Starting from scratch and without language barriers: The experience of the YESS workshop in ESP-LAC 2020, a conversation with Albaluz Ramos-Franco
On November 23, 2020, at the ESP LAC 2020 conference, YESS members Albaluz Ramos-Franco and Giovanni Ávila-Flores, presented a workshop (in Spanish) entitled “Young Ecosystem Services Specialists Network (YESS-ESP): Experiences from Latin America and the Caribbean.” They were responsible for the various logistical aspects for this workshop, including the coordination with speakers from different parts of Latin America and Europe. Giovanni is a PhD candidate from the Autonomous University of Baja California Sur, Mexico, and Albaluz is associate researcher of the Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia. Here, we talk with Albaluz about the workshop, the experiences she and Giovanni had with this initiative, the logistics involved, and their perspective about future workshops and activities in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Why organize a session about early-career researchers?
The Ecosystem Services Partnership (ESP) conferences are a giant window for scientific cooperation. However, those attending for the first time or those who are maybe just starting their master’s or doctorate may feel out of place, disconnected, or even victims of impostor’s syndrome. Giovanni and I have lived it firsthand in world conferences; for this reason, we firmly believe in the urgency of connecting as an impulse at the beginning of a scientific endeavor.
So, what better way to do this than to call on all early-career researchers, within the framework of such an important event at a continental level, to tell their experiences from their national contexts? This is undoubtedly an inspiration for those who are just starting.
How long did it take from the planning stage to the actual conference?
Gio and I started talking about the subject at the end of 2019, and we outlined the idea in February 2020. Despite the contingency caused by Covid-19, we remained firm in holding the session. We even contributed to the organizing committee deciding to do it virtually.
Was this your first time organizing a session at a conference?
It was our first time organizing a session at an ESP conference. Still, Giovanni and I have experience developing scientific dissemination events, such as symposia, short courses, and local conferences (in Colombia and Mexico). However, each event has its challenges, and going virtual on this occasion was the greatest of them. Ensuring genuine interaction between speakers and attendees was the most complicated part. Still, thanks to all the virtual infrastructure of El Colegio de México, an experience as enriching as a face-to-face session would have been was achieved.
Considering the specific context of Latin America, what would you say early-career researchers in ecosystem services have in common in our region?
In itself, the Latin American social and economic context is a common denominator that poses significant challenges to those who do science. In the discussion of the session, several issues were identified:
The isolation between researchers from the same country or region: unlike traditional branches of study such as botany or zoology, the discipline of ecosystem services is relatively new and does not yet have training schools established for generations. So much so that those of us who venture into the field do not have many opportunities to connect or interact with others in the country. Consequently, research is more isolated, local and not sufficiently disseminated.
Latin American governments, unlike European ones, for example, do not prioritize investment in science and research. Likewise, they are unaware of the importance of including the information that the field of ecosystem services produces for the solution of problems in the administration of natural resources and land use planning. It can be said that in LAC, the field of ecosystem services has not yet managed to impact public policies as firmly as desired.
Transdisciplinarity is urgent: the isolation mentioned before also imposes barriers between knowledge areas, which could be strategic in applying the knowledge generated. The session called for cooperation between the different social, human, natural, and even health sciences branches. Hence, ecosystem services research has multiple approaches and is much more profitable for society.
Not everything is terrible. Our Latin American context has allowed us to develop excellent personal and professional skills. There is a famous saying here: “learn to work with your nails” referring to making the most of the few economic resources or reduced human talent that we have. These absences have forged a generation of passionate researchers who want to carry out their projects despite difficulties, without fear of asking for help, valuing every advance obtained.
What was your favorite and least favorite thing about this YESS session at ESP LAC?
What we liked the most was that we could identify the countries where YESS should knock on doors and generate more dissemination. Going virtual allowed students who, under normal conditions, would not have had financial support to travel to Mexico to attend the session and the conference.
We hated that going virtual took away from us the possibility of sharing lunchtime and post-session conversations. Latin Americans make friends around food and drink.
Do you have any advice on how new YESS members can make the most of the network?
NEVER hesitate to write to ask for help: either to publicize events you are organizing, summon colleagues for a new project, advertise scholarship opportunities, or even ask for recommendations from authors or institutions.
Please participate in the activities that YESS disseminates. Most of them are free and are the perfect opportunity to create networks, co-authored papers, and new friends.
Introduce YESS to colleagues and peers from your institution, share our objective as a network and activities. You never know when someone is looking for a network like ours.
By Carla Elliff
Editor of Nature Words - YESS
Postdoctoral fellow at the Oceanographic Institute of the University of São Paulo, Brazil
