The University of Ibadan is celebrating the doctorate of nine CARTA fellows whose degrees were awarded in mid-November. This brings the total number of CARTA graduates from the University to 21 with another 15 in the fellowship pipeline. The fellows work at different departments and schools within the university and are strengthening the fields of economics, epidemiology and medical statistics, periodontology and community dentistry, and environmental health sciences, in line with the multi-disciplinary approach of CARTA.
CARTA has supported its African partner institutions to strengthen the institutional facilities that support research and to mainstream various program interventions with the aim to enhance the quality of doctoral training at institutional levels. Through this, the University of Ibadan renovated the postgraduate library and seminar rooms with CARTA’s support and has reviewed the PhD curricula across the university to adopt the JASes to the needs of each school. They have also developed a library reference manual and built the capacity of staff members on the use of the manual. So far, 66 faculty members from UI have attended CARTA’s Supervisors Workshops and 24 faculty and administrative staff have participated in the FAS workshops.
Babatunde Adedokun, a Cohort One Graduate from the University of Ibadan and one of the facilitators of the JAS 3 says that “It is gratifying to see the dividends of the incredibly impactful CARTA program. We must take full advantage of the opportunities it provides for networking, capacity building and mentoring among other possibilities,” he said.