THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES School for Graduate Studies and Research STRATEGIES TO ENHANCE RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY
o Assigning mentor matches between research faculty with similar interests. o Supporting cases in which junior faculty members introduce new research areas or techniques to senior faculty. • Establish peer mentorship guidelines which include but are not limited to: identifying the characteristics of the mentor-trainee relationship; examining potential ethical issues arising in the mentor-trainee relationship; defining the responsibilities of mentors and trainees; understanding possible solutions for problems confronted by trainees; clarifying and agreeing on the amount of time the mentor-trainee pair will devote to each other; and agreeing on ownership of data and authorship of potential publications. • Create opportunities for mentoring and research with international partner universities. A good international example of an approach to faculty mentorship is the University of Texas at San Antonio Faculty Mentoring Hub. This comprehensive hub for faculty mentoring includes: departmental mentoring, faculty peer mentoring, faculty mentoring champions, guidelines on becoming a mentor, and tenure track networking. The hub also provides resources to facilitate mentoring. Capacity Development Workshops This should begin with a comprehensive survey to identify key gaps in research and publishing skills. There are many entities at the university that could facilitate such Workshops either collaboratively or individually. These include Faculties, Offices of Campus Directors of Graduate Studies and Research, Campus Research Offices (e.g.,
STACIE, MORI, RICCH) and the University Office of Research, inter alia . Possible training Workshops to enhance research skills could include: • Defining the research problem • Setting realistic goals in the prevailing research environment • Designing methodologies for data collection • Quantitative and qualitative methodological skills • Data analysis and interpretation • UWI Policy Awareness Workshops • Developing Supervisor capacity • Grantsmanship: Effectively competing for research grants • Managing data security • Business plans for research programmes • Pitching innovative ideas to investors. Two recent examples of Workshops on Responsible Research Practices are: •
The Open Campus facilitated a Research Forum which focused on quantitative and qualitative research methodologies under the topic: “Exploring research designs: understanding and using mixed methods research”. This session was well received by participants. • The Faculty of Humanities and Education at Cave Hill collaborated with Professor Gregory Mackinnon of Acadia University to conduct a two-day interactive workshop, followed by ongoing virtual support, on progressive research methods. This included the development of research projects, appropriate methodological instruments, and approaches to data analysis. Possible training Workshops to enhance writing and publishing could include: • Developing competencies in writing scientific papers which may involve strengthening systematic thinking, building strong mental models, and learning in teams through sharing approaches • Understanding publication metrics • Strengthening the research writing and publication skills of graduate students by focusing on writing of scientific papers, journal selection, navigating peer-review, and science communication to the public • Training on journal selection for publication which involves: o Determining the suitability of journals for the paper to be published
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