scholarly journals Tomorrow’s Health Data Scientists in the Making: 2 Years of Training & Capacity Building Activities with the Farr Institute

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Athanasios Anastasiou ◽  
Georgina Moulton ◽  
Colin McCowan ◽  
Paul Taylor ◽  
Catharine Goddard
Keyword(s):  
Capacity Building ◽  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Oral Communication ◽  
Education Programme ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Spatial Data Analysis ◽  
World Health ◽  
Building Activities ◽  
The Uk

ABSTRACT ObjectivesThe poster will showcase the Training & Capacity Building Programme (TCBP) established by the Farr network that is available to PhD students and Early Career Researchers (ECRs) both from within and outside the network. ApproachThe authors are using a mixed-methods approach to present the current state of the art that has motivated the structure of the TCBP and how the programme has been received by students, academic and industry leaders. Since 2014, the Farr network education leads have worked on a unique education programme that aims to equip students with key professional and methodological skills required by the roles they are likely to take in their future careers. The content of the programme has been informed by current research in the fields of data linkage and analysis of big datasets as well as the immediate experience of researchers, and healthcare and industry leads working actively in the field. We have focussed on developing a community of practice through the provision of an environment that has enabled students to share experiences and knowledge and to start building their own networks of collaboration across the Farr centres. ResultsThe Farr network of PhD students comprises of approximately 66 students from a variety of backgrounds including bioinformatics, computer science, epidemiology, mathematics, psychology and statistics. The Farr network hosted 2 main events in 2015 that provided the foundation for 34 PhD students to come together to develop skills in written and oral communication, Public and Patient Involvement (PPI), problem-solving, requirements gathering, data visualisation and spatial data analysis. Formal feedback collected from each event suggests that the programme is received well by students who see it as a set of activities that complement their specialised PhD related education. Feedback from supervisors and future employers also suggests that this programme has facilitated the development of skills that are useful for their PhD and employment. ConclusionThe Farr network has laid the foundation for the community of practice around the analysis of real-world health datasets across the UK, and will continue to cultivate this through the enrichment of the programme.

scholarly journals Co-Constructing a Community of Practice for Early-Career Computer Science Academics in the UK

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Crick ◽  
James H. Davenport ◽  
Paul Hanna ◽  
Alan Hayes ◽  
Alastair Irons ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Computer Science ◽  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Early Career ◽  
The Uk

scholarly journals Positioning for success: building capacity in academic competencies for early-career researchers in sub-Saharan Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Merritt ◽  
H. Jack ◽  
W. Mangezi ◽  
D. Chibanda ◽  
M. Abas
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Capacity Building ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Training Experience ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Academic Competencies ◽  
Sub Saharan

Background. Capacity building is essential in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to address the gap in skills to conduct and implement research. Capacity building must not only include scientific and technical knowledge, but also broader competencies, such as writing, disseminating research and achieving work–life balance. These skills are thought to promote long-term career success for researchers in high-income countries (HICs) but the availability of such training is limited in LMICs. Methods. This paper presents the contextualisation and implementation of the Academic Competencies Series (ACES). ACES is an early-career researcher development programme adapted from a UK university. Through consultation between HIC and LMIC partners, an innovative series of 10 workshops was designed covering themes of self-development, engagement and writing skills. ACES formed part of the African Mental Health Research Initiative (AMARI), a multi-national LMIC-led consortium to recruit, train, support and network early-career mental health researchers from four sub-Saharan African countries. Results. Of the 10 ACES modules, three were HIC-LMIC co-led, four led by HIC facilitators with LMIC training experience and three led by external consultants from HICs. Six workshops were delivered face to face and four by webinar. Course attendance was over 90% and the delivery cost was approximately US$4500 per researcher trained. Challenges of adaptation, attendance and technical issues are described for the first round of workshops. Conclusions. This paper indicates that a skills development series for early-career researchers can be contextualised and implemented in LMIC settings, and is feasible for co-delivery with local partners at relatively low cost.

scholarly journals An Assessment of Government Capacity Building to Restrict the Marketing of Unhealthy Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverage Products to Children in the Region of the Americas

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (16) ◽  
pp. 8324
Author(s):  
Sofía Rincón-Gallardo Patiño ◽  
Fabio Da Silva Gomes ◽  
Steven Constantinou ◽  
Robin Lemaire ◽  
Valisa E. Hedrick ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Information Systems ◽  
Capacity Building ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Alcoholic Beverage ◽  
Alcoholic Beverages ◽  
World Health ◽  
Regulatory Oversight ◽  
Health And Human Rights ◽  
Government Capacity ◽  
Health Organization

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Strategic Plan 2020–2025 committed to reduce children’s consumption of energy-dense nutrient-poor food and beverage products high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) and promote healthy eating patterns to reduce malnutrition in all forms. This paper describes the capacity-building needs in PAHO’s Member States to restrict the marketing of HFSS food and beverages to children. We asked Ministries of Health officials or national institutes/departmental representatives (n = 35) to complete a 28-item web-based survey (January to July 2020). Capacity-building needs were assessed using an adapted version of the World Health Organization’s government capacity-building framework with three modules: public health infrastructure, policies and information systems. Notable achievements for the PAHO’s Plan of Action were identified. State representatives reported strong infrastructure and information systems; however, policy improvements are needed to increase comprehensive national responses. These include using a constitutional health and human rights approach within the policies, policies that document conflict of interest from non-state actors, and strengthening regulatory oversight for digital media platforms. These findings provide baseline data and we suggest priorities for further action to strengthen national governments’ capacity-building and to accelerate the development, implementation, and monitoring systems to restrict the marketing of HFSS food and non-alcoholic beverages to children in the region of the Americas.

