CONSORTIUM FOR ADVANCED RESEARCH TRAINING IN AFRICA (CARTA)

Overarching Goal
The major goal of the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA) is to build a vibrant African academy that is able to lead world-class multidisciplinary research that makes a positive impact on public and population health. The initiative aims to foster vibrant and viable multidisciplinary research hubs at African universities; create networks of locally-trained internationally- recognized scholars; and enhance the capacity of African universities to lead globally-competitive research and training programs. These goals will be achieved by providing a model doctoral training program with strong supervision and mentoring components; strengthening of infrastructure, skills and faculty commitment to lead and manage research initiatives within African institutions; and hence, enhance, the retention of skilled researchers within the region.

Strategic Objectives

• Strengthen doctoral training in Africa to enhance the local production of well-trained researchers and scholars. This will be achieved through the creation of a regional multidisciplinary training and supervisory program in population and public health.
• Support institutional capacity of participating African universities to conduct high-quality research by improving research infrastructure, strengthening project development and grant-writing skills, enhancing research management and administration, and establishing appropriate policies and incentives to enhance research productivity.

Activities

• Institutional Capacity Strengthening
•  Short courses in supervision, library support, grant-writing, and research management;
• Mentoring of faculty and other university staff through their participation in Joint Advanced Seminar (JAS) curriculum development workshops and co-facilitating the JAS;
• Mentoring PhD supervisors through twinning experienced with new supervisors
• Building physical research infrastructure;
• Facilitating the development of coherent and policy-relevant research agendas; and
• Supporting institutionalization of JAS curriculum by ensuring that doctoral students and staff from participating universities contribute to their home institutions by running seminars following each JAS.
• Interdisciplinary multi-county, cross institutional PhD program
• Run annual joint advanced seminars to equip cohorts of doctoral students from participating African universities with strong conceptual, technical, analytical, writing, leadership and professional skills;
• Create a culture of collaborative research among student cohorts by facilitating contact among them and between them and global experts; increasing their exposure to current debates and literature in the range of fields relevant to public and population health ; and support their participation in scientific meetings to enhance networking and decrease professional isolation; and
• Consolidate research skills through post-doctoral fellowships and/or re-entry research grants.

Nature of the Consortium 
CARTA brings together (i) nine academic and four research institutions from West, East, Central, and Southern Africa and selected northern partners, many with extant and longstanding relationships and MoUs, and (ii) a variety of related disciplines essential to enhancing health, wellbeing and livelihoods in Africa, which together, allow CARTA to build multidisciplinary research capacity in population and public health. These institutions represent a balanced mix and include established universities with a history of producing PhD graduates in public and/or population health; promising universities aspiring to develop multidisciplinary PhD programs and research agendas and committed to building their institutional capacity; established, well-managed African research institutions with longstanding research programs able to nest PhD students and host post-doctoral fellows. These sites can provide datasets for training and research. Their staff are also outstanding role models and can mentor aspiring researchers; and Northern partners with longstanding research and training programs with African counterparts, a demonstrable record in building equitable relationships, and a commitment to Africa.

CARTA is led jointly by the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), Kenya, and the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), South Africa who have a five year history of successful collaboration. APHRC provides a highly productive research environment, with a multidisciplinary team of highly- qualified researchers from across sub-Saharan Africa.  Wits provides the institutional capacity of an internationally-rated, research-led, postgraduate-oriented university. Both institutions are internationally recognized as leaders in research and training; have championed the cause of higher education in Africa; have facilitated several partnerships and initiatives which strengthen collaborations among different universities and research organizations; and have strong systems of accountability. The Consortium’s African centre of gravity is accepted and supported by, and reflects the value system of all its members.

CARTA’s Current Member Institutions

• African Universities  
• Makerere University, Uganda            
• Moi University, Kenya                 
• National University of Rwanda
• Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria                      
• University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
• University of Ibadan, Nigeria
• University of Malawi
• University of Nairobi, Kenya
• University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

Research Institutes

• African Population & Health Research Center (APHRC)
• Agincourt  Health and Population Unit, South Africa
• Ifakara Health Institute, Tanzania
• KEMRI/Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kenya

Northern Partners

• WHO Special Program for Training and Research in Tropical Diseases (TDR)
• Swiss Tropical Institute, Switzerland
• University of Colorado, USA
• University of Warwick, UK
• Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research
• Monash University, Australia
• Johns Hopkins University, USA
• Ongoing discussions with the Nordic School of Public Health, University of Umeå, Sweden.

 

 

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