Episode 1: Emmanuel Boakye

Change-maker and innovator, Emmanuel Boakye is a passionate advocate for open science in Africa.

About Emmanuel

For our inaugural episode, we spoke to Emmanuel Boakye who, as an eLife Community Ambassador, launched the African Reproducibility Network (AREN). His goal is to equip African researchers ready to dive into the global open science arena. He discussed his motivations and challenges, the importance of training and building community, and his drive to find whatever field has the most scope for innovation and creation. Oh, and his love of anime, football and K-Drama!

Emmanuel is the Founder, Co-Director & Community Engagement Lead of AREN and holds a BSc in Biochemistry from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana with a broad interest in genomics and translational research.

Transcript

Milly McConnell (intro): Welcome to eLife Community Voices, the podcast shining a spotlight on the remarkable individuals behind research. Join us each episode as we feature personal stories that reflect the changing culture of research. We're here to shed light on the remarkable achievements and challenges faced by those who dedicate their lives to the pursuit of knowledge.

Milly: I'm Milly McConnell, editorial manager at eLife and your host for today. This episode, I'm speaking with Emmanuel Boakye. Emmanuel is based at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana and works promoting open science and reproducible research. Today, we talked about the challenges of setting up a continent-wide network of scientists and the importance of taking time to appreciate a good movie.

Emmanuel Boakye: I'm Emmanuel Boakye, former eLife Community Ambassador, and I recently completed my undergraduate and graduate degree in 2021 at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana. And I majored in biochemistry, so I have a background in the biological sciences.

I joined the eLife ambassador program because of my interest in open science, and after that I was able to start the African Reproducibility Network as my eLife ambassador project, which has gone splendidly so far. So yeah, that's me in a nutshell.

Milly: Oh, wonderful to hear it's going so well. Can I ask what first interested you in science?

Emmanuel: That's an interesting question.

I think growing up in a part of the world, when you are young and you are, let's say, good at school, I think most of the people feel like you are designed for science. Right? So you are tagged with going to medical school and becoming a doctor and etc. So it's like from infancy you just get brought into it. And then at school too, you realise that it's a topic you enjoy, right? These are stuff that you kind of feel the affinity for one way or the other. So it's like implying to science that we… I think growing up, I realised I was more interested in the science that creates. Right. That kind of brings up new stuff. I was more interested in that. So I'm sure that may have influenced my decision to go into biochemistry, since it's research. And research is like trying to do new stuff.

And even after my undergraduate degree, I discovered that there is a field in research that has to do with moving research from the bench to the bedside, which is translational medicine or translational research. So it's like these are the stuff that kind of pushed me into science, right?

It started from infancy, like, oh, you were good. So then that means you're going to be a science student in the senior high school, and then you're going to do science programs in the university. So it kind of starts from there. But then as you go, you realise that I really enjoy doing it. I'm actually good at doing it. So then why don't I do it right? So I think that's where it started really. And it's been an interesting journey so far. It's not been straightforward, if I'll be honest, but it's been an interesting journey so far. Yeah.

Milly: What made it less than straightforward?

Emmanuel: Over here in senior high school you have to choose a major that you're going to do. That's even from first year, right. So they have a number of majors in science in general, arts, in business, in home economics, in visual arts, right.

So I had a first in senior high school, and I was given a business program. I think they introduced this new senior high school placement system, where you kind of choose schools and then choose programs and etc. and we were the first batch that was introduced. So it was a bit complicated for us trying to understand the whole process. So I ended up getting the school with business and I was like, whoa, that's not what I intended to do in high school, right? So it was really a difficult period for me and we had conversations with the school leadership about switching to science etc. so it was really, really tough.

But the good news, I eventually was able to do science, but at a different school and I think that's what I got my certificate from to enter into university to do biochemistry.

Because if I had done business in high school, I couldn't have applied to science programs in the university because the requirements for application, I wouldn't have been able to meet them. So it wasn't so straightforward and that was a difficult period for me because I was like, my life is turning so different from what I initially anticipated. I really, really didn't like that. But fortunately, eventually I got back on track in the world of science, and I think I've really enjoyed that so far.

