AuthorAID Ghana Hub has trained 30 health professionals and over 50 social science professionals to conduct impactful systematic and policy-directed research.

The beneficiaries made up of clinical psychiatrists, medical professionals, as well as, social science and business researchers were given the necessary skills to conduct quality research.

AuthorAID Ghana Hub is an initiative supported the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital Psychiatry unit in collaboration with the research and development unit and Dataking Research Lab of Dataking Consulting with international support from International Network for Advancing Science and Policy (INASP) and AuthorAID, UK.

The hub has a vision to “create an ecosystem for an excellent trainer-trainee, mentor-mentee collaboration in research writing, publication and policy impact while having access to state-of-the-art research and scientific writing tools and techniques.”

The hub is founded under the AuthorAID community award 2022, which was won by Dr. Pearl Adu-Nyako of KATH and King Carl Tornam Duho of Dataking Research Lab of Dataking Consulting.

The hub aims to provide an ecosystem for researchers and policy enthusiasts from a multidisciplinary background ranging from the medical sciences, social sciences and business fields.

Trainees were taken through research courses such as the writing of research proposal, starting and reporting Research, developing research ideas, theory and the literature, conducting journal peer reviews, critical lessons on qualitative research, and lessons on available tools for quantitative analyses. The lessons also cover concerns on ethical clearance and avoiding of plagiarism, as well as, CV development for research clearance.

Dr. Pearl Adu-Nyarko, an AuthorAID awardee and a psychiatrist at KATH believes incorporating research courses into education curricula can whip up interest in research.

“Africa contributes to 12 percent of the world’s population but unfortunately we contribute less than 1 percent to the total pool of knowledge in terms of research. Our GDP commits less than 1 percent precisely 0.42 percent into research, below the Global average for financing research.”

“There is research going on but it’s not enough. With COVID-19 coming up, the whole world has woken up to the fact that we need to beef up research. AuthorAID Ghana Hub is now going to open up and allow anybody who is interested in learning about research. The country’s [national institutions] can roll it into modular training for all the tertiary institutions. Possibly, in senior high schools” she said.

Dr. Caleb Ottu Ansah, facilitator of the AuthorAID Ghana Hub was happy with the improvement in participants’ research interest.

“Many of them didn’t have any interest in research; they didn’t understand when to research, what really goes into it. We encouraged as many people to come on board and when that happened we realized that their knowledge gaps were gradually filled. As they asked questions, we helped clarify, as the other materials recommended are outside of the module, they gathered more understanding so I think their appetite for research has been stimulated,” he explained.

Dr. Eugene Oppong Kyere, a beneficiary of AuthorAID Ghana Hub believes the newly-found knowledge will impact his current and future endeavors.

“I am currently undertaking an MPhil which is a pure research activity and it [the training session] was more of an eye-opener. I have developed a new concept and a new idea in terms of research. We took a course in research proposal, how to systematically write a research proposal and ethical clearance, developing a CV for research clearance, target journals, plagiarism and how going forward we can avoid predatory journals” he stated. 

The culmination of the program included the unveiling of the AuthorAID Ghana Hub logo, the mission statement, mentorship and collaboration network frame, and the inauguration of its executives.