Ghanaian-German Centre for Development Studies and Health Research (DAAD) entered into its second academic year – Students’ conferences held in autumn 2010
As one of the Centers of Excellence funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Ghanaian-German Centre for Development Studies and Health Research, Division of Health Research, at the School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Legon, offers an interdisciplinary PhD Program to strengthen research capacities and networking in public health, locally and in North-South collaboration. The Division of Health Research is built in partnership with the University Hospital Heidelberg, Section of Clinical Tropical Medicine, Germany. www.daad.de/fachzentren-afrika/de/index.html www.ac-bridge.org The program aims at solid training of students in biomedical related sciences to the level of a PhD in order to develop in-country knowledge, skills, and capacity. The students’ research is implemented into public health addressing major health issues on patient, community, and population levels.
The Division of Health Research has successfully finalized the intake of the second batch of students into the PhD Program in the first semester 2010/2011. Their topics focus on health systems on individual and population level, representing approaches of epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory-based life sciences, and cover various diseases including malaria, bacterial infections, cervical cancer, and hydrocele.
The first batch of PhD students, having started their project design and application for ethical clearance in 2009 with the inauguration of the program, have now generated first data from their field and laboratory work in their respective disciplines, focusing on various aspects on the neglected tropical disease Buruli ulcer which has highest prevalence in West-Africa.
From 22nd to 23rd November, 2010, the Ghanaian-German Centre for Development Studies and Health Research, Division of Health Research, held its 2010 Students’ Conference in Accra, with all students, local and external supervisors, and project coordinators present. As special guests, Dr. Dorothee Weyler, coordinator of the DAAD funded Centers of Excellence, Bonn, Germany, and Dr. Heike Edelmann-Okinda, DAAD representative of Ghana, Accra, as well as Prof. Andrew Adjei, Deputy Provost of the College of Health Science, University of Ghana, were present. During this meeting, all eleven students actually enrolled in the program presented their ongoing and planned work, and received both feedback and evaluation from the audience for refining of their project designs, a crucial step in order to meet the quality goals.
Earlier, from 27th to 28th of September, 2010, the Ghanaian-German Centre for Development Studies and Health Research, Division of Development Studies, hosted at the Institute of Statistical Social and Economic Research, University of Ghana, Legon, held their annual collaboration workshop in Accra, with the topic “Land tenure and poverty reduction in Ghana and beyond: the nexus between academic dialogue, research, praxis, and development”, where invited speakers and PhD students presented their work for discussion. The Division of Development Studies and the Division of Health Research, both part of the “double” Ghanaian-German Centre, are aiming at working closely together at their interfaces.
Dr. Michael Kaeser