scholarly journals The Nigerian Bioinformatics and Genomics Network (NBGN): a collaborative platform to advance bioinformatics and genomics in Nigeria

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Segun Fatumo ◽  
ThankGod E. Ebenezer ◽  
Chinwe Ekenna ◽  
Itunuoluwa Isewon ◽  
Umar Ahmad ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Research ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Central Importance ◽  
Native Languages ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Research Collaborations ◽  
Genomics Research ◽  
Collaborative Platform ◽  
Collaborative Activities ◽  
Share Information

Abstract Africa plays a central importance role in the human origins, and disease susceptibility, agriculture and biodiversity conservation. Nigeria as the most populous and most diverse country in Africa, owing to its 250 ethnic groups and over 500 different native languages is imperative to any global genomic initiative. The newly inaugurated Nigerian Bioinformatics and Genomics Network (NBGN) becomes necessary to facilitate research collaborative activities and foster opportunities for skills’ development amongst Nigerian bioinformatics and genomics investigators. NBGN aims to advance and sustain the fields of genomics and bioinformatics in Nigeria by serving as a vehicle to foster collaboration, provision of new opportunities for interactions between various interdisciplinary subfields of genomics, computational biology and bioinformatics as this will provide opportunities for early career researchers. To provide the foundation for sustainable collaborations, the network organises conferences, workshops, trainings and create opportunities for collaborative research studies and internships, recognise excellence, openly share information and create opportunities for more Nigerians to develop the necessary skills to exceed in genomics and bioinformatics. NBGN currently has attracted more than 650 members around the world. Research collaborations between Nigeria, Africa and the West will grow and all stakeholders, including funding partners, African scientists, researchers across the globe, physicians and patients will be the eventual winners. The exponential membership growth and diversity of research interests of NBGN just within weeks of its establishment and the unanticipated attendance of its activities suggest the significant importance of the network to bioinformatics and genomics research in Nigeria.

scholarly journals Highlighting the potential of peer-led workshops in training early career researchers for conducting research with Indigenous communities

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwyneth A. MacMillan ◽  
Marianne Falardeau ◽  
Catherine Girard ◽  
Sophie Dufour-Beauséjour ◽  
Justine Lacombe-Bergeron ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Research ◽  
Cultural Awareness ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Indigenous Representation ◽  
Indigenous Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Conducting Research ◽  
Community Collaborative

For decades, Indigenous voices have called for research practices that are more collaborative and inclusive. At the same time, researchers are becoming aware of the importance of community-collaborative research. However, in Canada, many researchers receive little formal training on how to collaboratively conduct research with Indigenous communities. This is particularly problematic for early-career researchers (ECRs) whose fieldwork often involves interacting with communities. To address this lack of training, two peer-led workshops for Canadian ECRs were organized in 2016 and 2017 with the following objectives: (a) to cultivate awareness about Indigenous cultures, histories and languages; (b) to promote sharing of Indigenous and non-Indigenous ways of knowing; and (c) to foster approaches and explore tools for conducting community collaborative research. Here we present these peer-led Intercultural Indigenous Workshops and discuss workshop outcomes according to five themes: scope and interdisciplinarity, Indigenous representation, workshop environment, skillful moderation and workshop outcomes. We show that peer-led workshops are an effective way for ECRs to cultivate cultural awareness, learn about diverse ways of knowing, and share collaborative research tools and approaches. Developing this skill set is important for ECRs aiming to conduct community-collaborative research, however broader efforts are needed to shift toward more inclusive research paradigms in Canada.

scholarly journals Coastal Research Seen Through an Early Career Lens—A Perspective on Barriers to Interdisciplinarity in Norway

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Deininger ◽  
Angela H. Martin ◽  
Juan C. F. Pardo ◽  
Paul R. Berg ◽  
Jyotirmoy Bhardwaj ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
Collaborative Research ◽  
Environmental Science ◽  
Interdisciplinary Collaboration ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Research Collaborations ◽  
Funding Mechanisms ◽  
Broad Interest ◽  
Coastal Research

The value of interdisciplinarity for solving complex coastal problems is widely recognized. Many early career researchers (ECRs) therefore actively seek this type of collaboration through choice or necessity, for professional development or project funding. However, establishing and conducting interdisciplinary research collaborations as an ECR has many challenges. Here, we identify these challenges through the lens of ECRs working in different disciplines on a common ecosystem, the Norwegian Skagerrak coast. The most densely populated coastline in Norway, the Skagerrak coast, is experiencing a multitude of anthropogenic stressors including fishing, aquaculture, eutrophication, climate change, land runoff, development, and invasive species. The Skagerrak coastline has also been the focus of environmental science research for decades, much of which aims to inform management of these stressors. The region provides a fantastic opportunity for interdisciplinary collaboration, both within and beyond the environmental sciences. This perspective article identifies the barriers ECRs in Norway face in establishing interdisciplinary and collaborative research to inform management of coastal ecosystems, along with their root causes. We believe our discussion will be of broad interest to all research institutions who employ or educate ECRs (in Norway and worldwide), and to those who develop funding mechanisms for ECRs and interdisciplinary research.

scholarly journals Investigating collaboration in project management research: using action research as a meta-methodology

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shankar Sankaran ◽  
Ralf Müller ◽  
Nathalie Drouin
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Collaborative Research ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
Management Research ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Early Career Researchers