scholarly journals Research on Spatiotemporal Differentiation and Influence Mechanism of Urban Resilience in China Based on MGWR Model

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 1056
Author(s):  
Yu Chen ◽  
Mengke Zhu ◽  
Qian Zhou ◽  
Yurong Qiao
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Heterogeneity ◽  
Spatial Correlation ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Central Area ◽  
Urban System ◽  
Entropy Method ◽  
Driving Factors ◽  
Spatial Data Analysis ◽  
Eastern Region ◽  
Urban Resilience

Urban resilience in the context of COVID-19 epidemic refers to the ability of an urban system to resist, absorb, adapt and recover from danger in time to hedge its impact when confronted with external shocks such as epidemic, which is also a capability that must be strengthened for urban development in the context of normal epidemic. Based on the multi-dimensional perspective, entropy method and exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) are used to analyze the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of urban resilience of 281 cities of China from 2011 to 2018, and MGWR model is used to discuss the driving factors affecting the development of urban resilience. It is found that: (1) The urban resilience and sub-resilience show a continuous decline in time, with no obvious sign of convergence, while the spatial agglomeration effect shows an increasing trend year by year. (2) The spatial heterogeneity of urban resilience is significant, with obvious distribution characteristics of “high in east and low in west”. Urban resilience in the east, the central and the west are quite different in terms of development structure and spatial correlation. The eastern region is dominated by the “three-core driving mode”, and the urban resilience shows a significant positive spatial correlation; the central area is a “rectangular structure”, which is also spatially positively correlated; The western region is a “pyramid structure” with significant negative spatial correlation. (3) The spatial heterogeneity of the driving factors is significant, and they have different impact scales on the urban resilience development. The market capacity is the largest impact intensity, while the infrastructure investment is the least impact intensity. On this basis, this paper explores the ways to improve urban resilience in China from different aspects, such as market, technology, finance and government.

Academic engagement with small business and entrepreneurship: Towards a landscape of practice

2021 ◽  
pp. 095042222110344
Author(s):  
Oswald Jones
Keyword(s):  
Small Business ◽  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Academic Engagement ◽  
Business Owners ◽  
Business Research ◽  
Structural Funds ◽  
Core Concepts ◽  
Eu Structural Funds ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Eu

Academic engagement with small business and entrepreneurship was facilitated by the availability of European Union (EU) funding, which also stimulated the emergence of a small business and entrepreneurship (SBE) ‘community of practice’. Gradually, the SBE community developed into a ‘landscape of practice’ as small business research moved towards maturity. Furthermore, the SBE landscape of practice has coalesced around three core concepts: entrepreneurial learning, social networks and social capital. EU funding was the catalyst for many SBE academics in the UK to engage with practitioners involved with starting and managing their own businesses. The UK’s exit from the EU will inevitably mean that universities will no longer have access to EU Structural Funds. This has major implications for the UK SBE community’s engagement with practice as well as for entrepreneurs and business owners who have benefitted from a range of programmes designed to improve the performance of smaller firms.

scholarly journals Understanding Leisure Centre-Based Physical Activity after Physical Activity Referral: Evidence from Scheme Participants and Completers in Northumberland UK

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 2957
Author(s):  
Jordan Bell ◽  
Lis Neubeck ◽  
Kai Jin ◽  
Paul Kelly ◽  
Coral L. Hanson
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Administrative Data ◽  
World Health Organisation ◽  
Ordinal Regression ◽  
World Health ◽  
Activity Levels ◽  
The World ◽  
The Uk

Physical activity referral schemes (PARS) are a popular physical activity (PA) intervention in the UK. Little is known about the type, intensity and duration of PA undertaken during and post PARS. We calculated weekly leisure centre-based moderate/vigorous PA for PARS participants (n = 448) and PARS completers (n = 746) in Northumberland, UK, between March 2019–February 2020 using administrative data. We categorised activity levels (<30 min/week, 30–149 min/week and ≥150 min/week) and used ordinal regression to examine predictors for activity category achieved. PARS participants took part in a median of 57.0 min (IQR 26.0–90.0) and PARS completers a median of 68.0 min (IQR 42.0–100.0) moderate/vigorous leisure centre-based PA per week. Being a PARS completer (OR: 2.14, 95% CI: 1.61–2.82) was a positive predictor of achieving a higher level of physical activity category compared to PARS participants. Female PARS participants were less likely (OR: 0.65, 95% CI: 0.43–0.97) to achieve ≥30 min of moderate/vigorous LCPA per week compared to male PARS participants. PARS participants achieved 38.0% and PARS completers 45.3% of the World Health Organisation recommended ≥150 min of moderate/vigorous weekly PA through leisure centre use. Strategies integrated within PARS to promote PA outside of leisure centre-based activity may help participants achieve PA guidelines.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document