Research Capacity In Education Research Articles

Local Context Capacity Building Needs for Climate Change Adaptation among Smallholder Farmers in Uganda: Policy and Practice Implications

Climate change impacts threaten sustainable development efforts. The magnitude of the impacts, however, varies with the socio-ecological characteristics of locations. This is the reason there is consensus on the necessity for climate change adaptive capacity building that is country driven, and based on, and responsive to, local needs. However, information on context specific capacity building needs in developing countries is not readily available. The objective of this study was to establish location specific awareness, training, educational research and technology capacity building needs for climate change adaptation among smallholder farmers in Uganda. Semi-structured questionnaires were used with 465 households from five agro-ecological zones, selected based on the level of vulnerability of agricultural systems to the main climate variation and change hazards. Results reveal substantial capacity building needs in all the zones. The majority of the farmers needed capacity building for interventions on soil-water conservation practices for adapting to drought and unpredictable rainfall. For all zones, education, research, and technology were perceived as key needs. However, the needs varied among zones. These results demonstrate the importance of context specificity in adaptation efforts. The study provides agro-ecological and social system specific information for climate change adaptation planning and policy interventions for effective capacity building.

Assessment of Higher Education Programmes for Enhancing the Postgraduate Community

This article assesses the higher education research capacity building programmes designed to enhance the postgraduate community and scholarly publishing. Post-graduate studies are potential components for promoting knowledge, increasing institutional outputs. Post-graduate studies are likely to create research profile for students who seek future academic appointments. In spite of that higher institutions in low-income countries face serious challenges in building research capacity. This is compounded by local institutional competition for rankings and ratings. To some extent, investments in research usually take a long time before leading to demonstrable results. Yet again postgraduate students across disciplines feel pressure to publish their scholarship and remain unsure partly due to a lack of explicit training. Once more part of academic written output remains unpublished resulting to grey literature. Publishing requires a cocktail of skills in practical activities, and a broad awareness of theoretical/academic developments and trends. A large number of agencies evolved to offer programmes with the aim to expand research capacity in certain kinds of institutions. Institutions hold opposing mechanisms for supporting and sustaining research capacity among postgraduate students. A desk study approach is considered to collect data. Desktop study reviewed the key strategies, models for building postgraduate research capacity and programmes designed for increasing postgraduate scholarly publishing among the South African universities. The research reveals that the Cooke’s framework potentially offers a mechanism to contribute to the realisation of the research capacity building goals. A set of recommendations are offered for programme improvement.

Research Capacity in Higher Education: Theoretical Considerations

Research Capacity in Higher Education: Theoretical Considerations

Reflecting on a community of practice for engineering education research capacity in Africa: who are we and where are we going?

ABSTRACT The Engineering Education Research Network in Africa (EERN-Africa) was created to enable connections between practitioners and researchers with a shared interest in African engineering education contexts. Recognising the importance of developing an African voice in the engineering education research space, the EERN-Africa community has interacted in a dynamic and dialogic way with our own teaching and research practices across diverse African contexts, with an ethical commitment to democratic and inclusive community-building. The objective of this paper is to reflect on the current status of the Community of Practice (CoP), and the challenges and opportunities in sustaining and growing the CoP. A collaborative analysis of perspectives on this emerging identity is presented, using an Appreciative Inquiry (AI) methodology and drawing on collective written reflections and discussions. Six broad themes on the value that the CoP has for both individuals and the group were identified: networking, capacity development, emotional support, impact on professional identity, social and environmental impact, and breaking borders. This paper contributes an approach for collaborative capacity-building in EER through a virtual CoP, underpinned by the spirit of ubuntu.

Building Educational Research Capacity: Challenges and Opportunities from the Perspectives of Faculty Staff of Selected Private Universities in Uganda

This article argues that educational research in Uganda is facing severe glitches, such as low research capacity. Most private universities seem to be more focused on their day-to-day survival than identifying their research-specific needs and engaging in quality research activities. Issues of research capacity-building remain a major concern amid a lack of resources and institutional environments in which academics work. Capacity-building and research engagements would help to strengthen strategic planning and influencing policy. Hence, this study fills this gap. Specifically, it explores the perceptions and experiences of academic staff regarding research capacity-building. The study identifies the challenges that hamper educational research and capacity-building opportunities associated with the development of research capacities as perceived by a sample of staff members in the identified institutions. To achieve this objective, a qualitative research design was adopted using focus group interviews to collect data from a sample of staff. In total, 12 focus group discussions were conducted with between 8–10 persons per group. Rank ordering of responses on specific issues was done during data analysis. The findings showed that the major factors responsible for low research output include capacity-building gaps, lack of financial resources, difficulty in identifying specific calls for abstracts and manuscripts, work overload for faculty staff, limited research writing skills, and bad experiences during previous research engagements, as presented and discussed below. Based on the findings, we make the following recommendations. First, the government should earmark a significant amount in the national budget for research and innovation that institutions in Uganda can easily access, including private academic institutions. Second, institutions should continuously engage their staff regarding research and improve their research capacity through training, workshops and symposiums.

