Building awareness and capacity of bioinformatics and open science skills in Kenya: A sensitize, train, hack, collaborate model
We have applied the sensitize-train-hack-community model to build awareness of and capacity in bioinformatics in Kenya. Open science is the practice of science openly and collaboratively, with tools, techniques, and data freely shared to facilitate reuse and collaboration. Open science is not a mand...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | Inglés |
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Frontiers Media
2023
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/130589 |
| _version_ | 1855531526038487040 |
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| author | Karega, P. Mwaura, D.K. Mwangi, Kennedy Wanjau Wanjiku, M. Landi, M. Kibet, C.K. |
| author_browse | Karega, P. Kibet, C.K. Landi, M. Mwangi, Kennedy Wanjau Mwaura, D.K. Wanjiku, M. |
| author_facet | Karega, P. Mwaura, D.K. Mwangi, Kennedy Wanjau Wanjiku, M. Landi, M. Kibet, C.K. |
| author_sort | Karega, P. |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | We have applied the sensitize-train-hack-community model to build awareness of and capacity in bioinformatics in Kenya. Open science is the practice of science openly and collaboratively, with tools, techniques, and data freely shared to facilitate reuse and collaboration. Open science is not a mandatory curriculum course in schools, whereas bioinformatics is relatively new in some African regions. Open science tools can significantly enhance bioinformatics, leading to increased reproducibility. However, open science and bioinformatics skills, especially blended, are still lacking among students and researchers in resource-constrained regions. We note the need to be aware of the power of open science among the bioinformatics community and a clear strategy to learn bioinformatics and open science skills for use in research. Using the OpenScienceKE framework—Sensitize, Train, Hack, Collaborate/Community—the BOSS (Bioinformatics and Open Science Skills) virtual events built awareness and empowered researchers with the skills and tools in open science and bioinformatics. Sensitization was achieved through a symposium, training through a workshop and train-the-trainer program, hack through mini-projects, community through conferences, and continuous meet-ups. In this paper, we discuss how we applied the framework during the BOSS events and highlight lessons learnt in planning and executing the events and their impact on the outcome of each phase. We evaluate the impact of the events through anonymous surveys. We show that sensitizing and empowering researchers with the skills works best when the participants apply the skills to real-world problems: project-based learning. Furthermore, we have demonstrated how to implement virtual events in resource-constrained settings by providing Internet and equipment support to participants, thus improving accessibility and diversity. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace130589 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publishDateRange | 2023 |
| publishDateSort | 2023 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media |
| publisherStr | Frontiers Media |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1305892025-12-08T10:29:22Z Building awareness and capacity of bioinformatics and open science skills in Kenya: A sensitize, train, hack, collaborate model Karega, P. Mwaura, D.K. Mwangi, Kennedy Wanjau Wanjiku, M. Landi, M. Kibet, C.K. bioinformatics open science research We have applied the sensitize-train-hack-community model to build awareness of and capacity in bioinformatics in Kenya. Open science is the practice of science openly and collaboratively, with tools, techniques, and data freely shared to facilitate reuse and collaboration. Open science is not a mandatory curriculum course in schools, whereas bioinformatics is relatively new in some African regions. Open science tools can significantly enhance bioinformatics, leading to increased reproducibility. However, open science and bioinformatics skills, especially blended, are still lacking among students and researchers in resource-constrained regions. We note the need to be aware of the power of open science among the bioinformatics community and a clear strategy to learn bioinformatics and open science skills for use in research. Using the OpenScienceKE framework—Sensitize, Train, Hack, Collaborate/Community—the BOSS (Bioinformatics and Open Science Skills) virtual events built awareness and empowered researchers with the skills and tools in open science and bioinformatics. Sensitization was achieved through a symposium, training through a workshop and train-the-trainer program, hack through mini-projects, community through conferences, and continuous meet-ups. In this paper, we discuss how we applied the framework during the BOSS events and highlight lessons learnt in planning and executing the events and their impact on the outcome of each phase. We evaluate the impact of the events through anonymous surveys. We show that sensitizing and empowering researchers with the skills works best when the participants apply the skills to real-world problems: project-based learning. Furthermore, we have demonstrated how to implement virtual events in resource-constrained settings by providing Internet and equipment support to participants, thus improving accessibility and diversity. 2023-05-30 2023-06-02T08:41:35Z 2023-06-02T08:41:35Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/130589 en Open Access Frontiers Media Karega, P., Mwaura, D.K., Mwangi, K.W., Wanjiku, M., Landi, M. and Kibet, C.K. 2023. Building awareness and capacity of bioinformatics and open science skills in Kenya: A sensitize, train, hack, collaborate model. Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics 8: 1070390. |
| spellingShingle | bioinformatics open science research Karega, P. Mwaura, D.K. Mwangi, Kennedy Wanjau Wanjiku, M. Landi, M. Kibet, C.K. Building awareness and capacity of bioinformatics and open science skills in Kenya: A sensitize, train, hack, collaborate model |
| title | Building awareness and capacity of bioinformatics and open science skills in Kenya: A sensitize, train, hack, collaborate model |
| title_full | Building awareness and capacity of bioinformatics and open science skills in Kenya: A sensitize, train, hack, collaborate model |
| title_fullStr | Building awareness and capacity of bioinformatics and open science skills in Kenya: A sensitize, train, hack, collaborate model |
| title_full_unstemmed | Building awareness and capacity of bioinformatics and open science skills in Kenya: A sensitize, train, hack, collaborate model |
| title_short | Building awareness and capacity of bioinformatics and open science skills in Kenya: A sensitize, train, hack, collaborate model |
| title_sort | building awareness and capacity of bioinformatics and open science skills in kenya a sensitize train hack collaborate model |
| topic | bioinformatics open science research |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/130589 |
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