El Hajj Taghreed, Wiltgen Georgi Neele, Crossman Susie, Tagoe Nadia, Bates Imelda
Centre for Capacity Research, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, L3 5QA, UK.
Office of Grants and Research, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ashanti Region, Ghana.
F1000Res. 2024 Jun 24;13:238. doi: 10.12688/f1000research.144883.1. eCollection 2024.
The Africa Capacity Building Initiative (ACBI) programme aimed to 'strengthen the research and training capacity of higher education institutions and support the development of individual scientists in sub-Saharan Africa through UK-Africa research collaborations' including by funding PhD studentships. We conducted research to understand students' experiences and to see how consortia-based programmes such as ACBI and their own institutions can enhance PhD students' research environment and progress.
In-depth interviews with 35 ACBI-funded PhD students explored their perspectives about how their research and personal development benefitted from belonging to a research consortium. Questionnaires were used to corroborate interview findings.
Students recognised that membership of a research consortium provided many benefits compared to less well-resourced peers. By drawing on the programme and consortiums' resources, they were often able to overcome some limitations in their own institution's systems and facilities. Through their consortia they could access a wide range of international expertise and support from mentors and colleagues for their technical and psychosocial needs. Multiple consortia opportunities for engaging with the international scientific community and for networking, gave them confidence and motivation and enhanced their career prospects.
Our study and its recommendations highlight how the breadth and diversity of resources available to PhD students through research consortia can be harnessed to facilitate students' progress and to create a supportive and conducive research environment. It also underlines how, through a multi-level approach, consortia can contribute to longer-term improvements in institutional research environments for PhD students.
非洲能力建设倡议（ACBI）计划旨在“通过英国与非洲的研究合作，加强高等教育机构的研究和培训能力，并支持撒哈拉以南非洲地区个体科学家的发展”，包括为博士生奖学金提供资金。我们开展了研究，以了解学生的经历，并考察诸如ACBI这样的基于联盟的计划及其所在机构如何能够改善博士生的研究环境并促进其进步。
对35名由ACBI资助的博士生进行了深入访谈，探讨他们对于隶属于一个研究联盟如何使他们的研究和个人发展受益的看法。使用问卷调查来证实访谈结果。
学生们认识到，与资源较少的同龄人相比，成为研究联盟的成员带来了许多好处。通过利用该计划和联盟的资源，他们常常能够克服自己所在机构系统和设施方面的一些限制。通过他们的联盟，他们可以获得广泛的国际专业知识，并从导师和同事那里获得针对其技术和心理社会需求的支持。参与国际科学界和建立人际关系网的多种联盟机会，给了他们信心和动力，并提升了他们的职业前景。
我们的研究及其建议强调了如何利用研究联盟为博士生提供的广泛多样的资源，来促进学生的进步，并营造一个支持性的、有利的研究环境。它还强调了联盟如何通过多层次方法，为长期改善博士生的机构研究环境做出贡献。
