Crowdfunding for Science

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Hello Readers,


National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (BIOTEC)
A member of National Science and Technology Development Agency, Thailand
I am part of a group of scientists at Thailand's National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (BIOTEC) working together on various topics related to infectious diseases. I have come a long way since I started off my research career studying the nervous system of lobsters at Bowdoin College, ME. I went on to study age-related hearing loss and endometrial cancer risks associated with polycystic ovary syndrome for my PhD and postdoctoral years at Northwestern University, IL.

 Now, as a relatively new PhD, I am back to my base in Thailand to start my own research on mosquito-borne infections and tissue engineering at BIOTEC. One of our projects is on blocking Zika virus transmission from mother to child.


With the constraints of securing funding everywhere, finding supports for your research can be difficult especially when you are a freshly minted PhD or a new PI. That is where TDR (The Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases) at WHO headquarters comes it. TDR is a program of scientific collaboration that helps support researches on infectious diseases around the world. TDR launched a crowdfunding challenge for proposals on infectious diseases research from low- and middle-income countries to built capacity for research crowdfunding. This program intends to help the finalists build skills and capacity to generate a crowdfunding campaign for their research projects. Our proposal was one of the 5 finalists (!!!) and I was invited to attend a capacity building workshop hosted by TDR. There we got to learn more about TDR missions, public engagement, tips and tricks for science communications, and how to sharpen our research pitches for a crowdfunding campaign.

Selfie game on point. The 5 finalists for TDR Crowdfunding Challenge for researches on infectious diseases of poverty. Front to back: Teerawat Wiwatpanit, Thailand; Renata Mendizábal, Guatemala; Mahmud Ali Umar, Nigeria; Asha Wijegunawardana, Sri Lanka and Miguelhete Joaquim Lisboa, Mozambique.


We are set to launch our crowdfunding campaigns in early 2020. Stay tune.

More on Research Crowdfunding and TDR (The Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases) at https://www.seshglobal.org/Crowdfunding    

To catch up with our team, follow us on Twitter @TWiwatpanit594









Location: National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Thailand

Comments

  1. jackelinealger@gmail.comDecember 18, 2019 at 3:21 AM

    Congratulations to all these five finalists for their impressive stories, their compelling research with so much social impact and all the effort and energy they are placing into their crowdfunding campaigns. I am very much interested to see how their research progress. Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. twiwatpanit594December 18, 2019 at 9:19 AM

      Thank you!! Everyone has such great ideas for their research projects, and for great causes. It is such a new and exciting experience putting together our crowdfunding campaign. We will keep updating our progress on the project and the campaign.
      Stay tune :-)
      -TW

      Delete
  2. UnknownJanuary 9, 2020 at 12:56 AM

    This is nice start Tee.Congratulations for your work. Wish you good luck and successful crowdfunding campaign.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. twiwatpanit594January 9, 2020 at 7:14 AM

      Thank you! we are all very excited to get this project going!

      -TW

      Delete

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