Aim 1: To train a multidisciplinary team of research scientists

The students that were selected the previous year continued on their training programs. We had 4 masters students that were selected last year, one from Busitema University, and 3 from Makerere University. All these students had been for at least one year on their academic programs before we enrolled them into the project. One of these students completed her coursework and research and graduated on 29^th November 2024 at Busitema University.  Two trainees from Makerere University completed their course work and are finalizing their research and writing dissertations. The rest of the students are progressing well with their course work and research.  Makerere University College of Health Sciences put up an advert for funding the second cohort of Master students in March 2024.  Seven applicants responded to the advert. We conducted interviews on 20^th May 2024 and selected 2 additional Master students through a competitive process.  One of the students has Bachelors in Medical Laboratory, and is undertaking a Masters in Immunology and Molecular Biology Program at Makerere University. The second student is doing a Master of Paediatrics and Child Health Program at Makerere University. Busitema University also selected 3 graduate students on Masters programs for research training and support. This was also done through a competitive process.  

We started the year with 3 PHD students under the program. One of them is doing her research in the area of SCD in pregnancy. She has had her research proposal approved by the School Higher Degrees Committee, Institutional Ethics Review Committee and the National Regulatory Body. She got full admission to the university for the PHD training, and has started data collection. She has also undertaken some of the mandatory courses required by the university and the human subjects protection course required by the NIH. The second candidate doing research in the area of Severe Malaria in SCD is awaiting approval of his proposal by the Ethics Committee. He received partial registration for his studies at the university this year, and will receive full admission once his proposal has been approved. The third candidate is doing research work Bioinformatics, and is in the second year of a taught PHD program.  He has completed his coursework and submitted his concept for consideration by the institutional ethics committee. In February 2024, we put up an advert for the 4^th PHD position. We had 7 applicants who were shortlisted. We held interviews on 9^th May 2024, and selected one candidate through a competitive process. The research area of the 4^th PHD student is Mental health among adolescents with SCD. She has presented her concept to the institutional ethics Committee and awaiting approval.  We took into consideration the need to build multidisciplinary teams of researchers during the selection process of PHD students, and the whole process was done in a fair, transparent and competitive manner. Two of the students are faculty members at Makerere University School of Medicine, one works at the National Health Laboratory and one at aMedical Research Unit affiliated to Busitema University.

Busitema University, the Sub-Awardee on this project supported 3 fellows in reserch training and support last year. This year, they also supported 3 fellows in the same area.

We conducted a Mentorship Training program for the Masters and PHD ENRICH Fellows on 13^th February 2024.  It was a hybrid training where the trainees, faculty, academic supervisors and mentors of the trainees were invited to attend either face to face or virtually. The main purpose of this training was to facilitate mentorship and interaction between the faculty mentors and fellows/trainees so as to support them in their academic and research activities, and to support them in their career growth and personal development. We shared with the fellows tools to support the mentoring process, and trained them how to develop personal development plans. Following this activity, all the fellows/trainees have developed and shared their Personal Development plans to faculty/mentors, and have been encouraged to continuously update the plans.We conduct monthly joint journal clubs for all the Masters and PHD students supported by the project, where we discuss advances/literature in SCD in different areas and /or research methods. We also hold separate meetings for the Master and PHD students once a month, where we provide or mentorship, monitor and support in their research development and progress, and personal development plans among other issues. We also one on one mentorship meeting between faculty and students as needed. The monthly engagements also enable us to mentor the trainees and build collaborative teams of future researchers.