I am very grateful for the Schull Yang International Experience Awards, which allowed me to explore my interests and greatly improve my skills within scientific research.
This summer, I investigated the factors which make transgender women in Rio de Janeiro more at risk for discrimination. As someone who is interested in issues of global health, justice, and social policy, this project was a great opportunity to explore my passions. I also decided to pursue this project because, although I am interested in research, I have a lot to learn about how to carry out a project from start to finish. This was also a great chance to discover more about the socio-political realities of Brazil.
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Throughout this project, I worked in collaboration with Dr. Paula Luz from the Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Diseases of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Brazil. The Foundation is centered around public health research, and Dr. Paula Luz is an epidemiologist specialized in HIV prevention and care. I also received additional support from Dr. Brett Thombs and Dr. Richard Henry from 缅北强奸, who both have extensive experience supervising undergraduates.
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My responsibilities were to identify an appropriate research question based on the available data, conduct a literature review to find possible variables tied to this question, and an analysis in RStudio. I was also responsible for writing a complete manuscript on our results and discussions which will be sent for publication. An important duty was also to create agendas for each meeting and write minutes while also leading the meetings.
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My objectives were to learn how to write a protocol and manuscript, and edit it based on a journal鈥檚 requirements. I also wanted to understand the analysis process and gain a basic sense of how to use RStudio, while also learning the process leading up to analysis (choosing variables and dealing with missing values). Another objective of mine was to learn how to rapidly understand and incorporate my supervisors鈥� suggestions.
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There were several highlights of my project, mostly related to cultural background research which I found surprising. For example, I discovered that in Brazil, the concept of race is not used as much, especially since there is a high proportion of mixed (parda, in Portuguese) people. Instead, the idea of race is less tied to biology and heritage and more about someone鈥檚 colour. Someone like me might be considered Black in Canada but in Brazil, I would be considered Brown or mixed. The history of Brazil and its ties to slavery were also fascinating - I had no idea that it was the last country in the Western hemisphere to abolish slavery.
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As a Biology student, I was able to apply my knowledge of statistics and the scientific method to this project. In my upper year courses, we also place a strong emphasis on critical thinking and analysis of scientific articles, which was helpful when conducting the literature review. Several courses also focus on scientific writing and editing, which gave me the necessary skills to draft the protocol and manuscript. I am also doing a minor in Political Science, which is related to this international project because, for most of my papers, I have to do extensive background research on a socio-political climate before coming to any conclusions.
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This international project has given me insight into how research projects are carried out, and made me realize the importance of finding good supervisors which I was lucky enough to have. I have also discovered that I have a lot to work on, but that I am very passionate about combining research with social justice issues, especially on topics and communities that are marginalized or stigmatized. This project has made me view research as a great privilege, and moving forward I hope to amplify the voices of those who are affected by research rather than solely conducting it at a distance. In this project, I was able to do so by finding interviews and qualitative research of transgender women in Rio de Janeiro and using these to inform my perspective.
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The funds helped me during the international activity because they made it possible for me to completely focus on doing a good job, rather than find additional work. Without the funds, I would not have been able to spend as much time on the project nor learn as much as I did.
Thank you to Mr. Schull and Ms. Yang for making this experience possible!