Milly: Was there anything particularly about business that you found so much more unappealing than science, or, I suppose, the inverse, anything about science that was significantly more appealing?

Emmanuel: Yeah, like I said, I wanted to get myself involved in bringing up new stuff, right. And I think growing up, I watched a lot of movies and realised that it's mostly the scientists that are doing the interesting stuff, right, in technology, biology. So you're like, you want to do this stuff?

And in business, the electives were not so science related, right? You were doing accounting, financial accounting, cost accounting, business management. So it's like it's a whole new world as compared to what you initially anticipated.

Milly: Yeah, more scope for innovation and discovery in sciences for sure. So now that you've found your way into the world of science, what drew you to open science specifically?

Emmanuel: I think I came to know about open science during the Covid period, if I got that right, I think there was a long break. So we spent so much time in the house and I found kind of pleasure in doing online courses. So I did this online course organised by Author Aid at INASP.

It was about research, writing and the sciences. So I think during the course they talked about open access and then they also briefly mentioned open science. And then what it was, it was just, I think a sentence or two, a few sentences.

But I got interested because I think naturally I kind of like change, things that cause change, right. And creating something new.

So I started googling about it a lot. So I began to research about it extensively. And during my undergraduate degree, when I was doing my final year research, I was given a topic by my supervisor that was so new to me, I had not even heard of it during my undergraduate studies. And because of that, I had to get a lot of papers to kind of come up with the methodology and etc. and I found it so difficult because there was so limited information from these papers, right. Trying to read them and then come up with a similar methodology or kind of do something similar to what they have done or understand how they did theirs was a bit tough.

So it kind of drew me into open science more. So as I was searching, I kept on searching, I came across a lot of organisations and initiatives in Africa. Of course there were. I think that's how I even came to find out about eLife Community Ambassadors Programme.

And so I think that was the start. And then when I saw that there was so much more to it than, let's say, “I'm sharing methodologies or reproducible research”, I feel like this is something I want to be involved in, because over here there's not much going on about it.

I asked my classmates about open science. I asked my friends like I asked some of the lecturers, and although they may know certain aspects of it, some of them they didn't know it existed at all. So those who knew kind of knew certain aspects, but not all the aspects. I feel like, well, this is something I could work on and bring it to their knowledge because it's become a huge thing in the world.

So that's what drew me in initially, and I just kind of got hooked when I joined the eLife Community Ambassadors Programme. And then I was learning a lot, and I discovered that there are a lot of people that are equally interested in open science as much as I am, like researchers, professors and etc. were interested in that.

I kind of got hooked. I was like, well, this is an interesting thing, right? So let me, let me really, really get involved more.

Milly: So you mentioned there that there were different aspects to open science. Which ones have you found are kind of key to your understanding of what makes science open?

Emmanuel: The aspect that I really, really like about open science is reproducible research. I think… I'm sure that is why I ended up starting AREN, right [unclear]. And I like it because we find a lot of research done, right, and they mostly end up as publications that researchers can add to their long list of publications and submit for like, promotions and etc. but not a lot is done after some of these papers are published to check whether the research was done well, were the results properly communicated, and etc.

So it's like it's there. No one is really checking if what has been done has been done properly or accurately, because it could influence future research. Right? And it could affect the research in terms of cost and time and everything. I feel like this research is quite important. We just don't need to be doing publishing papers every time, new papers, every time. We need to ensure that we are doing it the right way and we've invested the money the right way. And then if it's going to fit into future research and investments, then it's the right thing that we are kind of investing in.

So I think that is the area that has really drawn me in. But I also found out that a lot of other aspects of open science. So with AREN we've kind of broadened our horizon, looking at every area possible that people will be interested in and see how best we can help them kind of Maximise their efforts within those areas.

Milly: So you've mentioned AREN a couple of times.

Can you explain more about what that stands for and your involvement with that program?

