bioRxiv Science⌕ Search
Home/Archive/bioRxiv

bioRxiv · 10.1101/2021.01.29.428492

Mentorship as a strategy to improve research ability of students and young researchers in Africa: an exploratory study and initial findings on the CORE Africa Research Mentorship Scheme

Ngongalah, L.·Niba Rawlings, N.·Musisi, J. M.·Awanchiri, K.·Akwah, E.·Ngeh, E.·Ssemwanga, A.
View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Mentorship provides an opportunity to support skill development, improve research ability, promote interest in research and offer career advice. The need for research mentorship in Africa is well-recognised. However, there is scarce literature on the development of such programmes and their potential impacts on students and young researchers in Africa (SYRIA). This study documents the development of the CORE Africa Research Mentorship Scheme (CARMS), and reports the outcomes and challenges experienced over a two-year period, from 2018 to 2020. 41 mentors and mentees from Cameroon, Uganda and Nigeria participated in the programme. Mentors were based in Africa and the UK, while mentees were all based in Africa. Mentees gained knowledge and skills in various research areas including proposal writing, research methods, data analysis, report writing and research publication. Nine mentees gained their first research publication through the CARMS and three successfully completed their first grant proposal. Three mentees were supported by their mentor to develop PhD research proposals and five others gained skills that helped them secure paid research jobs. Eleven mentees have graduated from the programme, seven of which are currently enrolled as trainee mentors. Mentees appreciated the opportunity to improve on their research skills and felt that the programme gave them a safe environment to freely express their concerns. Main challenges encountered were: difficulty finding suitable mentors, communication barriers, poorly defined mentorship goals, dealing with mentees lack of knowledge/experience of basic research concepts and funding limitations. This programme had several positive impacts on the knowledge and skills of mentees and demonstrates the importance of mentorship in research capacity strengthening. Sustaining such programmes requires investments in training and development, to ensure that mentees are continuously and adequately supported.

Explore related subjects

scientific communication and educationPreprint

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Ngongalah, L., Niba Rawlings, N., Musisi, J. M., Awanchiri, K., Akwah, E., Ngeh, E., Ssemwanga, A.. 2021-01-30. Mentorship as a strategy to improve research ability of students and young researchers in Africa: an exploratory study and initial findings on the CORE Africa Research Mentorship Scheme. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.01.29.428492

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related preprints

bioRxiv2026

Evaluating Large Language Models as Tools to Navigate Researchers in Rapidly Evolving Research Landscapes: A Case Study in Cancer Drug Response Prediction

Large Language Models (LLMs) have emerged as promising tools for assisting researchers in automating and accelerating the synthesis of literature reviews. However, their reliability is a significant concern due to issues like factual inaccuracies and hallucinations. The key question is whether LLMs can reliably provide comprehensive, up-to-date overviews and analyses. This study evaluates the performance of three leading LLMs (OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, and DeepSeek) on the complex task of generating a comprehensive survey paper on deep learning for cancer Drug Response Prediction (DRP). By testing both standard and Deep Research (DR) / Deep Think (DT) modes of LLMs with prompts of varying detail, this paper assesses key academic dimensions, including reference management, content quality, and analytical depth. Key findings reveal that while DR modes of LLMs significantly improve reliability by eliminating hallucinations, performance variations exist across models and prompts. A trade-off between reference quantity and integration quality was observed, and even the best-performing models lacked the analytical depth of human experts, often requiring extensive human supervision. The study concludes that LLMs currently serve as powerful assistive tools but still cannot replace the critical validation and synthesis provided by human researchers. Choosing the best LLM to use depends on the task in hand, while several strategies can be implemented to improve the produced output.

scientific communication and education↗
bioRxiv2021

Sleep Medicine Knowledge Among Graduating Medical Students in Lebanon During an Economic and Political Crisis

ObjectivesSleep disorders are prevalent and underrecognized during both economic and political crises. They are a major reason for poor overall health and decreased quality of life. Sleep medicine education is limited at most medical schools, resulting in limited awareness of this important aspect of healthcare. The aim of the study is to assess sleep medicine knowledge of graduating medical students in Lebanon and to assess their readiness to tackle sleep health issues in a country during an unprecedented crisis. MethodsFinal-year medical students at 7 medical schools in Lebanon were invited to fill a survey between January 2020 and March 2021. The Assessment of Sleep Knowledge in Medical Education survey was used to assess their knowledge in sleep medicine. The curriculum organizers at the medical schools were also surveyed. Students t-test was used for analysis. Results158 and 58 students completed the survey during 2020 and 2021, with a mean overall score on sleep knowledge of was 17.5 and 15.9 /30, respectively. There was no difference in mean knowledge scores by gender, age, American versus European medical school systems, and between medical schools that included sleep medicine in their curriculum versus those that did not. ConclusionsPresence of sleep medicine education in the curriculum was associated with higher scores on ASKME among graduating Lebanese medical students. Overall, the new crop of physicians in Lebanon possesses a relatively good knowledge base in sleep medicine. Nevertheless, more effort should be made to uniformly maintain this level of sleep education.

scientific communication and education↗
bioRxiv2021

Virtual meetings promise to eliminate the geographical and administrative barriers and increase accessibility, diversity, and inclusivity

The COVID-19 pandemic brought a new set of unprecedented challenges not only for healthcare, education, and everyday jobs but also in terms of academic conferences. In this study, we investigate the effect of the broad adoption of virtual platforms for academic conferences as a response to COVID-19 restrictions. We show that virtual platforms enable higher participation from underrepresented minority groups, increased inclusion, and broader geographic distribution. We also discuss emerging challenges associated with the virtual conference format resulting in a decreased engagement of social activities, limited possibilities of cross-fertilization between participants, and reduced peer-to-peer interactions. Lastly, we conclude that a novel comprehensive approach needs to be adopted by the conference organizers to ensure increased accessibility, diversity, and inclusivity of post-pandemic conferences. Our findings provide evidence favoring a hybrid format for future conferences, marrying the strength of both in-person and virtual platforms.

scientific communication and education↗