Some thoughts for nurturing scientific talents Mariane Diop Kane Director of Meteorology, ANACIM marianediopkane@gmail.com CAS Science Summit, WMO, Geneva, 20-22 October 2017

CAS Science Summit, WMO, Geneva, 20-22 October 2017 Outline Introduction Factors influencing early career scientists Challenges & solutions Gender equality WMO public-private partnership How to promote the use of new datasets and tools CAS Science Summit, WMO, Geneva, 20-22 October 2017

CAS Science Summit, WMO, Geneva, 20-22 October 2017 Introduction My definition: someone who can do certain things better, here science. Some people are born with those abilities, others are brought to be talents (through good training, assistance and supervision) . So there is a comparison and then a reference. Wikipedia: aptitude & measure. it was one of several ancient units of mass, a commercial weight, as well as corresponding units of value equivalent to these masses of a precious metal (wikipedia). CAS Science Summit, WMO, Geneva, 20-22 October 2017

CAS Science Summit, WMO, Geneva, 20-22 October 2017 it was approximately the mass of water required to fill an amphora.[2] A Greek, or Attic talent, was 26 kilograms (57 lb),[3] a Roman talent was 32.3 kilograms (71 lb), an Egyptian talent was 27 kilograms (60 lb),[3] and a Babylonian talent was 30.3 kilograms (67 lb).[4] Ancient Israel, and other Levantine countries, adopted the Babylonian talent, but later revised the mass.[5] The heavy common talent, used in New Testament times, was 58.9 kilograms (130 lb) CAS Science Summit, WMO, Geneva, 20-22 October 2017

CAS Science Summit, WMO, Geneva, 20-22 October 2017 There are different approaches to nurture scientific talent depending on where the talent live, his background and whether coming from a developing country or not CAS Science Summit, WMO, Geneva, 20-22 October 2017

Factors influencing early career scientists Personal desire + environment + funds Desire to achieve more, to contribute to resolve tricky questions Have a model (someone who fascinated you and you want to do as much as him or more) A good supervisor (mentor) Be among a good research group (as opposed to working alone) Availability of research infrastructures Availability of funds to further research CAS Science Summit, WMO, Geneva, 20-22 October 2017

CAS Science Summit, WMO, Geneva, 20-22 October 2017 Challenges inadequate research environment: Lack of infrastructures (computational equipments, internet bandwidth), Difficulty to access some data (even your own data), and to process the data Lack of good IT support staff Research done solely rather that within a group can lenghen time for getting publication: often about one person working in a research subject in Africa while teams in developed countries. You may have good ideas, good experience and be able to explain some questions in your geographical area, but as soon as you discussed it or present it at a conference, it will be pick up by stronger more powerful researchers and published …. Lack of staff in general, and researchers: and researchers turn soon into administratives All this makes research progress very slow: in some cases is worth it? Eg Limited area modeling versus global modelling CAS Science Summit, WMO, Geneva, 20-22 October 2017

CAS Science Summit, WMO, Geneva, 20-22 October 2017 Challenges Limited funds: Difficulty to access to peer review journal and publish (more complicated! Some odd comments from revieweers) Difficulty to participate to international conferences ( abstracts submission fees, registration fees, air ticket and visa and subsistance allowance) and interact with other researchers Languages, cultural differences CAS Science Summit, WMO, Geneva, 20-22 October 2017

CAS Science Summit, WMO, Geneva, 20-22 October 2017 Possible solutions  Put research in the government priorities, and Met services Financial support from the government to promote and encourage the scientific job. Foster international win-win collaboration: develop international joined research projects where equipments can be acquired Lower publishing fees and registration fees for scientists from developing countries CAS Science Summit, WMO, Geneva, 20-22 October 2017

CAS Science Summit, WMO, Geneva, 20-22 October 2017 Possible solutions Support for high level education and build critical mass researchers  Keep down the brain drain by interesting early career scientists: some talents never return home after being trained outside or will leave soon after they come back. CAS Science Summit, WMO, Geneva, 20-22 October 2017

CAS Science Summit, WMO, Geneva, 20-22 October 2017 Gender equality Not for soon Even at lower education level there is no gender equality Low proportion of women in scientific disciplines and most of them do not pursue their studies until doctorate level for many social considerations such as, marriage, pregnancy, child care CAS Science Summit, WMO, Geneva, 20-22 October 2017

WMO public-private partnership should encourage and persuade public and private sectors to put together their different expertises and their means for a fruitful and win-win collaboration Find ways of protecting talents: recent invasion of private sector in africa doing research, developping and disseminating services directly to users CAS Science Summit, WMO, Geneva, 20-22 October 2017

How to promote the use of new datasets and tools Advertise the data and tools so that people are aware of their existence Provide regional training workshops and set up a users forum And give access to the data and tools. CAS Science Summit, WMO, Geneva, 20-22 October 2017

CAS Science Summit, WMO, Geneva, 20-22 October 2017 THANK YOU for your attention CAS Science Summit, WMO, Geneva, 20-22 October 2017