Ekaya, Wellington N.

Leahy, Eithne

CGSpace

Science-policy interface: operationalizing One HealthAddressing challenges of working across disciplines and communicating science: the ILRI CapDev Grand Challenge processEithne Leahy1 and Wellington Ekaya21Graduate Fellow, International Livestock Research Institute/University of Edinburgh2Head of capacity development, International Livestock Research InstituteWorld One Health Congress virtual edition 202030 October–3 November 2020OutcomeThrough the CapDev Grand Challenge process, ILRI aims at creating cohorts of next-generation researchers who share a common learning experience, are motivated systems thinkers, good communicators and confident engagers of the public. Via social media platforms, the cohorts will remain connected and enabled to work collaboratively across disciplines and countries. Additionally, building the skills of these researchers to engage with government officials, donors and others and to communicate research findings in an understandable manner will strengthen evidence-based decision-making, which will accelerate ILRI’s research to scale for societal impact.    ContactWellington EkayaW.Ekaya@cigar.orgBox 30709 Nairobi, KenyaContextAdopting a truly One Health research for development approach is challenging and requires changes at many levels, including shifts in mindsets and internal organisation dynamics. The challenges are especially real for researchers who tend to work in silos, gathering in-depth data on a specific topic but lacking perspective on the interconnectedness of their subject area in the broader societal context. This is a major capacity issue among most young professionals today.CapDev at ILRIThe mission of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) is to transform lives through livestock and capacity development (CapDev) is imbedded in, and cuts across ILRI’s research for development mandate. ILRI applies a context-specific blended approach through:• graduate and research fellowships; • professional and academic internships; and• high impact short training courses. CapDev Grand ChallengeThrough the CapDev Grand Challenge, ILRI aims to improve interconnectivity and collaboration among young researchers from diverse disciplines and countries, strengthening their skills and capabilities to engage, collaborate and communicate their research findings to different audiences, and thereby deliberately strengthening multidisciplinary and cross disciplinary capabilities.Scan to find out moreThis document is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence. August 2020During the inaugural 2019 CapDev Grand Challenge, 25 graduate and research fellows from Africa, Asia and Europe  who were conducting bioscience and integrated science research each made a 3-minute research pitch to a panel of judges comprising a donor, communications expert/journalist, policy development expert and a researcher from one of ILRI’s programs. This was a contest to judge how well the fellows could package and communicate their scientific research to important non-scientific audiences. According to the judges, successful pitches displayed ability to engage with all four panel members and highlight the relevance and potential impact of the fellow’s research in a concise and understandable way. Subsequently, participants with the most successful pitches participated in a project impact pathways training that brought them together as a multi- and cross-disciplinary group to co-create research concepts they could collaborate in across different countries. Participants went through a three-day hands-on project impact pathways and grant proposal writing training in a truly One Health context. The training process involved five research teams, each with mixed disciplinary areas, but focussing on livestock, humans, zoonoses and environment.Thereafter over a period of six months, participants were trained through short online courses, onsystems research context, proactive stakeholder engagement, effective team building, partnership development and management, collaborative proposal development, and personal development.ILRI thanks all donors and organizations which globally support its work through their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund.AcknowledgementAll the 25 CapDev Grand Challenge finalists (2019) contributed to the creation of this poster.

Addressing challenges of working across disciplines and communicating science: The ILRI CapDev Grand Challenge process

https://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/10568/110196/1/CapDev_poster.pdf

Addressing challenges of working across disciplines and communicating science: The ILRI CapDev Grand Challenge process

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

CGSpace