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Positioning Africa’s public health doctoral students to lead societal transformation and development

The public health context is becoming increasingly more complex requiring highly trained professionals equipped with knowledge, competencies and tools to address or transform current and future challenges. Doctoral degree training offers an opportunity to build the capacity to detect and respond to...

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Autores principales: Ndejjo, Rawlance, Ssemugabo, Charles, Osuret, Jimmy, Zziwa, Esther Bayiga, Fonn, Sharon, Alfvén, Tobias, Mukanga, David, Khayesi, Meleckidzedeck, Wanyenze, Rhoda K.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BMJ Publishing Group 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8852658/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35168932
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2021-007996
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author Ndejjo, Rawlance
Ssemugabo, Charles
Osuret, Jimmy
Zziwa, Esther Bayiga
Fonn, Sharon
Alfvén, Tobias
Mukanga, David
Khayesi, Meleckidzedeck
Wanyenze, Rhoda K.
author_facet Ndejjo, Rawlance
Ssemugabo, Charles
Osuret, Jimmy
Zziwa, Esther Bayiga
Fonn, Sharon
Alfvén, Tobias
Mukanga, David
Khayesi, Meleckidzedeck
Wanyenze, Rhoda K.
author_sort Ndejjo, Rawlance
collection PubMed
description The public health context is becoming increasingly more complex requiring highly trained professionals equipped with knowledge, competencies and tools to address or transform current and future challenges. Doctoral degree training offers an opportunity to build the capacity to detect and respond to such dynamic health challenges. In this paper, we discuss how Africa’s public health doctoral students can be better positioned for the different career pathways to provide leadership on complex health and development challenges. Public health PhD graduates can take up careers in academia, civil service, private sector and civil society, among others. To thrive in these pathways, PhD training should equip them with knowledge, skills and competencies in leadership, creativity and social competence among others. To produce career-ready PhD graduates, there is need to rethink training curricula to build critical skills for diverse career pathways, introduce students to entrepreneurship, and enhance linkages between universities and industry. Experiential learning, exposure to networks and partnerships, postdoctoral programmes and mentorship and exchange programmes can further equip PhD students with key knowledge, skills and competencies. For students to position themselves for the different careers, they ought to plan their careers early, albeit with flexibility. Students should build their soft skills and embrace technology among other transferable competencies. By identifying potential career pathways and being positioned for these early, Africa can produce transformative PhD students on a path for success not just for themselves but for society at large, including in new environments such as that created by COVID-19.
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spelling pubmed-88526582022-03-03 Positioning Africa’s public health doctoral students to lead societal transformation and development Ndejjo, Rawlance Ssemugabo, Charles Osuret, Jimmy Zziwa, Esther Bayiga Fonn, Sharon Alfvén, Tobias Mukanga, David Khayesi, Meleckidzedeck Wanyenze, Rhoda K. BMJ Glob Health Analysis The public health context is becoming increasingly more complex requiring highly trained professionals equipped with knowledge, competencies and tools to address or transform current and future challenges. Doctoral degree training offers an opportunity to build the capacity to detect and respond to such dynamic health challenges. In this paper, we discuss how Africa’s public health doctoral students can be better positioned for the different career pathways to provide leadership on complex health and development challenges. Public health PhD graduates can take up careers in academia, civil service, private sector and civil society, among others. To thrive in these pathways, PhD training should equip them with knowledge, skills and competencies in leadership, creativity and social competence among others. To produce career-ready PhD graduates, there is need to rethink training curricula to build critical skills for diverse career pathways, introduce students to entrepreneurship, and enhance linkages between universities and industry. Experiential learning, exposure to networks and partnerships, postdoctoral programmes and mentorship and exchange programmes can further equip PhD students with key knowledge, skills and competencies. For students to position themselves for the different careers, they ought to plan their careers early, albeit with flexibility. Students should build their soft skills and embrace technology among other transferable competencies. By identifying potential career pathways and being positioned for these early, Africa can produce transformative PhD students on a path for success not just for themselves but for society at large, including in new environments such as that created by COVID-19. BMJ Publishing Group 2022-02-15 /pmc/articles/PMC8852658/ /pubmed/35168932 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2021-007996 Text en © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Analysis
Ndejjo, Rawlance
Ssemugabo, Charles
Osuret, Jimmy
Zziwa, Esther Bayiga
Fonn, Sharon
Alfvén, Tobias
Mukanga, David
Khayesi, Meleckidzedeck
Wanyenze, Rhoda K.
Positioning Africa’s public health doctoral students to lead societal transformation and development
title Positioning Africa’s public health doctoral students to lead societal transformation and development
title_full Positioning Africa’s public health doctoral students to lead societal transformation and development
title_fullStr Positioning Africa’s public health doctoral students to lead societal transformation and development
title_full_unstemmed Positioning Africa’s public health doctoral students to lead societal transformation and development
title_short Positioning Africa’s public health doctoral students to lead societal transformation and development
title_sort positioning africa’s public health doctoral students to lead societal transformation and development
topic Analysis
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8852658/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35168932
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2021-007996
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