Uncertainty about their scientific career pathway, being perceived as a student even though they might have worked for many years before embarking on their PhDs, and the lack of sufficient locally based role models and mentors are factors that influence researchers’ mental well-being.
These and the inherent difficulties associated with performing science in Africa have been identified as major contributors to mental health challenges among researchers affiliated with the Sub-Saharan African Network for TB-HIV Research Excellence (SANTHE), a new study has found.
“A major issue that emerged from our efforts was the challenge of mental health support for all our scientists. Our consortium – and, particularly, the PhD and post-doctoral trainees – had very strong feelings about this key challenge and agreed that more needed to be done to support scientists in what is probably universally acknowledged not to be the easiest of career paths,” the authors said.
In the study published in the journal PLOS Global Public Health on 20 December 2023, the group of authors said they have taken steps to introduce training around unconscious and conscious bias.
Respect for diverse workforce
“We have also introduced some tools to help us better respect the needs of a diverse workforce. For example, SANTHE has now introduced caregiver support awards that provide funding support to assist individuals who act as caregivers to attend scientific meetings or key training,” the authors said.
The corresponding author, Victoria Kasprowicz of the Africa Health Research Institute in Durban, South Africa, told University World News that their work was intended to improve their approach to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) within their research consortium. This moved them to produce a set of DEI guidelines and to represent them visually as a DEI compass. “The compass is to be used as a tool to establish an institution’s DEI priorities and then to progress towards them,” Kasprowicz said.
The study started in mid-2021 with a survey across their consortium to gauge the understanding and experiences of DEI in members’ scientific careers, targeting both scientific and support staff. They received responses from 77 individuals, including men and women from all populations and age groups.
Gender, race remain factors
They invited members of the consortium to take part in online focus group discussions using Zoom. The purpose of these small group discussions was to obtain rich information about the issues that were raised in the surveys. About 21% of those who participated in the survey felt that they were disadvantaged in the workplace, while 18% were unsure. Gender was the biggest reason why individuals felt disadvantaged in the workplace, with race in second place.
The vast majority of participants agreed or strongly agreed that their own careers would benefit from improved DEI practices and policies. A significant number agreed or strongly agreed that a lack of DEI practices had affected their scientific careers negatively. Almost half said they had witnessed a lack of DEI practices impacting on someone else’s career, and 66% said they could do something about DEI in their scientific environment.
The study found that much of the global discussion has focused on the promotion of women scientists and the under-representation of certain communities and ethnic and racial groups. DEI principles in African science also remain relatively underdeveloped, with limited engagement and discussion among stakeholders to ensure that initiatives are relevant to local environments.
“There are numerous barriers that limit the representation of African scientists in global scientific efforts and contribute to the continued colonisation of research involving the African continent,” the researchers said.
African excellence needs a boost
The theme of their compass is the most challenging to tackle because it requires additional resources not readily available in low- and middle-income settings.
African excellence should thus be promoted and normalised. Promoting DEI in African institutions ensures greater access and representation in research, providing opportunities for talent to emerge in Africa. This, in turn, yields excellence.
A key challenge is a lack of visibility of African scientists and their science in the global context. Even as some funding bodies are reflecting on their approach to supporting research on the African continent, there is a lack of knowledge about what science is currently being performed and who leads it.
The authors said the lack of engagement with African scientists needs to be tackled to increase awareness of who does what and where in Africa by both funders and other scientific stakeholders. “Our efforts have highlighted the issue of perceived preferential treatment of northern-based scientists and institutions.”
Education sector should take note
Kasprowicz said individuals in their consortium identified three thematic challenge areas: conquering biases, respecting the needs of a diverse workforce (including mental health, physical disability, career stability issues, demands of parenthood, and female-specific challenges), and promoting African science.
In her view, this study should be of concern to policymakers in the education sector across Africa, because improving DEI may lead to improved science-led practices and policies. “For science to truly advance both on the African continent and globally, there is the need for greater efforts to support DEI. The compass is one approach to help identify challenges and work towards solutions to improve DEI in science,” Kasprowicz added.
University World News
