Tracking the career development of scientists in low- and middle-income countries trained through TDR ’s research capacity strengthening programmes: Learning from monitoring and impact evaluation

by B éatrice Halpaap, Mahnaz Vahedi, Edith Certain, Tini Alvarado, Caroline Saint Martin, Corinne Merle, Michael Mihut, Pascal Launois The Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) co-sponsored by UNICEF, UNDP, World Bank and WHO has been supporting research capacity strengthening in low- and middle-income countries for over 40 years. In order to assess and continuously optimize its capacity strengthe ning approaches, an evaluation of the influence of TDR training grants on research career development was undertaken. The assessment was part of a larger evaluation conducted by the European Science Foundation. A comprehensive survey questionnaire was developed and sent to a group of 117 trainees su pported by TDR who had completed their degree (masters or PhD) between 2000 and 2012; of these, seventy seven (77) responded. Most of the respondents (80%) rated TDR support as a very important factor that influenced their professional career achievements. The “brain drain” phenomenon towards hi gh-income countries was particularly low amongst TDR grantees: the rate of return to their region of origin upon completion of their degree was 96%. A vast majority of respondents are still working in research (89%), with 81% of respondents having participated in multidisciplinary research activitie s; women engaged in multidisciplinary collaboration to a higher extent than men. However, only a minority of all have engaged in intersectoral collaboration, an ...
Source: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases - Category: Tropical Medicine Authors: Source Type: research