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to investigate collaboration in project management research. Although the literature shows an increase in collaboration between scientists and social scientists for various reasons, it is unclear how and why such collaboration takes place in project management research. The literature does show that co-authorship of articles published in project management journals is on the rise due to increased collaboration between researchers in developed countries and emerging economies as well as developing countries. However, no detailed study has been conducted to investigate how such collaboration occurs in practice in project management research. This article addresses this gap.Design/methodology/approachWe use a multi-method approach (action research as a meta-methodology and surveys) using qualitative data to reflect on a successful collaborative externally funded research project. At the end of the study, a survey was used to investigate how collaboration occurred among the 26 researchers involved, who were spread over nine countries to collect data on a sponsored research project led by the authors who were the principal investigators. We also compare our findings from the original project with findings from a second survey of a purposeful sample of ten project management researchers who have conducted or are conducting collaborative research in order to validate our findings.FindingsThrough this study, we were able to compare the reasons for increased collaboration in scientific research reported in the literature with what we learnt from our own experience in collaborating on a large-scale project across geographical boundaries and cultures around the world. We were also able to get some insights on enablers and barriers to collaboration from peers who have collaborated on project management research from the second survey. We found that, although some of the reasons explained in the literature were confirmed in our study (e.g. the reputation of lead researchers), some other reasons (e.g. the prestige of institutions) were not that important. The conclusions section of this article provides a more detailed comparison. We also found that using a project management approach would deliver better outcomes. The literature on scientific collaboration was divided on the value of a project management approach and preferred a combination of firmness and flexibility. We found that using action research as a meta-methodology to reflect on our research gave us further insights into why we did what we did at certain critical points in our research that moved us forward.Research limitations/implicationsOur study used two surveys with a limited number of researchers to compare what was found in the literature on reasons for collaboration in scientific research and how research outcomes were measured using citation rates. Conducting interviews or focused groups could have provided more nuanced findings. However, our findings did show that collaboration is beneficial to both experienced and early career researchers and helps them to publish in higher-ranked journals resulting in better visibility for the research. This is an interesting observation and merits further investigation. Theoretical implications: Findings from this research contribute to the broad literature on collaborative research in science and social science with a focus on practice-based fields such as project management where collaboration between academics and practitioners is becoming important.Practical implicationsThe study provides some insights into the reasons for processes used and benefits from collaboration in project management research. Our findings have also been validated with our peers. Thus, this study will be useful for setting up and managing collaborative research in project management.Social implicationsEffective collaboration in research can provide social value through mentoring of early career researchers.Originality/valueThis is the first detailed study of collaborative research in project management. It also proposes an action research model that can be used to retrospectively analyse long-term research projects to reflect upon and improve.

Working with Northern Communities to Build Collaborative Research Partnerships: Perspectives from Early Career Researchers

ARCTIC ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
J.M.E. Tondu ◽  
A.M. Balasubramaniam ◽  
L. Chavarie ◽  
N. Gantner ◽  
J.A. Knopp ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Research ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Research Partnerships ◽  
Early Career Researchers

scholarly journals Highlighting the potential of peer-led workshops in training early-career researchers for conducting research with Indigenous communities

FACETS ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 275-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwyneth A. MacMillan ◽  
Marianne Falardeau ◽  
Catherine Girard ◽  
Sophie Dufour-Beauséjour ◽  
Justine Lacombe-Bergeron ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Research ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Indigenous Representation ◽  
Key Skills ◽  
Indigenous Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Conducting Research ◽  
Community Collaborative

For decades, Indigenous voices have called for more collaborative and inclusive research practices. Interest in community-collaborative research is consequently growing among university-based researchers in Canada. However, many researchers receive little formal training on how to collaboratively conduct research with Indigenous communities. This is particularly problematic for early-career researchers (ECRs) whose fieldwork often involves interacting with communities. To address this lack of training, two peer-led workshops for Canadian ECRs were organized in 2016 and 2017 with the following objectives: ( i) to cultivate awareness about Indigenous cultures, histories, and languages; ( ii) to promote sharing of Indigenous and non-Indigenous ways of knowing; and ( iii) to foster approaches and explore tools for conducting community-collaborative research. Here we present these peer-led Intercultural Indigenous Workshops and discuss workshop outcomes according to five themes: scope and interdisciplinarity, Indigenous representation, workshop environment, skillful moderation, and workshop outcomes. Although workshops cannot replace the invaluable experience gained through working directly with Indigenous communities, we show that peer-led workshops can be an effective way for ECRs to develop key skills for conducting meaningful collaborative research. Peer-led workshops are therefore an important but insufficient step toward more inclusive research paradigms in Canada.

scholarly journals Psychiatric Genomics Research During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Survey of Psychiatric Genomics Consortium Researchers

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerry Guintivano ◽  
Danielle Dick ◽  
Cynthia M Bulik
Keyword(s):  
Academic Medicine ◽  
Career Progression ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Full Professor ◽  
Underrepresented Minorities ◽  
Free Text ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Genomics Research ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Considerable Concern

AbstractBetween April 20, 2020 and June 19, 2020 we conducted a survey of the membership of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC) to explore the impact of COVID-19 on their research and academic careers. A total of 123 individuals responded representing academic ranks from trainee to full professor, tenured and fixed-term appointments, and all genders. The survey included both quantitative and free text responses. Results revealed considerable concern about the impact of COVID-19 on research with the greatest concern reported by individuals in non-permanent positions and female researchers. Concerns about the availability of funding and the impact of the pandemic on career progression were commonly reported by early career researchers. We provide recommendations for institutions, organizations such as the PGC, as well as individual senior investigators to ensure that the futures of early career investigators, especially those underrepresented in academic medicine such as women and underrepresented minorities, are not disproportionately disadvantaged by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Support early-career researchers for post-pandemic prospects

Nature ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 580 (7802) ◽  
pp. 185-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arild Husby ◽  
Gemma Modinos
Keyword(s):  
Early Career ◽  
Early Career Researchers
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