Words That Count

This year’s highlights the importance of workplaces that support both mental and physical well-being. Work is not only about productivity and output. It is also about the environments in which people are expected to think, create, lead, and contribute.

In and beyond, progress is sustained not only by expertise and innovation, but by work cultures that recognise the realities of stress, burnout, workload pressures, and the need for supportive systems. This is why we celebrate all driving impact across different STEM fields while also recognising that meaningful work should not come at the expense of well-being.

Happy International Labour Day!

Sometimes, the most complex environmental challenges are addressed in ways we rarely see. In this article, Shimaa Farag, a PhD researcher at The AUC The American University in Cairo, shares how she uses metagenomics to understand and respond to environmental change.

Metagenomics is a field of research that allows scientists to study entire microbial communities directly from their environment, offering insights that traditional methods often miss. Shimaa’s work shows that understanding microbial communities plays a key role in addressing environmental contamination and improving ecosystem health. Her contribution to this field earned her recognition as a laureate of the prestigious Eni Award in 2025.

To learn more about her STEM journey, visit: https://wordsthatcount.org/i-use-metagenomics-to-tackle-environmental-challenges-shimaa-farag/

Some journeys do not start in a classroom. In this piece, Fahima Bellabad reflects on how growing up not so far from the ocean shaped her curiosity, her questions, her path into science, and eventually her PhD in , Risks, and Environment at Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Sciences de la Mer et de l'Aménagement du Littoral (ENSSMAL).

While working on Fahima's story, we were reminded that often comes from the environments we grow up in and the everyday experiences we sometimes overlook. Her journey speaks to the quiet, personal moments that guide many young people toward STEM, and why and storytelling matter in making these paths visible.

Read more about her journey here: https://wordsthatcount.org/a-stem-journey-shaped-by-the-ocean-fahima-bellabad/

We recently interacted with Ruth Nanjala, a PhD researcher in Molecular and Cellular Medicine at the University of Oxford, working at the intersection of genomics and computational biology. Her research focuses on using data and to better understand biological systems and the role genes play in health and disease.

Her story offers a closer look at what research in cellular and genomic science actually involves, and how collaborative science is shaping the future of medicine.

Ruth is also the founder of My Science Journey, a platform dedicated to sharing stories, experiences, and insights from scientists navigating their careers in .

You can find the full story on our website here: https://wordsthatcount.org/mapping-the-future-of-cellular-medicine-through-genomics-and-computational-biology-ruth-nanjala/