Building Educational Research Capacity: Challenges and Opportunities From the Perspectives of Faculty Members at a National University in Oman

The purpose of this article is to explore the perceptions of faculty members regarding research capacity building in the field of Education. It particularly seeks to identify the challenges and opportunities associated with this practice from the perspectives of these members. The study adopted a qualitative research design, using focus group interviews to collect data from a sample of faculty members in the College of Education at a national university in Oman. The results revealed the existence of some challenges that hampered educational research, including time constraints, the lack of a collaborative research culture, the lack of research training, and the absence of a clear research agenda. The analysis also identified a number of capacity building opportunities such as a research-supportive environment, the availability of research funding, and the role of research groups. The study concludes with some recommendations to improve educational research capacity both in Oman and in the Arab region in general.

Research capacity in initial teacher education: trends in joining the ‘village’

ABSTRACT Stenhouse’s image of the teaching profession as a ‘village’ could be interpreted as a parochial and insular view of teachers and their readiness to be involved in research. In this paper, I argue that the capacity for teachers to play a more active role in research is diminishing because of how research is situated in initial teacher education (ITE). Drawing on a study of five large-scale university-providers of ITE in different national contexts, I outline four trends. The first is that the role of universities within teacher education is precarious, along with the perceived value of research in teacher education. The second argues that prospective teachers do not perceive teaching as a research-based profession and therefore expect teacher education to be practice-orientated. Teacher education accountability structures downplay the significance of research as part of a teacher’s knowledge base and practical repertoire. And finally, the career trajectories and contractual arrangements of teacher educators reduces the overall research capacity of the field. Taken together, these four trends affect how (new) teachers are introduced to education research and diminish their capacity to be actively involved in education research throughout their careers.

Research capacity-building in teacher education

ABSTRACT This paper reviews recent policy understandings of research capacity in teacher education in the UK. It then draws on a case study from Wales to suggest a conceptualisation of research capacity-building in teacher education that encompasses individual, organisational and systemic levels while remaining sensitive to the particulars of professional practice in teacher education. We argue that a healthy ecology of research-rich teacher education practice and policy includes teacher educators based in universities, schools, colleges or other settings, teachers and other education practitioners, students, school management, governors, local authorities, policy makers, research funders, publishers. We recommend a principled approach to public investment in capacity-building initiatives that embraces a vision of collaborative research-rich professional practice and professional development along all career stages, and commits to sustaining more expansive understandings of research culture in organisations, matched by appropriate recognition mechanisms.

Transnational collaboration in building educational research capacity in a new university: An applied phenomenographic investigation

This paper reports on a phenomenographic investigation concerning the perceptions of primarily early career academics on the value and importance of educational research, and the challenges and enablers of establishing and building educational research capacity, within a new university in a developing country. The study was conducted as part of a three year project which itself is based within a longitudinal programme of collaboration between the Royal University of Bhutan (RUB) and the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI). The paper outlines the transnational collaborations between the two universities to date, before considering key issues in the development of educational research and an educational research culture within universities that are not research intensive, and for whom educational research is a nascent or emerging area. 
 The rationale and methodological approach for the phenomenographic investigation, which seems to be the first phenomenography to address perceptions relating to the development of educational research within the context of a new university, are then considered. The main findings resulting from the phenomenographic process of thematic analysis are subsequently presented. This includes a synthesis and articulation of the findings in the form of a phenomenographic ‘outcome space’ that pertains to the academics’ motivations and perceptions in relation to the development of educational research at RUB. The paper then articulates how the findings of the phenomenography were applied in identifying and implementing tangible interventions to support the participants to engage in conducting and disseminating educational research projects relating to dimensions of their own educational practice. The paper concludes with recommendations and lessons learned relating to the development of educational research capacity in emergent and transnational collaborative contexts.

