CIRCLE is now halfway through our one-year
extension, and we have been busy collecting data from all our CIRCLE Visiting
Fellowship (CVF) alumni and institutions involved in the Institutional Strengthening
Programme. We thought it would be good to share news on all their achievements
reported over the last 6 months, to give you an idea of the impact of our
programme!
One of the overarching aims of
the CIRCLE Programme is to strengthen the capacity of African scientists to
undertake research on climate change and its local impacts on development. The
CIRCLE Visiting Fellowship aims to help achieve this aim, by funding 100
Fellowships for African climate change researchers to spend a year at a host
institution within Sub-Saharan Africa. To monitor progress, CIRCLE invites all
our Fellows to complete follow-up surveys every three months during their
fellowship, and every six months after its completion. Between 2015 and 2017,
three Cohorts took part in the CVF Programme, with the third and final Cohort
settling back into their home institution in December 2017.
In June 2018, CIRCLE invited all
our alumni to complete a follow-up survey on progress and achievements over the
last 6 months. As such, Cohort 1 were 2.5 years post-fellowship, Cohort 2 1.5
years post-fellowship and Cohort 3 6-months post-fellowship.
Of the 96 Fellows who were
invited to complete the survey, 74 Fellows responded. Since returning to their
home institution, our CVF Alumni reported improvements in training and
development opportunities, opportunities to apply newly developed skills and
experiences, and their overall responsibilities and career opportunities. There
was however little improvement in their time to conduct their research, with
female respondents more likely to respond having a reduction in time. Although,
many Fellows have indicated that the increase in time constraints are a result
of their involvement in CIRCLE, as the skills and experience gained has
resulted in increased responsibilities.
The most commonly reported
challenges in applying skills were time, resources and funding, as well as
gaining wider-institutional support or recognition of their experience. Those
that were able to share their skills were more likely to do so through
presentations at conferences/workshops, through mentoring, or by applying their
skills in a new role. We had 19 Fellows report that they had been promoted,
with 12 of these indicating that this promotion has been influenced by their participation
in CIRCLE. 61 Fellows reported that they were mentoring other academics at
their institution, which is higher than the number reported 6 months ago.
Now that the Fellowships have
been completed, we were interested to see if any of the relationships and
research developed through CIRCLE were still ongoing. We found that 84% of CVF
alumni were still in contact with or were actively collaborating with their
host supervisor and 82% with other CVFs outside of their home institution. We
also found that 59% of CVF Alumni were undertaking further research related to
their CIRCLE research projects during this reporting period.
An incredible 128 peer-review
journal articles have been submitted since January 2018, with 51 being published
to date and a further 17 being accepted and awaiting publication. 44 submitted
articles were focused on CIRCLE research, with 15 published and 9 currently
awaiting publication. Where data was available, 93% of peer-review submissions
were to reputable journals, with 53% of these to high-ranking Q1-4 journals.
While CIRCLE research fared even better, with 94% of CIRCLE research articles
submitted to reputable journals and 56% of these to high-ranking Q1-4 journals.
Our Alumni have also been busy attending a range of conferences and events over
the last 6 months, with 94 events attended and CVFs presenting research at 56
of these.
In addition to publishing, 54% of
our Fellows have been involved in a total of 74 applications for grants and
funding since January, with 14 successful applications to date and almost half
a million USD being awarded. 65% of our CVF Alumni have also been involved in
107 collaborations with a range of successful outputs including policy briefs,
book chapters, events, and community outreach activities.
We are very proud of our alumni
and are pleased to see that the training and support delivered by both CIRCLE
and their home and host institutions is continuing to have a positive impact on
their personal and professional development. We only have another six months
left of our programme, but we’re certain that we will see even more reported
achievements from our Fellows throughout the remainder of the programme.
If you would like to find out
more about our Fellows, you
can read their profiles on our website.
A full copy of the January – June
2018 CVF Follow-up Report will soon be available on our website.
