Guest Post: From an AuthorAID Travel Grant Recipient
[This post is from Oluwakemi Rotimi (Covenant University, Nigeria), who received an AuthorAID travel grant to attend the SOT (Society of Toxicology) 54th annual meeting. Thank you! —Barbara]
I had submitted an abstract for the SOT annual meeting and applied for a travel award listed by the Society. However, my travel-award application was unsuccessful, and I concluded I couldn’t attend the conference because of the travel costs. The announcement of the AuthorAID travel grant ignited my hope, and I was elated when my application was successful. I quickly made my travel arrangements since the conference, which was in late March, was just 20 days away.
The meeting had various activities. One was the awards ceremony, which inspired me to be involved in impactful research. Another was the student/postdoctoral scholar mixer, which provided a platform to interact informally with graduate students and postdocs from various countries.
The plenary lectures, scientific sessions, and workshops by renowned scientists helped broaden my horizon, inspired new research ideas, showed me new applications of techniques, and gave me current perspectives on toxicology. Also, I visited various posters, interacted with scientists from different fields about their work, and learned new methods. A highlight for me was the informal trainee discussion with one of the plenary lecturers. It was insightful and rewarding and opened opportunity for future collaborations.
My presentation received various constructive criticisms on how to present the work better. This feedback will help me refine my manuscript for submission to a peer-reviewed journal. The intellectual advice that I also received can help me take my research to the next level.
The meeting exceeded my expectations. Everything learned will be shared with my colleagues through our departmental seminar. My students will also benefit from my increased wealth of knowledge.
I am grateful to AuthorAID for giving me the opportunity for this rare exposure early in my career.