Meet Dr Franck Ghomsi, researcher at the National Institute of Cartography in Cameroon, associated with the Nansen-Tutu Center in South Africa, and currently a visiting scientist at the University of Manitoba (CEOS). Listen to Franck as he shares how a childhood fascination with the Moon's pull on the oceans set him on a path from Cameroon through Europe to the Americas — always driven by a passion for capacity building in Earth science.

Franck explains how Africa is already experiencing sea level rise above the global mean, and why understanding the contribution of Antarctic meltwater to coastal dynamics is critical for low-GDP communities living at the shoreline.

Beyond the science, Franck makes a compelling case for open-access tools and data as the great equaliser in global research, and reflects on the barriers still facing scientists from the Global South: from software access to publishing paywalls to underrepresentation in international panels. He calls for a more inclusive science that listens as much as it speaks.

Finally, Franck shares his warm first impressions of ISSI and Bern.