Evaluating the outcomes of a faculty capacity development programme on nurse educators in sub-Saharan Africa

Background. The efficient education, deployment and ongoing retention of the nursing and midwifery workforce are key strategies to ensure a well-functioning healthcare system. The African region, however, has relatively few funded programmes to develop educational research capacity in novice academics while also addressing their leadership and educational needs. Objectives. To evaluate the outcomes of a faculty capacity development programme on nursing and midwifery educators in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This study explored the scope of scholarship outcomes, career trajectories and leadership outcomes. Methods. A mixed methods study collected quantitative and qualitative data from nursing and midwifery educators ( N =26) who enrolled for the sub-Saharan Africa-FAIMER Regional Institute (SAFRI) fellowship between 2009 and 2019. Data from project abstracts presented at a local conference and a subsequent electronic survey were included for review and analysis. Deductive thematic analysis was used to report the findings. Results. Most projects ( n =24) focused on undergraduate programmes at the home institutions. All the projects were presented at a local conference and 4 projects were published in peer-reviewed journals. The projects impacted on community and curriculum change, led to improvements in teaching and research and various strategies to improve learning and assessment at home institutions. The reported outcomes relating to the career trajectories of 7 fellows indicate that the programme accrued benefits to their institutions and the community, to students and their peers, and that they experienced personal benefits. Conclusion. The SAFRI fellowship vision is evident in the projects and subsequent actions of its nursing and midwifery fellows. Nurse educators’ engagement with pedagogical evidence and design strategies has culminated in knowledge to solve some of the education-related challenges in their nursing education institutions.

Discussion Paper: The Canberra Meeting: An initiative for building research capacity in health professions education

Introduction: There are few dedicated health professions education research centres in Australia and New Zealand. As a result, researchers, especially novices, can often feel isolated. In this discussion paper, we introduce The Canberra Meeting—an initiative for building research capacity in health professions education by developing a community of practice through an annual meeting. In this meeting, novice researchers present on significant problems or questions arising from their research, known as a dilemma presentation, and facilitate discussion with an audience of peer PhD students, earlycareer researchers and senior researchers. The meeting aims to provide an opportunity to expand professional networks, exchange ideas and build knowledge.Innovation: A half-day pilot meeting was held in Canberra prior to the 2019 ANZAHPE conference. The meeting was designed for, and planned by, novice researchers. There were 37 attendees, including 13 who self-identified as novice researchers. Three half-hour dilemma sessions were held, comprised of 10 minutes of presentation time followed by 20 minutes of discussion.Evaluation and outcomes: Feedback on the pilot was sought through prompted group discussions. The following guiding principles were developed, including that the initiative should be 1) inclusive to all health professions and seek to reach isolated researchers; 2) accessible, by providing equal opportunity of access; 3) constructive, such that participants feel safe to present and engage in discussions; and 4) sustainable, such that the community of practice continues despite changes in individual membership.What’s next: Planning is currently underway for a meeting prior to the next ANZAHPE conference. The event will be publicly advertised.

Research capacity building in and on teacher education: developing practice and learning

Research is widely acknowledged as a key element of professional learning for intending and serving teachers, as well as for their teacher educators. And yet, despite this centrality, research in teacher education is often subjected to critique and contestation. Internationally, the quality of such research has been questioned, and there are on-going issues about when, how and why teacher educators and teachers (can) engage in research. Initiatives to build research capacity in teacher education thus remain of crucial importance. Here we focus on this issue, aiming to analyse how to strengthen the field of teacher education locally and internationally. We first set out a conceptual framework for considering capacity building, and then analyse three international examples of practice in teacher education research: the Norwegian Doctoral School (NAFOL); the use of self-study research in Belgium (Flanders); and the Teacher Education Research Network (TERN), a social practices initiative in England. The contextualised analysis of these local capacity-building initiatives exemplifies what factors influence their enactments and outcomes and, in so doing, also inform a more ‘glocal’ understanding of how to build research capacity in and on teacher education. From this follows our overall question: what can be learned from these cases about how to build research capacity in and on teacher education?
 Norsk sammendrag
 Norsk tittel: Forskningskapasitetsbygging i og på lærerutdanning: utviklingspraksis og læring
 Forskning er anerkjent som et sentralt element i profesjonell læring for lærerstudenter, lærere og for lærerutdannere. Likevel blir forskning i lærerutdanningen ofte utsatt for kritikk og bestridelse. Internasjonalt blir det stilt spørsmål ved kvaliteten på forskningen, og det er en pågående diskusjon om når, hvordan og hvorfor lærerutdannere og lærere (kan) involvere(r) seg i forskning. Initiativ for å utvikle forskerkapasitet i lærerutdanningene er således av avgjørende betydning. Artikkelen fokuserer på denne problemstillingen, med mål om å analysere hvordan man kan styrke feltet for lærerutdanning lokalt og internasjonalt. Først presenteres et konseptuelt rammeverk for å vurdere kapasitetsbygging, før tre internasjonale eksempler av praksis i lærerutdanningsforskning analyseres: Nasjonal forskerskole for lærerutdanning (NAFOL); bruken av self-study forskning i Belgia (Flandern); og Forskningsnettverk i lærerutdanning (TERN), som er et prosjektinitiativ om sosial praksis i England. Den kontekstualiserte analysen av disse lokale kapasitetsbyggingsinitiativene eksemplifiserer hvilke faktorer som påvirker deres vedtak og utfall, og informerer på denne måten også om en mer ‘glokal’ forståelse av hvordan man bygger en forskningskapasitet i og på lærerutdanningene. Av dette følger vårt overordnede spørsmål: hva kan læres av disse tre casene om hvordan bygge forskningskapasitet i og på lærerutdanning?

