Meet the Capture Your Research Contest winner: David Moneke
Every year, participants in our Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) submit their photos for our Capture Your Research Contest. The AuthorAID community voted on their favourite entries from 2022 and the results are now in: the winner of the AuthorAID Capture Your Research Contest 2022 is David Moneke from Nigeria.
We recently met David on a Zoom call to learn more about the story behind the photo, his research, and his involvement with AuthorAID. Here's what he said:
AuthorAID: Hi David, thank you so much for agreeing to do this interview. Your photo submission was really popular. Could you tell us where you are based and what your field of work is?
David: I am based in Lagos, Nigeria. I'm a final-year Pharmacy student at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Nigeria. I am the current public health team leader of the Pharmaceutical Association of Nigerian Students, UNILAG and a health infographics designer.
And what do you want to do once you've graduated?
I want to do my masters in clinical pharmacy—research-based clinical pharmacy.
Tell us about the story behind the photo that you submitted?
So it was in 2020. As a pharmacy student, I'm a member of the public health team of the Pharmaceutical Association of Nigeria, University of Lagos. The association's president organized a public health outreach on the Hepatitis B virus. I volunteered to be part of the team. On that day, I was charged with registering the community members that came for the event. The plan was to enlighten the local community about the Hepatitis B virus and how to prevent it and test them. During the registration process, I inquired about their knowledge of the Hepatitis B virus, how contraction can be controlled, and how it can be treated. Later on, I helped out with testing and gave general counselling. We referred those that tested positive to the hospital for confirmation tests so they could be prescribed a treatment regimen.
When did you first learn about AuthorAID?
It was 2021. Someone shared a link to the course on Research Writing in the Sciences. I signed up for the course. I learned about research ethics, writing a research paper, and publishing articles in peer-reviewed journals.
If you could give early career researchers like yourself one piece of advice, what would it be?
I would tell them to research to determine what they want to do. Once they know that, they can go and search the internet for ways to work out their plan, as I did. I knew I wanted to go into research. So when the opportunity to learn about research writing came up [in the AuthorAID MOOC], I quickly signed up. They could look for opportunities to learn because there are free courses all over the Internet. Once registered for a course, they should diligently finish it because it requires commitment.
AuthorAID also has a mentorship programme. They could also reach out to mentors, which makes them accountable to someone and the mentors can help them in their progress.
That's really good advice, thank you. Is there anything else you would like to add?
I’m working on my final year dissertation—the presence of Bisphenol A [BPA] in carbonated drinks. It is an epoxy resin that is found in plastic bottles. And there's a level the FDA recommends that is okay and can be tolerated in the human body. As part of the research, I’m subjecting the carbonated drinks in plastic bottles to the sun and different temperatures to know the effect of the various storage conditions. It is suspected that Bisphenol A could leach from the bottles into the drinks when stored inappropriately. I'm almost done, and I've also gotten some positive results. So I think I could get it published once that is completed.
If you would like to connect with David, he has requested you do so via LinkedIn here.
If you would like to participate in or learn more about our upcoming online course on "Getting started with writing and publishing your research" (starting May 16), click here.