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Day in life of Research Assistant at Harvard University
197 Plays1 year ago
On this episode we are talking with Kavya Kadia, a Research Assistant at Harvard University. The main purpose of this GenZers to rise! episode is to dive deeper into pursuing and publishing a PhD research paper.
In addition to that, Vasilis Skarleas, the host, has amazing conversation with Kavya about multilinguistic skills of a person, as well as which are the main responsibilities on an editor and reviewer for several international journals.
You can connect with Kavya Kadia at https://lnkfi.re/kavya-kadia
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Episode's page https://podcast.changemakerz.org/kavya-kadia
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Produced by Vasilis Skarleas
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast and Hosts
00:00:01
Speaker
Hello everyone, I'm Hannah. And I'm Vassilis. We interview teenagers with impactful projects and create resources to help you change the world. If they can't do it, so can he.
00:00:23
Speaker
On this podcast, we discuss the logistics of creating different types of projects with Gen-Zers who have already done it. We will leave our social media and website information in the description.
Introducing Kavya Kadia, India's 18 Under 18 Nominee
00:00:45
Speaker
Hello everyone and welcome to a new episode of the 10 Sister Eyes podcast with mainly the students Kavya Kadia from India. Kavya is only 17 years old, however she has already been nominated for India's 18 Under 18. So nice to meet you. Likewise, I hope you're doing well today. Thank you so much for being with us today Kavya. So Kavya has already worked with over 15 NGOs both in India and internationally.
00:01:14
Speaker
And today's episode is all about pursuing and publishing a PhD research paper. So to begin with, would you like to tell us about your interests and goals in life? Sure, definitely. I, as you mentioned, I have worked with 15 plus angels in India and internationally. And I'm most curious about grassroots level development around the around across the world. And my sole purpose of life is to serve different communities because I feel
00:01:46
Speaker
The gift of the life is to serve other people and I feel that my only purpose in life is to help different communities. I see.
Multilingual Abilities and International Connections
00:01:55
Speaker
So how does your multilingual background help you to establish so many international connections? And how?
00:02:02
Speaker
I think knowing different languages really helped me communicate with people internationally because in my perspective, talking to a person in their own native language is a privilege because it helps us feel connected and rather it helps us feel belonged to a greater community at large. But in addition to that, knowing different languages really opened the entire different culture for me.
00:02:27
Speaker
for the communities, for the societies, while I was building connections internationally. And I really faced the barrier of understanding their language. So I decided to learn six or seven languages that are widely spoken across the world.
00:02:43
Speaker
knowing the language just isn't the motive when you are connected or you're building network with people internationally. So I had to understand the history, the culture, the current trends, both politically and economically to understand a person because building network with people internationally is difficult in terms of ethics, in terms of confidentiality. But yeah, and at the end of the day, your environmental factors really influence how you are as a person.
00:03:13
Speaker
So it really helped me knowing different languages and being multilingual because in many philosophies, including Greek philosophy, it's widely believed that when you learn a new language, you happen to take a report. And that is what I did.
00:03:31
Speaker
Well, first of all, it's really remarkable the fact that you're talking about ethics and really, you know, getting in to learn about some of its culture before you get into the connections. It's true that we haven't seen that perspective before on the podcast. We personally haven't seen that before, but it's true that in order to have a unique and great connection, you really need to invest more into the culture
00:03:57
Speaker
and the ethics of, you know, the person that you connect with. And on the second hand, of course, yeah, I agree with your point of view. Knowing all, you know, how to contact and communicate with specific people based on their ethics and their culture is really unique. And at the same time, having all the knowledge about the languages to communicate with is also remarkable as well. Which are the languages that you speak? I think I speak six different languages and seven have me.
00:04:28
Speaker
For those who are listening right now, caveat works involve collaborating with people from the USA, England, Japan, France, Germany, Mexico, Nigeria and many other countries.
Project on Cross-Border Health Information Accessibility
00:04:38
Speaker
With that said, what is your current project that needs you to be in touch with so many people?
00:04:44
Speaker
I think my current project is dealing with making health information more accessible to people. And what I mean by that is I'm even working with countries which my homeland India has conflicts with. So I'm working very closely with countries like Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh on making health information more accessible. And through my connections with different NGOs and companies internationally, I encountered that
00:05:11
Speaker
Public health is an emergency and we, the youth, needs to be involved into politics, into making health information more accessible. And I always knew that I wanted to do something at large and beyond borders. And that is why I started working with different organizations.
