Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To develop a curriculum (Joint Advanced Seminars [JASs]) that produced PhD fellows who understood that health is an outcome of multiple determinants within complex environments and that approaches from a range of disciplines is required to address health and development within the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA). We sought to attract PhD fellows, supervisors and teaching faculty from a range of disciplines into the program.
METHODS: Multidisciplinary teams developed the JAS curriculum. CARTA PhD fellowships were open to academics in consortium member institutions, irrespective of primary discipline, interested in doing a PhD in public and population health. Supervisors and JAS faculty were recruited from CARTA institutions. We use routine JAS evaluation data (closed and open-ended questions) collected from PhD fellows at every JAS, a survey of one CARTA cohort, and an external evaluation of CARTA to assess the impact of the JAS curriculum on learning.
RESULTS: We describe our pedagogic approach, arguing its centrality to an appreciation of multiple disciplines, and illustrate how it promotes working in multidisciplinary ways. CARTA has attracted PhD fellows, supervisors and JAS teaching faculty from across a range of disciplines. Evaluations indicate PhD fellows have a greater appreciation of how disciplines other than their own are important to understanding health and its determinants and an appreciation and capacity to employ mixed methods research.
CONCLUSIONS: In the short term, we have been effective in promoting an understanding of multidisciplinarity, resulting in fellows using methods from beyond their discipline of origin. This curriculum has international application.
Key words: Capacity building, research, developing countries, Africa South of the Sahara, multidisciplinary
Résumé
OBJECTIFS: Élaborer le curriculum de ªséminaires communs avancés« (Joint Advanced Seminars [JAS]) au sein du consortium CARTA (Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa) pour produire des titulaires de bourses de doctorat qui comprennent que la santé est le résultat de nombreux déterminants dans des environnements complexes et qu’il faut faire appel aux démarches d’un éventail de disciplines pour aborder la santé et le développement. Nous avons cherché à attirer dans ce programme des doctorants, des superviseurs et des membres du corps professoral d’un éventail de disciplines.
MÉTHODE: Des équipes multidisciplinaires ont élaboré le curriculum des JAS. Les bourses de doctorat du CARTA étaient ouvertes aux universitaires des établissements membres du consortium, indépendamment de leur discipline principale, intéressés à faire un doctorat en santé publique et des populations. Les superviseurs et les membres du corps professoral des JAS ont été recrutés dans les établissements du CARTA. Nous utilisons les données d’évaluation systématique des JAS (questions dirigées et non dirigées) recueillies auprès des doctorants après chaque JAS, un sondage auprès d’une cohorte du CARTA et une évaluation externe du CARTA pour évaluer l’impact du curriculum des JAS sur l’apprentissage.
RÉSULTATS: Nous décrivons notre démarche pédagogique, en faisant valoir qu’elle est au cœur d’une appréciation de nombreuses disciplines, et nous montrons en quoi elle favorise le travail multidisciplinaire. Le CARTA attire des doctorants, des superviseurs et des membres du corps professoral des JAS issus d’un éventail de disciplines. Les évaluations indiquent que les titulaires de bourses de doctorat apprécient mieux l’importance des disciplines autres que la leur pour comprendre la santé et ses déterminants et qu’ils ont l’appréciation et la capacité nécessaires pour employer des méthodes de recherche mixtes.
CONCLUSIONS: À court terme, nous avons réussi à mieux faire comprendre la multidisciplinarité, ce qui fait que nos doctorants utilisent des méthodes extérieures à leur discipline d’origine. Ce curriculum peut être appliqué dans d’autres pays.
Mots clés: renforcement des capacités, recherche, pays en développement, Afrique subsaharienne, multidisciplinarité
Footnotes
Source of Funding: CARTA is funded by the Carnegie Corporation, Swedish International Cooperation Development Agency (SIDA), and the Wellcome Trust, with additional grants from the Ford Foundation, Coogle.org, MacArthur Foundation, and the British Council.
Conflict of Interest: None to declare.
