Sabbir wants to take you from doom-scrolling to informative health content
The Bangladeshi PhD candidate in the Netherlands performs live experiments and produces content in Bangla. We recently spoke to him to find out how he has built his exceptionally large online audience for this genre
A slender man in his 30s, wearing glasses and a lab coat, sits among various lab equipment. He speaks surprisingly well-articulated Bangla and provides real-time commentary on his experiment or explains complex medical science issues in the simplest terms for audiences of all ages to understand.
He discusses a wide range of topics, from the microbial content of a bowl of panta bhat or a bottle of Coke to the suitability of electrolyte drinks for everyone or the necessity of testosterone, as well as how to die in good health or detect potential heart attacks.
His content resonates well with the Bangla-speaking audience, which is evident from the reactions and views his videos receive. On Facebook, some of his videos have garnered up to 360,000 reactions and 13 million views, and his page has 1.2 million followers. He enjoys a similar level of popularity on YouTube as well with 775,000 subscribers.
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Sabbir is planning to start a science podcast and invite Bangladeshi-origin scientists as his guests. "I would like to talk science with them and learn their life stories. I believe such podcasts will further motivate our younger generation to pursue science," he said.
The man in question is Sabbir Ahmed, a 33-year-old researcher from Narayanganj who is pursuing his PhD on developing novel biomarkers for kidney disease progression at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
While one can find medical science-based video content in Bangla on social media platforms, none quite come close to Sabbir's audience size with only Dr Tasnim Jara as an impressive exception with a much larger following in both Facebook and YouTube.
So what makes Sabbir stand out? His Bangla content in the field of healthcare and medical science is both engaging and easy to understand. Thus, he is attracting many young viewers.
"Many young viewers reach out to me and say they have developed an interest in science after watching me do various experiments in my videos," Sabbir recently shared with The Business Standard.
According to him, even adults with no prior knowledge of science often tell him that they have fallen in love with the subject. The way he demonstrates scientific experiments in his videos and explains them makes science a highly enjoyable topic, in stark contrast to the approach of our traditional textbooks.
Sabbir too became interested in making these videos due to his own experience of finding a lack of such content in Bangla to ignite interest in science among the younger generation.
Another key influence on him was the significant difference in the education systems between Bangladesh and the Western world.
After completing a Bachelor's degree in Pharmacy from East West University, Sabbir moved to Sweden to earn a Master's degree in Toxicology from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. It was there that Sabbir realised the education system in Bangladesh, even at the university level, was far from ideal.
In his four years of earning a Bachelor's degree in Bangladesh, he hardly encountered any real-life research experience and mainly had to memorise textbook content. In Sweden, however, he saw that education focused on solving problems independently, using existing literature and case studies for assistance.
Subsequently, he became drawn to research while reviewing other studies to find solutions to the problems he was assigned. At one point, he also discovered that "research is no less fun than a thrilling detective novel. The process is as exciting as the investigations depicted in the novels."
However, in Bangladesh, the practice of studying previous research works is virtually nonexistent, and there is no effective way to develop a primary interest in science through basic materials.
This led Sabbir to initially consider writing about his area of expertise – medical science. However, he later decided to create videos instead, following his younger brother's advice: "No one in Bangladesh would read your writing. They might, however, watch your videos."
After toiling hard in the first few years without much success, Sabbir "went viral" on 13 April 2022, when he placed a bowl of panta bhat under the microscope. He showed what types of microorganisms exist in such a bowl.
Bangladesh at that time was preparing to celebrate Pahela Baishakh, with which panta bhat is most closely associated. The video garnered nearly 5 million views to date.
Riding on the success of this viral video, Sabbir never had to look back again. His reach only went north from that point onwards.
But of course, this is just the beginning of Sabbir's journey. While he's glad to redirect some people's focus from doom-scrolling to informative content, he believes the true impact will be seen when they not only embrace science but also when the entire education system of the country is compelled to change for the better.
In the coming days, Sabbir has some more ambitious plans. He feels that even though there are many Bangladeshi-origin scientists scattered throughout the world, they remain largely unknown to Bangladeshis. So, he is planning to start a science podcast and invite those scientists as his guests.
"I would like to talk science with them and learn their life stories. I believe such podcasts will further motivate our younger generation to pursue science," Sabbir hopes.
As far as his personal goals are concerned, Sabbir believes that scientists or researchers should not be limited to a particular place or country.
Initially, when he left the country, his goal was to return with a foreign degree to secure a high-paying job. His perspective has since shifted, and he is now eager to continue researching and prepared to work from anywhere as long as he can be involved in his preferred projects.
"But I would also love to go to Bangladesh, conduct experiments in front of a live audience and make videos based on them. This way, my work could have a greater impact," he said.
He concluded with high hopes for the younger generation of the country. "They are smart, innovative and full of life. All we need to do is to harness their potential to the fullest."
