Guest Post: An AuthorAID-Funded Workshop Including Ethics Instruction (Part 2)

[Here is the second half of the post from AuthorAID workshop grant recipient Prof. Amam Zonaed Siddiki, Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (CVASU), Bangladesh. Thank you again! —Barbara]

On the first day of the workshop “Research Communication and Ethics in Bangladesh Perspective”, we administered a pre-assessment questionnaire. It revealed that most participants were researchers with little knowledge on writing scientific articles. Some were working with seniors who published their works and added their own names as coauthors. Some were honest in mentioning that they do research to get more publications to help get promoted. Most were unaware of the ethics related to publication. It was inspiring for us that within the 3 days of the workshop they wanted to learn about many things, including research funding. They were somewhat disappointed when we said we would focus only on research communication.

Some invited scientists inaugurated the workshop on day 1. The next 2 days we had another resource person (Dr. Aparna Islam, BRAC University, Bangladesh) and a renowned scientist (Prof. Emran Bin Yunus, Chittagong Medical College, Bangladesh); they discussed ethics and research for 2 hours. The participants were from widely varied backgrounds, and it was interesting to get different types of questions from them. Some participants were confused and could not differentiate between research ethics and research communication ethics.

However, all participants were eager to learn, and I believe that the event will remain thought-provoking for the participants, who are expected to be future research leaders in Bangladesh. On the last day, we also had a guest speaker (Mr. Adnan Mannan) who was a doctoral student from Curtin University, Western Australia. He gave a lecture on his experiences in communicating as a student in an international environment. He also discussed funding opportunities in the Australian higher education sector.

I believe that the workshop was successful, as evidenced by the feedback forms completed by all participants. My university authority has asked me to arrange similar events once a year, and my vice chancellor is quite happy that we received the workshop grant from AuthorAID. Based on the excellent contribution from Dr. Haseeb, we have asked him to be available every year. In addition, I hope that someday we can invite an international resource person through AuthorAID to help us develop structured course material for future such events.

We are still analyzing the feedback from the workshop participants and planning other relevant events at my university. I hope to write more soon and share it with you through this site.