What do you do when you’re fresh out of university and have no idea what to do next? Hard question to answer for most graduates. I was lost myself and was struggling to decide what to do next.

I was quite lucky to have an internship at Child Health Research Foundation (CHRF), where I began learning the wet-lab skills I was sorely lacking, months pass and the ones I called mentors became colleagues and I was officially accepted into CHRF. But this was only the beginning.

Transitioning from the classroom to the office/lab is never an easy change. In the beginning, I relied heavily on my seniors for guidance on how to tackle the problems I encountered. But I couldn’t rely on them forever, so in my spare time I’d try to read articles and papers on the techniques we used to better understand them. Always focusing on why each step in a protocol mattered. Helping me better come up with solutions and as an added bonus I became better at explaining more complex processes to our trainees.

To add some context, at CHRF there is an initiative called Building Scientists for Bangladesh (BSB) in which we train school students, university grads and professionals on life science and research techniques.

Juggling research, studying and training all together is not an easy ordeal. But training others improved my own understanding, and it was always nice to see such honest curiosity displayed in their questions.

While working at CHRF, I have met many different people and learned much from them. Whether it be how to work under pressure, deal with complex problems or facing tight deadlines. Everyone had their own unique way of going about things and dealing with the stress.

There were good days and then there were bad days. But even during the worst days there were moments of levity and respite that helped us keep our sanity. Jokes paired with tea and biscuits and laughs in between.

I’ve spent over 3 years in CHRF and throughout that time I’ve faced many challenges and struggles. Navigating through them brought me out of my comfort zone and broadened my perspective. Being here helped shape me into a better researcher and more importantly a better person, but still I have a long ways to go.