced under the project were screened during the event, telling the stories of women scientists who deal with sustainability in the textile industry, purification of drinking water, creation of renewable energy, the epigenetic marks of trauma, and much more in countries such as Tanzania, Uganda, Congo, Nepal, Kenya, and Jordan.

The films were accompanied by direct testimony from women scientists in these and other countries. Tista Prasai Joshi, 2019 Early Career fellow from Nepal who is the protagonist of one of the films screened, took the stage along with 2023 fellows Violeta Chichique Martínez from El Salvador and Bennetta Koomson from Ghana, to share their moving personal stories about what inspires and motivates them as scientists in often challenging circumstances. Their dedication to solving problems from within their countries and their versatility and ingenuity in producing excellent scientific results in under-resourced environments was an inspiration to all in the audience, including other young women scientists and several students who attended from the United World College in Duino, Italy. A lively Q&A followed the scientists' testimonies, and audience members were invited to network more with all of the Early Career fellows present during an aperitivo that followed the event. 

"The forum provided me with a great opportunity not only to showcase my work, but also to share my personal commitment on helping my people," said Violeta Chichique Martínez.

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