Cargando…

Connecting Scientists Residing Abroad: A Review of Converciencia as a Practice to Engage the Guatemalan Scientific Diaspora From 2005–2020

In 2005, the Guatemala National Secretariat of Science and Technology (Senacyt) introduced Converciencia, a program designed to connect Guatemalan scientists residing abroad with their country of origin. Converciencia has been a flagship practice for over 15 years. This program involves three main g...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Bonilla, Kleinsy, Arrechea, Susana, Velásquez Pérez, Luis Guillermo
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9271891/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35832744
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/frma.2022.898496
_version_ 1784744772995383296
author Bonilla, Kleinsy
Arrechea, Susana
Velásquez Pérez, Luis Guillermo
author_facet Bonilla, Kleinsy
Arrechea, Susana
Velásquez Pérez, Luis Guillermo
author_sort Bonilla, Kleinsy
collection PubMed
description In 2005, the Guatemala National Secretariat of Science and Technology (Senacyt) introduced Converciencia, a program designed to connect Guatemalan scientists residing abroad with their country of origin. Converciencia has been a flagship practice for over 15 years. This program involves three main groups of participants: (i) science and technology (S&T) policy agents, (ii) the scientific community (including parts of the Guatemala scientific diaspora, GSD), and (iii) host institutions (local co-organizers, mainly universities, and research institutes). This article presents a comprehensive and balanced overview of the Converciencia program applying an in-depth analysis of its creation, evolution, leading trends, and legacies. Using a qualitative methodology and conducting a four-level analysis (descriptive, explanatory, normative, and prescriptive) allowed for the identification of nuances of this S&T practice in the context of a scientifically lagging country such as Guatemala. The detailed data collected through documentary and desk review, gray literature, focus group discussions, and semi-structured interviews resulted in a framework to highlight the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOTs) in the planning, organization, implementation, monitoring, and perception of the results achieved by Converciencia. Findings portray the contrasting views and perceptions from a single S&T practice, depending on the participating parties' roles and responsibilities. Direct participants examined how Converciencia has achieved its objectives while questioning the effectiveness and impact that the resources allocated to the initiative have yielded over time. Evidence indicates that despite the design, coordination, and evaluation limits of Converciencia, the GSD, the scientific community in Guatemala, and the host institutions are interested in the continuity of the practice. Indeed, the main recommendation involves restructuring and turning Converciencia into a robust S&T policy. Converciencia as a policy engaging the GSD could produce greater results and impacts by involving all the key actors in co-designing activities, clearly determining roles and responsibilities, and establishing performance and impact indicators for evaluation.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9271891
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-92718912022-07-12 Connecting Scientists Residing Abroad: A Review of Converciencia as a Practice to Engage the Guatemalan Scientific Diaspora From 2005–2020 Bonilla, Kleinsy Arrechea, Susana Velásquez Pérez, Luis Guillermo Front Res Metr Anal Research Metrics and Analytics In 2005, the Guatemala National Secretariat of Science and Technology (Senacyt) introduced Converciencia, a program designed to connect Guatemalan scientists residing abroad with their country of origin. Converciencia has been a flagship practice for over 15 years. This program involves three main groups of participants: (i) science and technology (S&T) policy agents, (ii) the scientific community (including parts of the Guatemala scientific diaspora, GSD), and (iii) host institutions (local co-organizers, mainly universities, and research institutes). This article presents a comprehensive and balanced overview of the Converciencia program applying an in-depth analysis of its creation, evolution, leading trends, and legacies. Using a qualitative methodology and conducting a four-level analysis (descriptive, explanatory, normative, and prescriptive) allowed for the identification of nuances of this S&T practice in the context of a scientifically lagging country such as Guatemala. The detailed data collected through documentary and desk review, gray literature, focus group discussions, and semi-structured interviews resulted in a framework to highlight the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOTs) in the planning, organization, implementation, monitoring, and perception of the results achieved by Converciencia. Findings portray the contrasting views and perceptions from a single S&T practice, depending on the participating parties' roles and responsibilities. Direct participants examined how Converciencia has achieved its objectives while questioning the effectiveness and impact that the resources allocated to the initiative have yielded over time. Evidence indicates that despite the design, coordination, and evaluation limits of Converciencia, the GSD, the scientific community in Guatemala, and the host institutions are interested in the continuity of the practice. Indeed, the main recommendation involves restructuring and turning Converciencia into a robust S&T policy. Converciencia as a policy engaging the GSD could produce greater results and impacts by involving all the key actors in co-designing activities, clearly determining roles and responsibilities, and establishing performance and impact indicators for evaluation. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-06-27 /pmc/articles/PMC9271891/ /pubmed/35832744 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/frma.2022.898496 Text en Copyright © 2022 Bonilla, Arrechea and Velásquez Pérez. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Research Metrics and Analytics
Bonilla, Kleinsy
Arrechea, Susana
Velásquez Pérez, Luis Guillermo
Connecting Scientists Residing Abroad: A Review of Converciencia as a Practice to Engage the Guatemalan Scientific Diaspora From 2005–2020
title Connecting Scientists Residing Abroad: A Review of Converciencia as a Practice to Engage the Guatemalan Scientific Diaspora From 2005–2020
title_full Connecting Scientists Residing Abroad: A Review of Converciencia as a Practice to Engage the Guatemalan Scientific Diaspora From 2005–2020
title_fullStr Connecting Scientists Residing Abroad: A Review of Converciencia as a Practice to Engage the Guatemalan Scientific Diaspora From 2005–2020
title_full_unstemmed Connecting Scientists Residing Abroad: A Review of Converciencia as a Practice to Engage the Guatemalan Scientific Diaspora From 2005–2020
title_short Connecting Scientists Residing Abroad: A Review of Converciencia as a Practice to Engage the Guatemalan Scientific Diaspora From 2005–2020
title_sort connecting scientists residing abroad: a review of converciencia as a practice to engage the guatemalan scientific diaspora from 2005–2020
topic Research Metrics and Analytics
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9271891/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35832744
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/frma.2022.898496
work_keys_str_mv AT bonillakleinsy connectingscientistsresidingabroadareviewofconvercienciaasapracticetoengagetheguatemalanscientificdiasporafrom20052020
AT arrecheasusana connectingscientistsresidingabroadareviewofconvercienciaasapracticetoengagetheguatemalanscientificdiasporafrom20052020
AT velasquezperezluisguillermo connectingscientistsresidingabroadareviewofconvercienciaasapracticetoengagetheguatemalanscientificdiasporafrom20052020