00:05:27
Speaker
And currently I'm working as the deputy director of law at Climate Cardinance, which is an international youth-led organization. And we are making climate information more accessible to people who don't speak English. So that requires me as the deputy director to work with different people from different cultures. Of course, so you are spreading awareness in the local level and help people to get into
00:05:57
Speaker
different environmental stuff, which is really important and we want to have a better future for us, for our families, our kids, etc.
Research in Neurolinguistics and Auditory Memory
00:06:06
Speaker
Alright, so now, at the age of 16, you have the privilege of publishing your research paper in a PhD. What was the research about?
00:06:16
Speaker
I think my research mostly dealt around with neural linguistics because as I said, I love learning different languages. But most importantly, how long term memory is mostly affected by learning different languages. So my research was no different at the beginning, but later I found that our auditory memory
00:06:37
Speaker
is most affected by learning the language. And what do I mean by that? Is the more we input for a particular language, that's the more we hear, the more is our output. That is the outcome of learning. And that is what I had a chance of publishing the paper in a PhD journal, but I was still a high school student who was curious about linguistics and human brain.
00:07:05
Speaker
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00:08:23
Speaker
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Research Journey: Risk-taking and Proposals
00:08:25
Speaker
do that research. It's like what do you need to do as you know as researching your different you know resources and stuff and that young age like what was this what was the process how does it look like.
00:08:37
Speaker
I would say if you have a big idea or even smaller idea and you know have to present that idea and for me it was mostly having a risk-taking nature. So I used to reach out to people sending different research proposals and one or the other person would randomly advise you that this is what you could do or this is what you could improve upon.
00:09:02
Speaker
I had that risk-taking nature and the world was full of opportunities for people who have risk-taking nature and could present their ideas. So I would just say I believed in myself before anyone did and I was deeply involved in the field of linguistics and I gave it a go. I think that everyone should be as confident as you and believe in our own art.
00:09:29
Speaker
dreams and perspectives and ambitions. My question is, what was the inspiration behind it? Like, rule and question is such a unique topic. What makes you feel like this is the topic that I want to work with? Like, what was inspiration?
00:09:46
Speaker
I think I have encountered during my life, and I had the privilege of meeting world's renowned linguistics who spoke 50, 60 languages across me. And I wanted to learn languages too. And while I was sitting in my language class, I was like, this person is able to learn better than I could. And what is the magical formula behind the learning methodology? And what I came across was they were focusing more on their auditory memory.
00:10:14
Speaker
And I started to ask people, hey, what's your formula of learning languages?
00:10:18
Speaker
And in no duration or in no time, I found mine. And that is what my research focused upon. So I would say inspiration is just within you, but you have to deep dive within yourself. You have to self-discover yourself. And for me, self-discovery is more like I looked something from within and I did something beyond myself. And that was the sole inspiration behind my research.
00:10:45
Speaker
This is really great. So you were working with a PhD candidate at University of Western Schizophrenia. With what knowledge and critical view you were capable of following along with those people that have an academic career? I would say
00:11:03
Speaker
Like I previously said, I just took the risk of reaching out to people, but schizophrenia is a field that I'm deeply involved into due to my personal experiences of encountering people I would rather say of schizophrenia. And what I found among those patients that I was talking or interacting with was they were creative and
00:11:28
Speaker
most patients and in our research around 20 percent patients did not have any cognitive defects and what the psychiatric association internationally led says is you have to treat everyone equally and what we believe in psychology in my perspective is having diversity and inclusivity at the same time is crucial so
00:11:48
Speaker
We really dived into, and I really proposed this idea to a PhD candidate and a psychiatrist, that why does not the TSM-5-TR, which is the official manual of psychiatric association, not have categorized patients differently? Let's do something on this. I was young, I was naive with little knowledge about the field of schizophrenia and neurosciences, but I took different courses, I talked with different professors, and there was a professor at Harvard Medical School
00:12:18
Speaker
who in fact suggested me that even though you are young you should start writing a research paper. So he's the person behind this project. So like I think that the most important thing that we need to keep in mind is that don't stop following your dreams. Don't be afraid. Take this extra step and
00:12:43
Speaker
like maybe you know you're knocking doors and in the end one of those doors that you knocked opens and a whole new world and opportunities are here for you I absolutely agree because if you don't believe in yourself no one else is going to do so you have to put something on table so that people believe in you and that is what I did exactly
00:13:10
Speaker
What is involved when you serve as a research assistant at Harvard University? And how does the application like, how did you apply to that? I think, as I previously said, I was involved with a professor at Harvard Medical School. And when I was interacting with them, they suggested me opportunity. So when you actually reach out to people with different suggestions and take their advice, they are actually really humble enough to keep those.