Emmanuel: AREN stands for the African Reproducibility Network, and it's a grassroots initiative. It's also community led. What we are trying to do at AREN is to bridge the gaps in open science across Africa. Before I started, AREN, like I said, I explored a lot. I spent so much time exploring open science. I remember during my National service, after school when I was working as a teaching assistant, my colleagues literally were like, “you are always on webinars”, “Emmanuel, you are always on webinar.”

They saw that I was attending a lot of webinars and almost all of them were around open science. So I was so connected to a lot of these platforms and organisations and then getting info about webinars. So I just wanted to know what's going on both in Africa and globally, and what are the areas that we need to fill up or help cover up. So I started AREN to bridge those gaps by ensuring that we can reach out to grassroots researchers at my institution.

Yes, people know about open science but mostly when you find out about open access, because maybe when they are publishing papers or something they come up with, or when undergraduates or postgraduates wants to access papers for their research that's something they come across.

But they didn't know about other aspects like preprint, pre-registration, registered reports, open peer review. These are interesting aspects too, and I feel like we could do those aspects and cover those aspects. So we started AREN to bridge those gaps.

The idea is to offer training in some of these areas that we think are not talked about so much and not just offer the training too, but we also want to establish local networks that can engage the local community because every community has its needs, right?

We can't say the community in Ghana needs exactly the solutions that the community in Nigeria. The differences in terms of institutional setup, in terms of funding, in terms of support. So there is the need to know what works for the local community. So we also want to set up local networks, and we started our training program this year to kind of help with that. 

So that's AREN in a nutshell. Yeah.

Milly: And you've also mentioned your involvement with the eLife ambassadors program. How did you get involved in that?

Emmanuel: I came across eLife during my lengthy exploration of the world of open science. It was like, it was a period, I think for a number of years I was just exploring options when I have free time. I just go online and just Google, and then one organisation leads you to another.

One thing about the world of open science. You find one organisation, you go to their partners and you realise there are a lot of other partners there. So it's like a series of discoveries, right? So I think I was doing that and I came across the eLife ambassador program.n In fact, when I initially saw it and I read about it, I felt like I wouldn't qualify because I thought it was for PhDs and professors and etc.. So at the time I just finished my undergrad, so I was like, will I really qualify? 

I still applied, right? So when I got in, I was so excited. I was like, “really?” I was able to get in and we were two from Ghana. The other person is a lecturer. He was a lecturer at my university. So he was a lecturer and I was just a somebody just had completed an undergrad so I was quite excited about it. And I attended as many of the webinars as I could to kind of know more and I saw how my fellow ambassadors were like so passionate about driving change, right.

I think for a period, I paused with my projects. I think when I submitted my proposal, I paused for a period, I think for a number of months. Then you see the passion that fellow ambassadors are putting into driving forward change and you're like, whoa! I mean, this is so wonderful. Like, they can do something. So that really, really pushed me to Say, let me do something, really take this thing seriously, something that really makes impact. So I took it serious because I could see how my fellow ambassadors were doing so much. I mean, it was quite impressive how eLife community ambassadors are so passionate about change.

Milly: That's wonderful feedback to have on the ambassador program. What has been one of the biggest challenges over the last few years as your involvement in this community has grown?

Emmanuel: Usually for people in my position like you are done with university, right? You are done with your undergraduate degree in biochemistry. Ghana is not necessarily a science country, right? There are not a lot of opportunities within the science areas in terms of the biological sciences.

There are a lot of research institutes that you can get employed. That's one thing. So most of the times it's like right after school, it's postgrad. You apply for postgrad, you start postgrad, continue the journey. 

But I think, I, after school, have been more involved in volunteerism stuff and that can be a bit crazy. I mean, people wonder, why are you doing these things? I mean, you, you were so good you could just start your postgrad and etc. but I think I'm quite passionate about these things and I want to really do some of these things.

But at the same time it's difficult trying to juggle them with your everyday work. It's tough. It's demanding. At some point, looking at AREN operating on a continental scale, it can be quite tough and demanding. I mean, things get busy pretty fast and I think with AREN to start, we were hoping we would get a very, very large team that had a lot of different specialisations contributing. That has not worked so far. So we are working with a small team. That means the small team members have to do more. They have to do more than we initially anticipated. 