Attitudes of Chinese health sciences postgraduate students\u2019 to the use of information and communication technology in global health research

BackgroundInformation and communications technology (ICT) has been suggested as an important tool for improving global health education and building research capacity in developing countries. However, the existing curricula do not have adequate emphasis on global health research and training. This study was carried out to examine health sciences postgraduates’ attitudes and practices regarding curriculum for ICT use in global health research and training in China.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among health sciences postgraduates from six universities in southern China, during December 2016 to March 2017. A self-administered online questionnaire was used to collect data through an online survey platform. Data were analyzed using SPSS for Windows 13.0.ResultsA total of 1065 participants successfully completed the questionnaires. More than 90% of the students have not had any training about ICT, three quarters have not taken an online course, and 31% of the students do not use ICT in their current research. More than 65% thought that, in an ICT research training curriculum, it was important to learn: ICT utilization related knowledge, ICT research methods/resources, knowledge of databases, ways of data use and acquisition, and informatics search methods (ICT users compared to non-users were more likely to agree to these learning components (all p < 0.05)). Many of the respondents used or planned to use mobile phones (80%), Internet (59%), use computer and WeChat (> 40%), and QQ (a popular chat tool in China) (30%) as ICT tools in research activities. ICT users compared to non-users were more likely to consider using ICT and/or biomedical informatics methods in decision-support or support for information seeking, healthcare delivering, academic research, data gathering, and facilitating collaboration (all p < 0.05).ConclusionsThe findings of this study showed that ICT utilization was very important to health sciences postgraduates for their research activities in China, but they lacked ICT-related training. The results suggested the need for specialized curriculum related to ICT use in global health research for health sciences postgraduates in China.

Cognition of Pedagogic University Lecturers on the Role of Capacity for Scientific Research in Education and Factors Affecting the Capacity for Scientific Research in Education of Pedagogic Lecturers in Vietnam

This article focuses on understanding the cognition of pedagogical university lecturers on the role of educational research capacity in training activities and their careers. The research was conducted on 294 lecturers, (aged 25-45 years old) in the pedagogical unit of Hung Vuong University and Thai Nguyen Pedagogy University. The main method used in this study was the questionnaire survey and the in-depth interview method to find out the lecturers’ perceptions about the role of the academic research capacity of the university lecturers in the training and professional activities and encourage them to self-assess the level of their scientific research capacity through the manifestations of scientific research capacity at the following levels: weak, poor, average, pretty, good. 76% of the lecturers in the research sample is aware that the scientific research capacity in education plays a very important role in teaching activities and in their own career promotion. However, the research results show that the lecturers’ educational research capacity is different, according to self-assessment results, 74% of the lecturers in the research sample self-assess their educational research capacity at average level. Basing on results collected from the survey, interviews with lecturers, managers of faculty and division, we found that the following factors: training and fostering (= 3.90), lecturers themselves (X=3.86), time allocation to teaching and researching (= 3.84) had the greatest influence on the capacity for scientific research in education of pedagogic lecturers.

