Building Research Capacity with Partners

In 2022, IFS was jointly engaged in eleven events or workshops with various strategic partners or alumni associations across a spectrum of topics, most in response to requests from grantees and partners. The development of IFS’s virtual meeting tools that started in 2020 also continued throughout 2021 and 2022. The overall objectives of these workshops were to:

> Strengthen early-career researchers’ scientific skills to develop a scientific proposal, publish in scientific journals, and communicate their results to the public at large (including scientists, politicians and policy makers, donors and private interest groups)

> Enhance capacity to conduct original research that relates to genuine problems and that generates fundamental and/or applicable scientific knowledge that can be put into use

> Contribute to science literacy

> Influence science priority setting

> Network and collaborate with the global research community to shape local and global research agendas, and

> Position participants in international research, to carry out regional projects or to develop their networks.

The workshops conducted in 2022 included (descriptions below):

> IFS 50th Anniversary Grantee Event

> Workshop on Pitching Contest

> INASP MOOC Course on Research Writing in the Sciences

> Statistical Computing with R, e-learning Training Course

> IFS 1000 STEM Women Workshop

> New IPM: A Modern and Multidisciplinary Approach to Crop Protection – International Symposium and Networking Event

> Writing a Winning Manuscript

> IFS 2022 Welcome Ceremony: Gender Equality in Research

> Webinar on World Food Day

> Support Workshop for Women IFS Applicants

> COP27

IFS 50th Anniversary Grantee Event (March 2022)

IFS celebrated its 50th anniversary with IFS grantees in an online event held on 24 March 2022 with 171 participants. The event included presentations from IFS staff discussing the history and legacy of IFS, how IFS can adapt to the future of scientific research, and the upcoming activities planned for 2022, the 50th anniversary year. IFS alumni Dr Babita Paudel and Dr David Chiawo gave presentations on the theme for the event, decolonising science, with participants contributing to a discussion at the end.

Workshop on Pitching Contest (April 2022)

IFS continued working with ILRI CapDev Grand Challenge, a ten-month process to grow transformational next-generation livestock-sector professionals by equipping them with the people and leadership skills necessary to contribute to new research and development outcomes. As one of four phases in the CapDev Challenge process, the pitching contest is designed to build capacity around effective science communication and create momentum and excitement among the researchers as they take on soft skills training. In April 2022, 30 graduate students and research fellows from National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) in countries where ILRI works gathered virtually for ILRI’s CapDev Grand Challenge research pitching contest. IFS grantees were among the contestants. Out of the 30 contestants from various countries in Africa and Asia, 11 were women. Each contestant was given three minutes to present an overview of their research project, after which a panel of seven judges had five minutes to ask the contestants questions about their research. The contest’s diversity extended to the topics the contestants covered, ranging from food quality risks in Ethiopia to methane emissions from livestock in subSaharan Africa to new vaccines for East Coast Fever. After each presentation, the judges asked contestants questions about the sustainability of their research and how it could be used to influence policy, thereby encouraging them to consider how their research could be improved to maximise its impact. In the week leading up to the ceremony, a panel of seven judges led by a chief judge reviewed the research pitches from all 30 contestants before eventually deciding on the winners. Key review criteria included the research problem and its importance, impact pathways, sustainability of the research and audience engagement. The contest winners were announced at the award ceremony on 19 April. The first award was given to Sarah Nyanchera Nyakeri, an MSc graduate fellow at ILRI, who was declared the overall winner of the ILRI category for her presentation titled ‘Identification of virulence factors as novel vaccine targets for bovine pleuropneumonia by Whole Genome Saturated Mutagenesis’. In addition to Sarah, there were five other first-place winners of different categories. In the partners category, the judges awarded Waseyehon Assen Abate, an IFS grantee, first place for his presentation ‘Exploring the potential of locally grown Amaranthus caudatus grain seed as poultry feed’.

INASP MOOC Course on Research Writing in the Sciences (April-May 2022)

Co-sponsored by IFS, the six-week online course was designed for early-career researchers in the Global South working in the natural sciences and other related fields. Fiftyfive participants signed up for the IFS cohort on the course including two participants from IFS partner organisation

IRD. These participants had access to a collegiate forum and a classroom space with supplementary learning materials. The bespoke support included an introductory onboarding webinar and another on improving academic writing skills, as well as access to learning resources on Academic Writing Skills and Proposal Writing with Impact. The course covered a range of subjects including accessing publications, developing research questions, ethics, avoiding plagiarism, assessing the legitimacy of journals, identifying a suitable target journal for a paper, writing different sections of a paper, using citations and references, submitting a paper, and responding to peer reviewers’ comments. Participants reported an increase in confidence across all course subjects.