I had to learn how to build a website because we didn't have anyone to do that, and because I am a bit tech savvy, I learned it and then I built the website. That was something I initially didn't anticipate – what we're doing during the start of the project. But I did it and I enjoyed it. But these are all tough, right? They are quite demanding. 

So it's been a bit challenging, but it's been fun because I have team members that are passionate too, and they've been contributing so well. But it's not easy because people wonder why you are committing so much time and resources to something like this. Because over here, it's not yet so popular that people see it's important. So if you are doing it so passionately, you're like, whoa, you could do something else, right? I mean, things that could bring you a lot of money and stuff. Or you could just go outside for your postgraduate study. So why are you doing this? It's quite challenging. 

I mean, trying to convince people or sometimes talk to people about some of these things and etc. so that has been the difficulty, but it's been great so far. The kind of attention that we've gotten for AREN and the support we've gotten from the international community and etc. has been quite blended. So that light that keeps you going, right? Even if it's tough, it's difficult, it keeps you going because you know that: “Yeah, this is going to be great. I'm going forward.”

So it's not been easy for the team. But it's been an enjoyable ride a really, really enjoyable ride.

Milly: And what are some of the changes that you've been seeing in your communities as a result of the work you've been doing?

Emmanuel: AREN was launched in November last year, so we are yet to fully engage the local communities in terms of what we want to really achieve. So strategically, what we've done is to start a training program that will build people up, that can do these engagement efforts on the grounds of the universities and research institutes, and that is our local training program, which we launched this year.

We had a lot of feedback from the community when we said people could sign up to join our continent-wide community, and then we did a survey as part of it, and we realised that people are interested in helping out with open science, but they are not necessarily trained to do this or provide support for their communities. So we felt it would be better to help these people train them so they are well equipped to support their local communities and then get feedback from us, from the local communities as to how best we can help them, right.

We really didn't want to operate in a way where we felt this is what we think is best for the communities. No, we want to first start engagement. Have these ambassadors or local activists engage with the community and let us know this is what they think is going to work for them, then we can kind of work from that point.

So right now, our focus has been to train people to become local network leaders or ambassadors within their communities that can engage the local networks or communities and then lead training sessions, lead discussions, find out what is working, what is not working, and we can operate from our end to see how best we can provide support. So that's how we've been working so far, so we are seeing how that will turn out.

But the interest has been quite good, if I'll be honest. I think at the time of the launch event we had over 15 countries, right. If I got that right, I'm represented in AREN, over 49 institutions, which was a good return considering we just started and we had not even launched. So it's been quite exciting and we are seeing how things will turn out and how we are going to impact the community going forward.

Milly: Wow. So you said a truly continental initiative and as well as all of your work with AREN and the eLife ambassadors, you've also been an ambassador for the Center of Open Sciences. How did that experience compare?

Emmanuel: When I was exploring first the center for Open Science Ambassador program, I have been reached out to the ambassador in Ghana initially to start the initial because I was like, I'm interested in open science and I would like to join the eLife and the COS (Centre for Open Science) is a master program. So if you could link me because I didn't know how to get in at the time. 

So I started then and I think later on there was an opportunity to apply. So I applied and then they reached out to me and around the time they wanted to start their translations program for the Open Science Framework Help Guide. So they had these help guides for the Open Science framework, and they wanted to translate them into local languages. So the community manager then reached out to me: “Emmanuel, you just joined. Would you be happy to open these programs?”, like, yeah! I think last time I had started the eLife master program, but then when the opportunity came, I felt like I could also contribute to something else. 

So I started working on that and it was interesting because the language we chose was Swahili. And I'm not a native Swahili speaker. Right. So and I was also in Ghana where you don't have a lot of Swahili speakers. So I had to get people who were Swahili speakers to translate the document. So I had to look at the platforms that I've connected myself with when I was exploring the open science community and etc., and then make the open call for people who are interested in helping to join. And then I had over 15 people saying they wanted to help translate the documents. So that was a really, really good return. So we were able to complete the document a month earlier than we initially anticipated. So we got the work done and then it was published on the OSF (Open Science Framework) website. So what's the…. COS I think that's what I've done so far. 