00:13:38
Speaker
And I was just talking with this professor, and he said, hey, could you be a research assistant at this laboratory? They are looking for someone. And from India, till the time I know, there are new research assistants at Harvard who don't have a bachelor's degree or those who are under 80. So I was really humbled when the opportunity was given to me. And I'm currently working at Developmental Studies Department.
00:14:05
Speaker
which is really important to deal with because when I'm talking with someone I don't ask no matter what what is your age because no one did for me so this professor really believed in me and when I reach out to more people more people give you opportunities so that is the key formula you have to reach out to people constantly you have to follow up with people you have to be interested instead of investing in order to get more opportunities
00:14:34
Speaker
and of course in any step you have to be yourself.
High School Research Journals and Skill Development
00:14:38
Speaker
Yes, absolutely! Now, let's get into another subject. You are an editor and reviewer for several international journals. You have already mentioned some of your actions in the NGOs, etc. But which are some of your favorite journals and why? Which is their impact and how do they support awareness?
00:15:00
Speaker
I would rather say like most journals which are focused on high schoolers or our high school oriented journals because very few journals in the world around the globe allow high school researchers to publish their research work.
00:15:16
Speaker
So I really like the journals like Journal of Emerging Investors or International Journal of High School Research, which are the two journals I'm mostly dedicating my entire time to for reviewing and editing their documents because they allow high school students to develop their skills for research areas and they allow high school students, irrespective of their educational background, to get involved into research and sharpen their skills and get their work published.
00:15:45
Speaker
Hmm, I see. This is really unique. Can we find those organizations only locally or they operate internationally? I think most, in my case, I found mostly internationally, but in developing and underdeveloped countries, we need more research-oriented development. So everyone stay tuned and check out the description of that. Make sure to get into those Instagram accounts and give a like and follow.
Future Plans in Neuroscience and Community Service
00:16:15
Speaker
This is my favorite question, which are your plans for the future?
00:16:20
Speaker
Um, I don't know. I really don't know what the future may hold, but I'm excited and thrilled to continue my research in the field of neuroscience and helping as many individuals as I could, because I feel that even my little slightest contribution towards community, if even could change one person of someone's life, I would feel that I am privileged to have been given a place on this earth.
00:16:46
Speaker
and I'm fulfilling the purpose of my life that's community building and serving other people because that is what we are here for and at the end of the day we have to know if we are here it is for a reason and the world is counting on us. So is there anything else you would like to share with us today?
Encouragement and Gratitude for Podcast Experience
00:17:05
Speaker
I think just believe in yourself to whosoever listens to this. I really hope that there is at least something to take home. And yeah, just believe in yourself and be humble to explore new things and meet different people. I think that this is great. This marks the end of today's episode. I would like to thank Kavya for being with us today. Thank you for having me.
00:17:35
Speaker
Thank you very much, Kaya. As you can see, everything can be achieved, even your craziest ambitions, if you believe in yourself. Kavya's story was a great example, even at such a young age, for releasing you all the best. Thanks, everyone, that has reached the end. You can check out the rest of our amazing episodes with guests from all around the world. Moreover, you can install its idemakers app available both on iOS and Android devices, where you can find a whole catalog of our podcasts, create podcasts,
00:18:05
Speaker
Then the related articles and content from our friends at thread.com and Zenko's company. We reached the milestone of more than 700 total installs across the different platforms and we would like to thank everyone that was part of this journey. But until next time, do not forget to change the world
00:18:36
Speaker
We hope you guys enjoyed our conversation. We had such a great time.
Follow on Social Media
00:18:40
Speaker
Make sure you leave us a review. You can also follow us on Instagram at changemaker.c to keep up with all of our new content. We also have a Facebook page called changemakersc, but you'll need to look down because I honestly don't even know how Facebook works.