The UK Academy of Medical Sciences and the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) hosted a joint researcher capacity building workshop on 7 February 2023.

The workshop was designed to help researchers thrive in their careers as an important step towards building the capacity of research systems globally. 

The half-day workshop accompanied a policy workshop on One Health, organised by the Academy's International Policy Team in conjunction with the AAS.

It provided a platform for researchers across career levels, and career development experts from different African countries to:

• Share experiences, challenges, and successes in establishing their careers
•  Discuss models of mentoring, coaching, and regional networks that offer learning and support opportunities, and are available to researchers based in African countries.

Participants at the workshop included the Academy's Global Challenges Research Fund award holders, and Newton International and Advanced Fellows.

Outputs
This workshop will be followed by the publication of a report that summarises the main points arising from the workshop discussions. 

Steering Committee
Both the early scoping work and development of the workshop was informed by a wide range of experts from different countries and sectors. 

• Co-Chair Professor Sarah Cleaveland FMedSci VetMB PhD MRCVS FRSE FMedSci FRS, Professor of Comparative Epidemiology, University of Glasgow, UK
•  Co-Chair Professor Mohamed Iqbal Parker, AAS Fellow & Vice President for Southern Africa, Emeritus Professor and Senior Research Scholar in Medical Biochemistry and Structural Biology, University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa
•  Professor Lisa Boden, Chair of Population Medicine and Veterinary Public Health Policy, University of Edinburgh, UK  
• Professor Eric Fevre, Chair of Veterinary Infectious Disease, University of Liverpool and International Livestock Research Institute, Kenya
•  Dr Sarah Hill, Research Fellow in Genomic Epidemiology (Infectious diseases), Royal Veterinary College, UK
• Professor Quarraisha Abdool Karim, AAS Fellow & Co-founder and Associate Scientific Director, Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), South Africa
• Professor Andre Pascal Kengne, AAS Fellow & Director of the Non-Communicable Diseases Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, South Africa
•  Professor Francine Ntoumi, AAS Fellow & Vice President for Central Africa, Senior Lecturer in Immunology, University Marien Ngouabi, Republic of Congo
•  Dr Emelda Okiro, AAS Fellow & Population Health Lead, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kenya
•  Professor Tom Solomon CBE FMedSci, Vice-President, International, The Academy of Medical Sciences, UK

Original article published by The Academy of Medical Sciences, linked here.