We are currently working on this cultural talks for Africa. So right now we're working on having that webinar for Africa. We've started conversation around it, but we are still working on it to get the speakers on board. So that has been the experience so far. But eLife programme has been more of train you to do the work right. It's like they have this program that builds you up from scratch. I mean, if you don't know anything, they build you up and they also have this proposal period where you can propose a project and they guide you to do it. So that has been more of a systemic growth and support system when you look at it.

I mean, eLife’s programme is we help you to do something. Even if you initially couldn't do it, we help you to do it. That is eLife.

I think that's really the major turning point for me when it comes to open science, because joining the eLife program helped me learn a lot. Still a lot I didn't know about open science I learned from the eLife program, and I also realised that there are a lot of people, like I said, who are equally interested in open science as much as I am, so that was a lot encouraged. So that really helped.
So I think that is how the two differ, I think, in terms of how they put stuff right. I mean, I think the serious master program is evolving a lot of things that are changing there. We have a lot of community members doing a lot of stuff going for it, but there has not been a training like how the eLife has an eight month training program that doesn't exist with COS. So I think that may be the major difference when it comes to that.

Milly: So now that you're armed with this training from eLife and the ongoing experience with the Center for Open Science, what kind of things are you interested in doing next?

Emmanuel: Personally, I'm not just interested in open science, I'm interested in a lot of other stuff because I'm interested in translational medicine, and that means I'm interested in postgraduate studies like a master's and PhD. That's something I want to do. That's something I'm trying to work. 

But at the same time, I want to ensure that AREN is well grounded. There is so much that needs to be done, and I want to make sure I don't pause my involvement with AREN at its most critical stage. That's something that is really at the forefront. But it's quite important to me that before, let's say, I do anything else that is equally involving, AREN is well grounded, like we are… Everything that we need is well set. We have a very, very strong team and everything so when I'm not involved in stuff, it will still run very, very well. So that's something I'm really thinking about. 

So it's first and foremost that's what I'm thinking. But next I would want to definitely start my postgraduate studies. Um, Possibly in translational medicine. That's something I'm really interested in. And outside this too, I think I've been doing some volunteerism work in science communication and research capacity building at my university, too. So those are stuff that I'm interested in. I'm hoping I can get more involved there too and contribute more.

I'm interested in business, but that's a whole part of me that maybe I wouldn't want to talk about now. I mean, I've had meetings around those things, so I'm also equally interested in business, right. But it's a different part of me. That's for another conversation.  So from here, AREN and postgrad. Yeah.

Milly: So still definitely in the world of science before starting to integrate some of that other initial interest in business.

Emmanuel: Yeah. I mean, even in business, I feel like I could still do business in Science right because Translational Medicine has to do with biotech and it's a booming industry. So it's something you could kind of merge science and then business.

But outside that too, I have other interests in other areas like I'm really, really interested in e-commerce. I'm really interested in how it's been done so far in Africa and globally. I've done a lot of research on this. I wonder how I even have time to do all this research too. And I've had meetings with certain senior people around this team to discuss possibilities and etc. so there are other stuff that I'm quite interested in. I’m not even sure what people don't even know about, right. 

I’m quite interested in a lot of things. Sometimes it's crazy and I'm hoping I can zone down and focus on like the things that really, really I can do right now. So I think those are open science and then maybe my journey in the biological sciences and science communication. So it's still science. Very, very still science. I think I'm hooked for science, for life.

Milly: But still looking at other areas where you can find the next new and interesting thing to explore.

Emmanuel: Yeah, I mean, I think personally I just like to drive change, right. If I find an area where something could be done, I feel like I should do something about it. I don't know why I'm like that. Not every area, but some things I really, really get interested in. I could do something. I start thinking around it, I start talking to people there, etc. so yeah, I'm sure going for it. 

I may start doing stuff people like “we never knew you were interested in this thing too”, I'm sure that could happen a lot in the future. Yeah, that could happen a lot because I have a lot of interests. I mean, and I'm sure that this interest will be growing and growing as time goes on. So it's quite exciting looking at how things could turn out in the future.

