Alumni AudioLab is a monthly podcast series where alumni of the OeAD talk about themselves and their research. The OeAD brings together researchers from all over the world and from different fields of research who spent part of their research career in Austria – some of them have even stayed here. In the Alumni AudioLab they tell their stories, talk about their scientific ambitions, their motivations and their personal backgrounds. It is an open format for all those who are not only interested in science as such but also in the people behind it.
https://oead.at/en/to-austria/alumni/audiolab
AAL_23_with Kesang Wangchuk
Kesang Wangchuk comes from a country where the first university was founded in 2003 - the Royal University of Bhutan. Nevertheless, Kesang went to India in 1993 to do his bachelor's degree there. In the late 1990s, he began his career as a Research Officer at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in Thimphu, Bhutan. He completed his master's degree in Australia and finally came to Vienna in 2010 to work at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences for his PhD, graduating in 2013.
He left Bhutan for education and training only, returning home with new insights and results in and for his research. On this basis, he is currently working on improving the living conditions of highway workers in Bhutan at the interface between research and policy making. These workers - mostly Hindu from neighboring India - live on the streets, earn little enough to live on, and in recent years have begun to keep livestock in addition to their work to make a living.
In addition to this research project, in this podcast Kesang Wangchuk recalls his time in Austria, talks about the so-called Gross National happiness, which is unique in Bhutan, and gives tips for new scholarship holders.
This podcast is a record of the Alumni Talk "Finding Happiness in Science and Research" of March 21, 2019.