Fogarty HATTP and African Research Society Workshop for Health Science Students 6 March 2023
A workshop jointly organized by the UCT Health Sciences’ Students African Research Society (ARS) and the Fogarty HATTP program was held on Monday 6th March 2023 in the Frances Ames Meeting Room in the Barnard Fuller Building in the Faculty of Health Sciences. The ARS President, Yanelisa Pulani and her committee assisted in the planning the event.
The purpose of the workshop was to introduce the students to the first essential step in research – defining a research question
Professor Graeme Meintjes, the Principal Investigator of the Fogarty HATTP program, gave a presentation on the topic: Designing a Research question – the essential first step in your research.
His talk was followed by a presentation from Associate Professor Muki Shey on Lessons from his personal journey in research. Dr Shey is a Chief Research Officer in the Department of Medicine and his research is focused on immunological aspects of TB infection and disease.
Following the talks, the student divided into 6 small groups to workshop their own ideas of research questions. Each group was facilitated by members of the Fogarty HATTP committee and two of the recent clinical PhD graduates who were supported by the Fogarty grant.
Facilitators were:
Professor Graeme Meintjes – Deputy HOD Medicine
Associate Professor Muki Shey – CRO Medicine and IDM
Associate Professor Jonny Peter – HoDivision of Allergy and Immunology
Associate Professor Phumla Sinxadi – HoDivision of Clinical Pharmacology
Associate Professor Sipho Dlamini – Consultant in Division of Infectious Diseases and HIV Medicine
Dr Simon Mendesohn – Research Officer at SATVI
Dr Ashar Dhana – Consultant in Division of Dermatology
Responses from the students were very positive; they enjoyed the workshop because it encouraged and enabled interaction and discussion around designing research questions from their perspective.