Milly: So it seems like you're always going to be very busy and have a lot of different plates spinning. How do you balance your time and energy between them and indeed find downtime and time to relax?

Emmanuel: One thing about me was I always tell myself when it's the evening, it's rest. I think when I was in undergrad, one thing I did even during examination periods was I learnt a lot during the day. I prefer to learn during the day, so I learned a lot during the day and even it was exam period during the evening, I'm not learning. I could be watching a movie or be watching cartoons or a series or anything. I watch a lot of stuff, even Korean drama.

I think that kind of helps me relax, right? So that's like work, work during the day, but in the evenings you relax. On the weekends I watch football, when there is football in the evenings or on the weekend, I watch football. 

You still find these times. And I realised in actual sense, there is a lot of free time that we have on our hands that we don't even realise. That's something I came to acknowledge along the line, that there is a lot of free time that we have that we don't realise that we could use for some of these things that we are involved in. I think when I was doing my National service, at some point, I was an eLife Community ambassador, I was working on the COS translation project, I was working with the Science communication platform. And at the same time I was working on another volunteerism project called JLP, which is a research capacity building program for undergraduates. And all of this involved meetings and discussions and etc. And it was interesting how I was able to do all these things alongside my work as a teaching assistant, because we had to go to the labs late, lead the labs, prepare the labs and etc. and then also do assessments. But I was able to do all these things and I never at any point felt I'm so stressed out to the point I couldn't do it anymore. 

And that's when I realised that we really have a lot of free time on our hands. And if we want to apportion these things to other stuff, we can really do it. It's just a matter of realising that this is how I operate. So maybe I should operate within this period of time and this is my break period. So for me, in the evenings, I'm like, no way. 

But it has been changing a lot lately because of AREN, because right now there are a lot of stuff you have to do. Even in the evenings I find myself doing work stuff, but that's also okay, right? I mean, you learn to adapt, but I've been able to manage. So far, so good, yeah. I have a lot of time watching movies and series and anime, Japanese cartoons. I watch anime, I watch Korean drama, I watch football… So that's a lot of things to be interested in and still watch and keep up to date with what's going on there and still do all this stuff. So it's been good so far.

Milly: So it sounds like you're able to give your full attention to things during the day, and then you have almost a completely different set of interests and activities that are designated. This is relaxing, not work time.

Emmanuel: Yeah, yeah. And I think that has worked for me so well so far. But like I said, that's also changing, right? And you realise that for now, there are a lot of stuff you may have to do that may eat into your evening time. And that's okay. But then you kind of say, okay, let me push it to this time. And then when you are watching this, like I'm celebrating the hard work for the week or the hard work for the day. I'm watching a movie for two hours, like my trophy for the whole day's work or the whole week's work. So that kind of helps you feel like, okay, I'm enjoying myself right now. You try to balance it when things get so busy.

Milly: Yeah, I really like the idea of viewing your free time as a trophy, as a reward for all the work you put in. That's a very good ethos to have. So I think that's probably a good place for us to draw our chat to a close. Thank you so much, Emmanuel, for taking the time to talk with us. It's been really interesting and inspiring to hear all the work you've been doing.

Emmanuel: Yeah, it's also a wonderful opportunity to be here because being here started with the eLife ambassador project, right?

So I'm also grateful for the opportunity to have been part, and then the support we've also received from eLife for AREN and from the ambassador community, and the opportunity for us to continue learning and doing more and contribute to change, um, locally and globally. It's been wonderful that all these things are going on. And I'm looking forward to continuing this connection with eLife and with the community and, and everything else that we are trying to do. So yeah, I'm also grateful for this.

Milly (outro): That's all for this episode of eLife Community Voices. I hope you've enjoyed it and you'll join us again as we hear more about the human side of science. To stay up to date with our community, you can follow us at eLife community on Threads and X. Thank you once again to our guest, Emmanuel. To the communities team at eLife and Neil Whiteside at Freedom One for editing this episode. Thank you for listening, and see you next time.