2020 GINGER Research Fellows Training Opportunity Announcement!
The GINGER Program is announcing an open call for Research Fellows interested in pursuing independent research in the field of neuropsychiatric genetics. This program is a collaboration between Addis Ababa University, Makerere University, the University of Cape Town, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, with support from the National Institute of Mental Health.
About the Global Initiative for Neuropsychiatric Genetics Education in Research (GINGER)
The GINGER program is a research training program that offers research skills training and individual career mentoring to low and middle-income country scientists in an effort to expand the number of independent neuropsychiatric genetic researchers globally. GINGER does this by leading a Research Fellows program for promising early-career scientists who are committed to pursuing independent research in the field of neuropsychiatric genetics. Through the program’s activities, GINGER aims to inspire professionals to incorporate research into their academic or clinical careers and to build new research partnerships through the exchange of ideas.
Program Structure: Research Fellows participate from their respective home countries and integrate GINGER into their current academic studies and/or professional positions. GINGER does not require a full-time commitment, but Fellows should expect to dedicate a minimum of 5-10 hours per week to the program, both in-class and working on assigned research skills-training and projects. Fellows should also expect to commit an annual in-person workshop, which will be one to two weeks in duration each year (exact dates to be scheduled).
Anticipated Schedule: The GINGER Research Fellows program will be comprised of the following activities:
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- June 2020: Workshop in Boston, Massachusetts
- September 2020- May 2021: Online classes and a workshop in Uganda
- September 2021-May 2022: Online classes and a workshop in South Africa
- September 2022-May 2023: Online classes and a workshop in Ethiopia
- September 2023-May 2024: Individual career mentoring, submission of manuscripts, and participation in a global conference and closing symposium.
GINGER curriculum: The program curriculum is multi-disciplinary and encompasses the research skills necessary to conduct research in the field of mental health and neuropsychiatric genetics. Topics include, but are not limited to: Fundamentals of epidemiological and biostatistics research design and analysis, R-programming, bioinformatics and genetic analysis skills, core content knowledge of neuropsychiatric diseases, research ethics in mental health, and professional development topics such as grant writing, public speaking and individual mentoring for each fellow.At the end of the fellowship, each fellow will have the skills needed to conduct independent research projects in the fields of mental health and neuropsychiatric genetics, submit first-author papers to peer-reviewed journals, as well as have fostered cross-country partnerships for further investigative collaboration.
Please read below for more details on the different aspects of the program.
[expandable title=”Workshops”]GINGER Research Fellows will take part in a yearly in-person workshop each year of the fellowship. These workshops will run from one-two weeks and will focus on teaching both research and professional development skills. At each workshops, Research Fellows will meet with leading researchers from the field of global mental health and genetics, as well as leaders of academic and research institutions. The in-person workshops will also enable the Research Fellows to get to know one another and other early-career investigators from collaborating institutions, such as the Harvard-Chan School and the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.
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[expandable open=”closed” title=”Virtual Classrooms”]From September – May in Years 2, 3 and 4 of the fellowship, Research Fellows will join a weekly virtual classroom that will be held online. Classes will cover fundamental research skills training and will be comprised of both lectures and research skills labs. Guest speakers who are experts in their fields will also be invited to present on their research and offer career advice for early-career investigators.
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[expandable title=”Group Research Projects”]Throughout the program, Research Fellows will collaborate on group research projects. These projects will help to reinforce the materials taught during the course of the Fellowship.
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