• CAREER FEATURE

How to deliver sound science in resource-poor regions

Scientists in areas that lack basic provisions — including dependable electricity, water supplies and funding — do research that has a high societal impact. Five people describe the challenges they face.
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  1. Josie Glausiusz
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A well-equipped laboratory stocked with reagents and supplied with uninterrupted electricity and unlimited water might seem like a basic requirement for conducting research. But scientists who work in regions that have limited resources or that are riven by conflict cannot take such amenities for granted. They must perpetually seek scarce grants, publish their own journals, form their own scientific societies and — crucially — draw on their deep reserves of resilience. Nature asked five such researchers how they run productive labs in the face of electricity shortages, border-checkpoint closures, poor Internet connections and other challenges.

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Nature 559, 647-649 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-05768-9

These interviews have been edited for clarity and length.

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