Guest Post: From an AuthorAID Workshop Grant Recipient

[This post is from Dr. Moola Mutondo-Chafilwa, head of the Department of Biological Sciences at Copperbelt University in Zambia. Dr. Mutondo-Chafilwa recently received an AuthorAID workshop grant. Thanks very much for the post! —Barbara]

I would like to share my experience with the AuthorAID community. I was fortunate to be awarded an AuthorAID workshop grant after attending an AuthorAID workshop in Lusaka, Zambia, last year. Thanks to this funding, I organized and hosted a workshop for female researchers and academics at my university.

Our 3-day workshop was well attended, and we even had participants from local industry and a neighboring university. It was a great opportunity for the women, who could learn about the writing and publishing processes through the support materials provided by AuthorAID.

We shared experiences and charted a way forward to enable us as female academics and researchers to contribute meaningfully to the research output of our institutions. This workshop allowed us to build on the newly acquired skills and make commitments to attempt writing projects on our own based on mutual support from participants.

The participants formed writing teams, and they are now working on research and review articles. Some have even been motivated to attempt course companion manuscripts that will help their students and to work on book chapters in collaboration with more experienced colleagues.

In conclusion, I would like to encourage anyone who has attended an AuthorAID event to share what they learned with their research community using this grant. I know that we at the Copperbelt University have received all the help and good will we needed from the team at INASP/AuthorAID to improve our ability to contribute as female academics and researchers to the research culture in our own difficult environment.

Thank you, AuthorAID, for your great workshops and your commitment to helping researchers like us to get better at doing what we love!