Statistical Computing with R, e-learning Training Course (June 2022)

Prof Eugenio Parente, an IFS SAC member, offered to conduct a pro bono virtual training in statistical computing using R, given the importance of statistics and statistical computing for young scientists and the mission of IFS to support early-career researchers from the Global South. The course was conducted using an e-learning platform (Moodle) and the University of Basilicata’s Google drive e-learning facility, freely provided to IFS. In addition to this, staff members of the university supported the running of this course. Fifty-three IFS grantees expressed interest in attending the course, whose objective was to introduce the use of R language and environment for graphical and statistical analysis in biology, biotechnology, medicine, food science and nutrition.

IFS 1000 STEM Women Workshop (August 2022)

The two-day IFS 1000 STEM Women Workshop was the second of its kind which was organised with IFS partner Dr Ramesh Laungani, the founder of the 1000 STEM Women Project, a global video library created by women working in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths (STEM). Twenty-two participants registered for the workshop, which explored ways scientists can better engage with non-scientific audiences by considering their context and being intentional with their language choice. Participants practised recording videos of themselves communicating their science on Flip – an asynchronous video discussion tool. Final videos were uploaded to the 1000 STEM Women Project. They are publicly available and used by schools globally to promote a diversity of role models in science, thereby increasing representation, challenging negative stereotypes, and minimising barriers in STEM. Participants praised the workshop, appreciating the openness and helpfulness of the facilitators. The confidence levels of participants in describing their research to nonscientific audiences, avoiding the use of technical language, and filming short videos increased after the workshop.

New IPM: A Modern and Multidisciplinary Approach to

Crop Protection – International Symposium and Networking Event, Swansea University, Wales (September 2022)

Together with Swansea University’s Research and Innovation Services, IFS organised this international symposium which brought together people and organisations involved in the agribusiness chain, to present and discuss innovations and how they are being implemented in crop protection. The unique event brought together industrialists and leading researchers to share approaches and experiences in this strategic domain. Following the symposium there, was a Collaborative R&D Funding Support Networking Day which offered opportunities for Welsh industry and academia to network with international partners, with a focus on funding opportunities from UK and EU sources, in particular Horizon Europe Cluster 6 and related calls around plant health, resilient infrastructure and low-risk pesticides. IFS established various relationships with potential industry research partners to collaborate on studentship and internship initiatives involving research themes, academic and industry locations and co-supervision, training and work experience, projects of various durations, and cost-sharing arrangements.

Writing a Winning Manuscript (September 2022)

The workshop was held at Strathmore Business School (SBS) in Nairobi, Kenya. There were 12 participants: seven doctoral fellows and five master’s students from various institutions and specialisations. The first part of the training focused on preparing manuscripts for successful publishing in international journals. They got insights on choosing the right journal for manuscript submission. They were instructed to always be ahead of reviewers regarding replicable methodology, precise and adequate results, acceptable and simple language, and the precise alignment to journal stipulations based on the Guide for Authors. The main facilitator of this session was Dr David Chiawo who was assisted by IFS alumni Dr Beth Ndunda, Dr Ruth Odhiambo and Dr Raphael Kweyu. The Mendeley partner, Dr Vera Otiende, conducted the second half of the workshop. The participants learned effective reference management, citation and generating a bibliography using Mendeley Reference Manager. With the aid of Dr Otiende, they worked on and improved their manuscripts using the software. They were able to automate their citations and generate their end-of-text citations. They also learned about using the reference manager as a review tool.

IFS 2022 Welcome Ceremony: Gender Equality in Research (October 2022)

An online welcome ceremony was held to celebrate the academic achievement of those who obtained IFS grants in 2022. Grantees were welcomed and introduced to the IFS Secretariat staff who provided more information on the programme. IFS alumni Dr Babita Paudel and Dr David Chiawo presented the many initiatives done by IFS alumni groups all over the globe. The event included a presentation on gender equality in research, exploring gender issues such as implicit biases and other barriers that women in science face. Participants were invited to an interactive discussion to share their reflections on gender equality in their context and discuss actions that could be taken towards it. The event ended with a networking opportunity for grantees. Participants were pleased to have received more information on the programme, to have met the IFS staff and they appreciated the participatory nature of the event. The theme of gender equality in research was enjoyed by both women and men, with participants reporting an increase in their awareness of gender issues in research, gender bias, and actions that could be taken towards creating inclusive research cultures.

