By Perfect Shankalala, Program Manager, University of Zambia
The UNZA-Vanderbilt Training Partnership for HIV-NCD Research (UVP-2) hosted a grant writing workshop for Zambian researchers and UNZA faculty members from the 13th to the 16th of February, 2023. The workshop is part of a longstanding collaboration between the University of Zambia/University Teaching Hospital (UNZA/UTH), Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), and the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH). This year's workshop was held under the theme "Moving Toward Research Independence, Acquiring and Managing Research Grants."
The sixty-five workshop attendees included participants from the Zambia Ministry of Health, University Teaching Hospital, University of Zambia, Levy Mwanawasa Medical University, and researchers and research administrators from within and outside the university community, plus two members from Bayero University in Kano, Nigeria. Prof. Wilbroad Mutale, Zambian PI for the UVP-2 Project, and Prof. Douglas Heimburger from Vanderbilt University Medical Center welcomed participants.
The workshop incorporated various aspects of grantsmanship, including an introduction to funding sources, fundamentals of research careers, key grants components, grants review and administration, and research regulation with specific reference to Zambian and UNZA systems. Facilitators also instructed workshop attendees in research ethics with a particular focus on research misconduct and ethics of authorship. The workshop offered an opportunity for intense question-and-answer sessions that were highly interactive, participatory, and stimulating to participants. UVP-2-supported PhD and Postdoctoral trainees shared their research proposals with the audience and received input from researchers in attendance. Workshop attendees highlighted the workshop's significance and appreciated the opportunity to learn from the knowledge and experience of the workshop faculty.
Opening ceremony attendees included Dr. Choolwe Jacobs, Head of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the UNZA School of Public Health; Prof. Douglas Heimburger from Vanderbilt University Medical Center; Dr. Elizabeth Rose, Global Health Education Specialist, Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health; Dr. Halwiindi Hikabasa, Dean of the UNZA School of Public Health; and Dr. Kaonda Mususu, Acting Director of UNZA's Directorate of Research and Graduate Studies (DRGS). The workshop was directed and coordinated by Prof. Wilbroad Mutale, UVP-2 Principal Investigator; Dr. Violet Kayamba, UVP-2 Training Director; Mr. Perfect Shankalala, UVP-2 Training Coordinator; and Ms. Linda Kampata, Grants Manager.
This activity is supported by the Fogarty International Center of the US National Institutes of Health under Award Number D43 TW009744