Promoting Interdisciplinary Research in West Africa: A Writing Workshop for Early Career Researchers in Humanities and Social Sciences

Addressing global challenges requires that the next generation of researchers possesses interdisciplinary expertise. Funded by the British Academy, Prof. Henrice Altink (History) and Dr Rachel Alsop (Centre for Women’s Studies) delivered a three-day workshop at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana for 25 early career researchers from Ghana, Nigeria and Gambia. In collaboration with senior researchers from KNUST and staff from its  Office for Grants and Research, they gave presentations outlining the publishing and grant application processes in general and highlighted major challenges in these processes when it comes to interdisciplinary research.  In between presentations, attendees worked on a draft manuscript and grant concept note that they had submitted earlier and for which they received feedback from the workshop facilitators. They also listened to a presentation by a former chief editor of the Journal of Gender Studies and gained invaluable tips from the workshop facilitators on interdisciplinary publishing and grant writing.

This workshop was the second activity in the workshop programme. Last October, the facilitators delivered an online workshop on interdisciplinary research which explored various definitions - interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary – and discussed the major challenges and opportunities of doing such research. There is a clear desire among African ECRs to undertake interdisciplinary research and to get it funded and published. Around 100 ECRs from across Western Africa applied to attend the online workshop and 70 were offered a place. The latter were invited to apply for in-person workshop. Nearly 50 applied for the 25 places available. The third and final part of the programme starts later this month: mentoring circles. Each workshop facilitator will mentor 3 or 4 attendees for the next 6 months to support them in getting their article ready for submission.