7 years ago  Samuel Ng’ang’a, came for  our training in  Scientific Communication and Publishing and  came back this  year for research capacity  support on how to communicate to non- scientists 

We are celebrating, Godwin Anywar our 2017 TCC trainee and  DAAD Fellow from Uganda. He recently won the Young Investigator Fellowship for the 19th International Congress of the International Society of Ethnopharmacology.

What is your field of research?
I am  taking part in a postgraduate course in   Research and Public policy.

What field of research are you involved in? 

Molecular Biology with specialization in Plant Virology.

How effective was the course in achieving your learning objectives?

This course has excellently empowered me with soft skills that will enable me navigation the frontiers of knowledge to get literature that I will use in my research.It has enhanced my writing skills that will greatly improve the quality of my research proposal, research thesis and publications that will result from and beyond my PhD studies. Presentation skills that will be used to present my research proposal, defend my final research thesis and any communication I will make.

The training has also broadened my knowledge on data analytical tools and how important quality of data is crucial. It has made it easier for me to continue learning the appropriate tools e.g. R, which is a very powerful tool of analysis. Additional software I encountered that will improve my publication quality include Mendely, plagiarism software, Ginger and grammarly, Harzings’s tool among others.

What did you like most about the training?

The facilitators were very informative having a wide knowledge base and they had interactive methods of training that kept most participants alert and involved. Focusing on the learning itself, the presentations and materials availed were very crucial in gaining hands on skills as well as acquiring variety of academic knowledge. 

Outline 3 things that you will take with you/have learnt in this session

Conceptualization of research

Literature review and its relevance

Good presentation and writing skills

R-data analysis skills

How do you hope to change your practice as a result of this training? I have leant the importance of publication and will therefore ensure that any data I generated will be of quality and published since I have been guided through the process of producing quality research right from proposal development to generation a quality of publication.

Please share other comments on the training session?

The training was extremely informative and very helpful in the whole session, and for that I applaud the organizers for delivering a good training.

‘I wish to be mentored in improving my skills in   Data Analysis   and I am willing to come for  every training in the  TCC calendar so I may be  mentored by your trainers.’ Four ago months, we   got a message in our inbox on a  request  from Kevin  Oduor Onyango. 

As he was conducting his research, he came across our activities  and  noted  how we  would be able to support him in improving  how to analyse  and present data.  Kevin is a  former student  from Technical University of Mombasa, where  he studied Bachelor of Commerce (Finance Option) and simultaneous   took a professional Certified Public Accountant  course  and reached level 5.  Kevin, lives  about 450 kilometers from  Nairobi, where the TCC  Office is located. 

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One week  to the  Scientific Communication and  Publishing course https://www.tcc-africa.org/courses/  that  we  concluded   last month, we got a frantic message  from one of our trainees. “ I want to know where I can publish  my manuscripts!” I am so worried about  #predatorypublishing and  I do not know where to start,” he lamented.

Meet, Meshack Mulongo an early career  researcher in Education Administration from Karatina University, whose  research focus is on the Mitigation of  Examination Malpractices in Universities in Kenya.  He  drove  150kms  to  come and  attend our course and  further understand how he could protect himself  from predatory publishers  as he went through his  Journal Selection Process.
TCC: How effective was the course in achieving your learning objectives?
Meshack : The course was very effective and timely in my research work, that it has equipped me to be an effective researcher and plan to share what I have learnt.
TCC: What did you like most about the training?
Meshack : The diversity of presenters who are knowledgeable of their respective fields and also the communication and concern of the entire TCC team.
TCC: Outline 3 things that you will take with you/have learnt in this session
 Meshack:The hands on approach  in supporting us was valuable  and  it was done in such a way that we can further  train others. I loved  the units on data analysis and  I was able to identify  about 5 high impact  journals where I could publish my manuscripts .

My name is Halkano Molu Guracha  a Kenyan researcher in the Malaria Programme  at the Institute of Primate Research.  The training offered by the Training Centre in Communication was relevant and very helpful and the expectations I had before the training were met and exceeded. I was captivated by the  Introduction Materials Results Acknowledgements and Discussion (IMRaD)structure  in producing academic manuscripts . This  was new to me, and I intend to use  this knowledge in changing the quality of my  future  scientific papers.
The  workshop is very informative and eye-opening and the delivery and breakdown of hard concepts was superb and the approach was very sound and tailor-made to the dynamics we face in research as  early career  scientists .
In line with the new knowledge I have acquired, I intend to approach my abstract  and  academic  paper differently and pay close attention to the manuscript guidelines outlined and utilize the IMRaD structure process’s to produce a paper that is meaningful.
I would recommend the Scientific Writing workshop to my colleagues without any objection as it was indeed of high quality and very relevant.