References
- 1.Edwards N D, Ruggiero E. Exploring what context matters in the study of health inequities. Scand J Public Health. 2011;39(S6):43–49. doi: 10.1177/1403494810393558. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 2.Cilliers P. Complexity and Postmodernism. New York, NY: Routledge; 1998. [Google Scholar]
- 3.Sweeney K, Griffiths F, editors. Complexity and Healthcare: An Introduction. Abingdon, UK: Radcliffe Medical Press; 2002. [Google Scholar]
- 4.Schelling E, Grace D, Willingham AL, Randolph T. Research approaches for improved pro-poor control of zoonoses. Food Nutr Bull. 2007;28(2):S345–56. doi: 10.1177/15648265070282S214. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 5.Larson EL, Begg MD. Building interdisciplinary research models: A didactic course to prepare interdisciplinary scholars and faculty. Clin Transi Sci. 2011;4(1):38–41. doi: 10.1111/j.1752-8062.2010.00258.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 6.Nash JM, Collins BN, Loughlin SE, Solbrig M, Harvey R, Krishnan-Sarin S, et al. Training the transdisciplinary scientist: A general framework applied to tobacco use behavior. Nicotine Tob Res. 2003;5(S1):S41–S53. doi: 10.1080/14622200310001625528. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 7.Manathunga C, Lant P, Mellick G. Imagining an interdisciplinary doctoral pedagogy. Teach Higher Educ. 2006;11(3):365–79. doi: 10.1080/13562510600680954. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
- 8.Ezeh AC, Izugbara CO, Kabiru CW, Fonn S, Kahn K, Manderson L, et al. Global Health Action. 2010. Building capacity for public and population health research in Africa: The Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA) model; p. 3. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 9.O’Cathain A, Murphy E, Nicholl J. Multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, or dysfunctional? Team working in mixed-methods research. Qual Health Res. 2008;18(11):1574–85. doi: 10.1177/1049732308325535. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 10.Kessel F, Rosenfield P, Anderson N. Interdisciplinary Research. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press; 2008. [Google Scholar]
- 11.Rosenfield PL. The potential of transdisciplinary research for sustaining and extending linkages between the health and social sciences. Soc Sci Med. 1992;35(11):1343–57. doi: 10.1016/0277-9536(92)90038-R. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 12.Blair R, Jordan J. Retaining Teaching Capacity in African Universities: Problems and Prospects. Washington, DC: World Bank; 1995. [Google Scholar]
- 13.Fonn S. Experiential learning–The game as a teaching tool to reach multiple audiences and cross disciplinary divides. In: Arvanitakis A, Hornsby D, editors. Universities, the Citizen Scholar and the Future of Higher Education. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan; 2016. pp. 187–201. [Google Scholar]
- 14.Metz MH. Intellectual border crossing in graduate education: A report from the field. Educ Res. 2001;30(5):1–7. doi: 10.3102/0013189X030005012. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
- 15.Nikitina S. Three strategies for interdisciplinary teaching: Contextualizing, conceptualizing, and problem-centring. J Curriculum Stud. 2006;38(3):251–71. doi: 10.1080/00220270500422632. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
- 16.Lattuca LR. Learning interdisciplinarity: Sociocultural perspectives on academic work. J Higher Educ. 2002;73(6):711–39. [Google Scholar]
- 17.Arvanitakis J, Hornsby D. Universities, the Citizen Scholar and the Future of Higher Education. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan; 2016. [Google Scholar]
- 18.Christoplos I, Zwi A S, Lindegaard L. Evaluation of the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA) Stockholm, Sweden: Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency; 2015. [Google Scholar]
- 19.UNESCO. ISCED Fields of Education and Training 2013 (ISCED-F 2013): Manual to Accompany the International Standard Classification of Education 2011. Paris: UNESCO Institute for Statistics; 2013. [Google Scholar]
- 20.Coryn CLS, Stufflebeam DL, Davidson EJ, Scriven M. The interdisciplinary Ph.D. in evaluation: Reflections on its development and first seven years. J Multidiscip Eval. 2010;6(13):118–29. [Google Scholar]
- 21.Woods C. Researching and developing interdisciplinary teaching: Towards a conceptual framework for classroom communication. Higher Educ. 2007;54(6):853–66. doi: 10.1007/s10734-006-9027-3. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
- 22.Mitrany M, Stokols D. Gauging the transdisciplinary qualities and outcomes of doctoral training programs. J Plann Educ Res. 2005;24:437–49. doi: 10.1177/0739456X04270368. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
- 23.Adedokun B, Nyasulu P, Maseko F, Adedini S, Akinyemi J, Afolabi S, et al. Global Health Action. 2014. Sharing perspectives and experiences of doctoral fellows in the first cohort of Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa: 2011–2014; p. 7. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 24.McVicar A, Caan W, Hillier D, Munn-Giddings C, Ramon S, Winter R. A shared experience: An interdisciplinary professional doctorate in health and social care. Innovations Educ Teach Int. 2006;43(3):211–22. doi: 10.1080/14703290600618480. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
- 25.Ivanitskaya L, Clark D, Montgomery G, Primeau R. Interdisciplinary learning: Process and outcomes. Innovative Higher Educ. 2002;27(2):95–111. doi: 10.1023/A:1021105309984. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
- 26.Nash JM. Transdisciplinary training–Key components and prerequisites for success. Am J Prev Med. 2008;35(2):S133–40. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2008.05.004. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 27.Cottingham J, Fonn S G-, Moreno C, Gruskin S, Klugman B, Mwau A, et al. Transforming Health Systems: Gender and Rights in Reproductive Health. Geneva: WHO; 2001. [Google Scholar]