A team from the Office for Research Support at the Institute is working with the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Switzerland (Swiss TPH), the Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques in CôteD’Ivoife (CSRC) to help strengthen the skills of research managers at the three institutions. This is part of a four-year project on ‘Institutional Capacity Strengthening for Health Research Partnerships between Switzerland and West Africa (ICS-WA)’ with focus on improving the health research management offices of the three institutions to create stronger support systems for researchers.
The project’s inception meeting, including a two-day training session, was held from 7th to 11th October 2024 in Adiopodoumé, at the headquarters of the Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d’Ivoire (CSRS) where partners discussed their roles and develop a detailed implementation plan for the project activities.
At the meeting, Consortium members discussed key matters related to the project’s objectives, timelines, and necessary actions to ensure the successful achievement of its goals. This included how they can create a common system for research management, with standard procedures and training programs across all three institutions. Once established, the system will be shared with other institutions interested in improving their research management and help foster more global health research projects and improve the ability of institutions to apply for and manage research grants.
The meeting also provided partners an opportunity to develop a strategy to move into development of their institution’s capacity for research support and support collaborative research. Additionally, the project will establish a network of biomedical researchers in ophthalmology, allowing institutions to collaborate on research related to eye diseases. This network will involve institutions from Switzerland, West Africa, and beyond, helping to grow eye-related health research.
A big part of the project is a trainer-of -trainers approach where research managers will be trained in various areas and will be supported to train other research managers in their institutions and country. This will facilitate collaboration between the institutions and other research managers in their countries to work together and manage large research projects.
The project organised a two-day training session that covered important topics such as Career Development, Contract Negotiation, Research Ethics, Reporting and Compliance, and Research Funding Sources. The training, which was facilitated by the West Africa Research and Innovation Management Association, targeted at helping the three partner institutions fill gaps in their current knowledge and processes to better compete on the global stage in health research. This is the first training, and the project anticipates having more training with the trainer-of-trainers approach to give researchers and research administrators a solid foundation for working both within their institutions and in global collaborations.
The project team at the Institute includes the lead, Dr. Stephen Osei-Wusu of the Bacteriology department, Ms. Afia Adoma Boakye of the Administration, Mrs. Griselda Osae-Amoako of the ORS and Ms. Pamela Nai of the ORS, all serving. The other project coordinators are Dr. Michael Käser of the Swiss TPH and Dr. Kanny Diallo of the CSRS.
The ICS-WA project is funded by Velux Stiftung and includes rotating annual meetings and capacity-building sessions focusing on research management for those involved in managing research projects within the various institutions.