Opportunities for building medical education research capacity: A mixed methods study

Background: Providing evidence-based, high-quality medical education requires asolid research base with ongoing development. Academic teachers in medical schools are expected to establish and maintain research involvement as part of their university appointment. This paper used a mix of methods to explore teaching interest as a vehicle for increasing research capacity among clinician teachers. Methods: Ten clinician teachers participated in semi-structured one-on-one interviews exploring their experiences and attitudes to medical education and biomedical research. Data were analysed thematically. From this, a quantitative survey focusing on clinical teachers’ research interest and involvement was developed and administered across the medical school. Results: Two common themes from the interviews were an expressed interest in participating in medical education research and a perceived value and relevance to clinician teachers’ academic appointments. The two major inhibiting factors that were identified were a lack of time and unclear pathways to research participation. Of those surveyed, 51% were currently involved in research and 24% were interested in becoming involved in research. Perceived barriers to research participation were time (73%), lack of skills (22%) and funding (36%). Conclusions: Increasing teacher participation in medical education research represents a significant untapped source of research output for the school, an area of important professional development for the teachers and an avenue for attaining excellence in education for the students and the institution. These are in addition to the opportunity to contribute to scholarship in teaching and learning.

What drives failed policy at the World Bank? An inside account of new aid modalities to higher education: context, blame, and infallibility

ABSTRACTThis article analyses recent World Bank interventions aimed at improving higher education and local research capacity in low-income countries. Our empirical entry point is a critical analysis of the Development and Innovation Grant (DIG) scheme the Bank rolled out in Cambodia (2010–2015), a virtual carbon copy export of its Academic Initiative Fund in Bangladesh. Offering a rare insider perspective, we argue that the DIG scheme ultimately failed because the Bank so glaringly misunderstood the Cambodian context. We use this case to contemplate the deeper flaws in how the Bank ‘thinks’, highlighting how the world’s most powerful development institution manages to maintain faith in its own infallibility despite failure.

The Partnerships between International Organizations and the Government of Indonesia in Strengthening the Field of Higher Education

The partnerships between the international organizations (i.e., World Bank, USAID, and AUSAID) and the government of Indonesia in strengthening the field of higher education are aimed at addressing the three main challenges in Indonesian higher education. Firstly, to improve academic quality, the international organizations and the government of Indonesia worked together in providing scholarships for eligible faculty members. Secondly, to improve the quality of higher education management, the international organizations and the government of Indonesia collaborated together in providing training and workshops for administrators of higher education institutions. Lastly, to improve the research capacity in higher education, the international organizations and the government of Indonesia supported the knowledge sector initiative that can improve research quality in Indonesian higher education. Focusing on these areas, both the government of Indonesia and international organizations help Indonesian higher education thrive in academic quality, administration, and research.

Undertaking PhD research in human geography in Ireland

Over the past 15 years graduate education in the Republic of Ireland has been radically transformed through the introduction of new funding schemes, structured doctoral programmes, and enhanced research capacity, supports and infrastructures in Irish higher education. The result has been a rapid expansion of graduate numbers, inter-institutional and interdisciplinary collaboration in the delivery of graduate programmes, and a marked change in the resources available to support graduate students (albeit tempered by the post 2008 crisis). This short paper provides a critical but sympathetic commentary on PhD reform in Ireland.

Establishment of core competence framework for surgical nurses of traditional Chinese medicine

Objective To establish the core competence framework for surgical nurses of traditional Chinese medicine （ TCM） and to promote its development .Methods The study was conducted by a two-round Delphi method based on literature review and semi-structured interview , and finally the indexes were established.Results There were two rounds of Delphi consultation and 24 experts were involved .The effective rate of questionnaire was 100%.The creditability value was 0.896, and the P value of coordination coefficient test was less than 0.01.The framework of the core competence contained 5 primary indexes and 25 secondary indexes , including clinical nursing practice , education advisory capacity , research capacity , management ability and practical ability in legal ethics .Conclusions The framework of the core competence for surgical nurses of TCM is a highly scientific and reasonable index system .It also can provide a theoretical basis for the selection , training and evaluation of surgical nurses of TCM . Key words: Nurses; Core competence; Delphi method; Surgical of traditional Chinese medicine

Doctoral Education and Institutional Research Capacity Strengthening: An Example at Makerere University in Uganda (2000–2013)

Bilateral research cooperation between Sweden (Sida/SAREC) and Uganda has supported major advances in institutional research capacity strengthening at Makerere University (2000–2013). This case study illustrates how a department within Makerere’s Faculty of Medicine (Department of Pharmacy and Therapeutics) has contributed to transforming the post-graduate educational process with formation of a productive research team comprised of faculty and students to advance a research agenda targeting strategic priorities of national significance. We explain the evolution of research as an element of national development and development assistance plus the evolution of doctoral studies and strategic research worldwide, in Africa, and at Uganda’s oldest national university, Makerere, where Sweden has contributed the largest amount of external funding 2000–2012. We conclude with lessons and recommendations about Ph.D. programme start up, recruitment, supervision, international collaboration, and research infrastructure and environment for building institutional research capacity.