Webinar on World Food Day (October 2022)

IFS and COMSTECH joined with leading research, academic and farming organisations from Pakistan and worldwide to host World Food Day celebrations. Partners included UPSIGN, an educational charity based in the UK supporting collaborations between the UK and Pakistan; SAWIE, a digital platform based in the UK and Pakistan offering farm advice and data insights; and International Centre for Climate Change, Food Security & Sustainability (ICCFS)/Consortium on Climate Change, Sustainability & Conservation (CCSC), Islamia University Bahawalpur. Many keynote talks and panel discussions with experts working in agri-food research systems were held. The webinar discussed the key challenges faced by our food system, from climate change to other threats. The debate uncovered how sustainable use of natural resources could help enhance productivity, soil health, water, and biodiversity.

Support Workshop for Women IFS Applicants (November 2022)

As part of its gender strategy, IFS provides additional support for women applicants and grantees to minimise the barriers women may encounter in accessing support and resources. For the 2023 call, IFS offers personalised support for women invited to apply. In October 2022, 241 women applicants were invited to join an online chat forum on the IFS Community. The chat forum included facilitators who answer questions, and discuss and share learning resources or contacts that applicants might find helpful throughout the application period. Facilitators included selected IFS staff, and four external experts: Dr Beth Ndunda, Dr Ruth Odhiambo, and Dr Valère Kolawolé Salako (all IFS alumni) and Dr Rebecca Boulton. A needs-based assessment was sent to the women applicants to determine which sections of the application they found the most difficult. Priority topics identified from this survey were designed for the Support Workshop in November 2022. In this workshop, facilitators presented a talk on a priority topic and held a Q&A session allowing participants to get more information on aspects of the application they may struggle with.

COP27 (November 2022)

The Climate Leadership Conversation at COP27 in Egypt was intended to initiate a dialogue with African leaders on practical approaches to promote the capacity of their countries to deal with climate change. It was designed to create the needed attention on capacity building for policy-makers and implementers on climate change to build the much-needed critical number in Africa to motivate and activate climate action. COP27 presented an exclusive opportunity to form partnerships between IFS, Africa-based institutions and likeminded international institutions to set a joint framework in climate change research and training to unlock the potential of Africa to deal with climate change. The climate leadership dialogue at COP27 created awareness of the 50 years of the impact of IFS and set the pace for scaling the dynamics of the new phase of focus for IFS in Africa.

Gender Equality in Capacity Enhancement

IFS grants and capacity-enhancing activities provide valuable support during a critical time in the career of women scientists. IFS employs gender mainstreaming throughout the programme, implementing several actions in line with the IFS Gender Strategy 2021–2030.

IFS implemented a number of initiatives, interventions, and operational changes in 2022, including:

> Changes to our application form so all applicants can confidentially declare special circumstances that have affected their track record to ensure a fairer evaluation process

> Building the online IFS Women in Science Community

> Publicising the IFS Women in Science Public Contact List on social media and the IFS website

> Supporting IFS women grantees in starting their initiatives, such as a virtual English café to practice using the language

> Running a workshop on gender equality in science for both men and women grantees that started in 2022

> Delivering the second IFS 1000 STEM Women Workshop with our partner, Dr Ramesh Laungani, that focuses on effective science communication and contributes to increasing the visibility of women scientists globally

> Ensuring gender balance in our grantee selections for external communication, and

> Conducting a needs-based assessment survey to inform the design of the 2023 support workshop for women applicants

Mentorship

Cutting across all of IFS’s capacity-enhancing support is a learning approach which includes mentoring. In 2022, IFS staff and external specialists mentored the grantees carrying out ongoing research projects. We also supported our alumni to associate with and support other potential grantees through training and coaching. As they conduct their research, grantees inform IFS about the support they need, which may include:

> Technical concerns related to the specific project topic or research problem

> Research design

> Research methods and techniques

> Data collection and analysis

> Research findings and conclusions

> Research project administration and/or budget management

> Research report, journal article and/or policy brief writing and language

> Communicating research results

> Intellectual ownership / property rights

> Team and/or administration relations

> Conversations with funders, and

> Other or future funding opportunities.