Monday 22 July 2013

A CARTA Fellow has Finished his PhD Studies

Mr. Adedokun Sulaimon Taiwo  
Cohort 1 (2010) CARTA fellow Dr. Adedokun Sulaimon Taiwo of Obafemi Awolowo University(OAU), Ile Ife, Department of Demography and Social Statistics successfully defended his thesis.  Dr. Sulaimon’s  thesis entitled “Comparative analysis of the factors accounting for under-five mortality differentials in Northeast and Southwest of Nigeria”,  was approved by the Postgraduate College and the University Senate.

The good news reached CARTA in a message from the Head of Department Prof P.O. Ogunjuyigbe who thanked  CARTA for granting Adedokun a fellowship, it read “The Department is grateful for the fellowship and support the candidate received from CARTA which has immensely assisted the candidate in the pursuit of the Ph.D Degree programme.”  CARTA is very delighted with the good news of Dr. Sulaimon’s achievement. 

The Director of CARTA Dr. Alex Ezeh expressed his happiness on receiving the news and thanked Prof. Ogunjuyigbe  and OAU for the support they continue to accord to CARTA fellows and the CARTA program.  He urged Dr. Sulaimon to move into the next level in his career as a researcher who fully embodies all the CARTA aspirations.  CARTA Deputy Director Prof. Sharon Fonn of the University of the Witwatersrand, noted Adedukon’s studiousness and congratulated him on his achievement. Prof. Fonn wrote “He was a very engaged student, so I am pleased ….well done.”

Monday 15 July 2013

Experiences of a CARTA fellow - Sunday Adedini

My name is Sunday Adedini, a Lecturer in the Department of Demography and Social Statistics, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. I have B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in demography from Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria. I am currently undergoing doctoral training in Demography and Population Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. My broad research focus is on the area of child health, reproductive health and mortality studies; with particular interest in social and health inequalities as well as the effects of neighborhood contexts on health metrix. Area of expertise includes data collection and analysis with the use of statistical software such as Stata, SPSS, Epi Info, MortPark and Excel.  Although, there are other PhD fellowship programs, I chose to apply for the CARTA PhD Fellowship for a number of reasons. First, when the call for CARTA PhD Fellowship for cohort 1 was announced in 2010, the requirements for the Fellowship really made me felt that the Fellowship is designed particularly for a person like me. These requirements include:
i) a possession of Masters degree in a relevant field,
ii) applicants must be willing to undertake PhD research in the area of population and public health,
iii) eligible applicants must be teaching or research staff in one of the nine participating universities or in one of the four participating research institutes, and
iv) eligible applicant must undergo his/her doctoral training at one of the nine participating universities in Africa.
I saw myself as a candidate for whom the CARTA Fellowship has been designed, particularly because I teach at the Obafemi Awolowo University and, by then my M.Sc. results had just been approved and I was seeking admission into the University of the Witwatersrand to pursue a PhD degree in Demography and Population Studies. This really gave me the impetus to undergo the rigorous pre-JAS competence tasks, which I benefited immensely from. Second, I preferred CARTA Fellowship to other PhD Fellowships because the components of the CARTA program include exposing students to important didactic seminars to build fellows’ conceptual, methodological and analytical skills. Third, the CARTA program encourages and creates atmosphere for collaborations among Fellows. Additionally, the CARTA program provides financial supports for Fellows. For this reason I chose to be a full time student and I managed the resources available to me.
CARTA’s aims include training and retention of well-equipped scholars who could build capacity at African universities. My hope and aspirations include working towards realizing this objective by contributing my own quota towards building capacity at my home institution. Besides, it is my dream to contribute my own small quota towards solving many developmental problems facing sub-Saharan Africa in general and Nigeria in particular, through collaborative policy-relevant and innovative researches in the area of population and public health.

With respect to progress made in my on-going PhD studies, my proposal was approved by the Faculty’s Graduate Studies Committee during the first year of my studies. The second year of my program was devoted to data managements and analyses. Some preliminary findings from my studies have been presented in a number of conferences. These include African Population Conference of the Union for Africa Population Studies (UAPS), annual meeting of the Population Association of America (PAA) and Asian Population Conference of the Asian Population Association (APA). In addition, three abstracts based on my PhD studies have been accepted for presentations (two for oral and the other one for postal) at the forthcoming International Population Conference of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population. Also, three manuscripts based on my PhD thesis are currently under review in three different ISI listed journals.
This PhD program has not been without its sacrifices and hitches. The first sacrifice involves being away from my family for so long. This of course afforded me the opportunity of having full concentration on my studies. I have been a triangular student, commuting in-between three places – room, classroom and church. I did not create time for much social activities. This is deliberate because I know once I finish my PhD studies; there will always be time for social activities. The second hitch I encountered concerns my health. This is because I overworked myself and my average sleeping time per day reduced drastically. This affected me a bit during the first year of my studies. I remember that sometimes around August 2011, I could not close my eyes in sleep for good four days. When I consulted with my doctor, I was told that I had been denying myself enough sleep, so the body was getting used to sleeplessness. The doctor was afraid that I must have developed high blood pressure (BP) considering that I did not sleep at all for complete four days. After medical examination, the doctor eventually found that my BP was normal. After this episode I had to increase my average sleeping time to around 5 hours per day.

Additional useful information is that, in the course of my studies, I discovered that developing excellent working relationship with supervisors is crucial to successful completion of PhD studies. Having understanding early enough that supervisors’ criticisms are not meant to mar but to make one successful is  key to success of a PhD program. From time to time I receive constructive criticisms, appropriate and prompt feedback from my supervisor. I also have the opportunity of promptly attending to supervisor’s comments.

Finally, with the help of God, I know that as I continue to do my parts with enthusiasm and all seriousness, my supervisor will do his parts, and it will be a matter of little more time when I will be done with my PhD studies.

Sulaimon A. AfolabI shares his experience as a CARTA fellow

Human Interest Story of Afolabi S.A. for CARTA
1.      Introduce yourself, your institution, your research area etc.
I am Sulaimon A. Afolabi, a doctoral candidate in the department of Demography and Population Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. I am a staff member of the Medical Research Council/Wits Rural Public Health & Health Transitions Research Unit also known as the Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance System Site. My research interest is mainly on the components of population change namely migration, mortality and fertility and their impact on the health and well-being of the populace.

2.      There are other PhD fellowships, what made you prefer to apply to the CARTA PhD fellowships?
It inculcates research capacity development especially in my field of interest i.e. population and health. Also, it promotes collaboration and networking among the fellows. It exposes the fellow to the crème de la crème in the field of population and health research.

3.      What are your hopes and dreams in the CARTA PhD program?
I hope to garner the necessary expertise to finish my doctoral program and afterwards apply the acquired skill to proffer solution to the population and health challenges being faced in sub-Saharan Africa. In future, I envisage mentoring and nurturing upcoming researchers. This may entail the replication of the CARTA program. More importantly, I dream of becoming an outstanding researcher in my field of endeavour.

4.      What is so endearing to you in CARTA?
It avails me the opportunity to network and collaborate with scholars from other institutions in Africa and beyond. It provides array of knowledge, scholarship and other opportunities being disseminated from the secretariat. Being a CARTA fellow gives an identity that can boost one’s credibility, recognition most especially when it comes to seeking for research grants.

5.      Do you have some personal experiences with CARTA that you would want to share to encourage others to also become CARTA fellows
Whenever I present my challenges and concerns to the CARTA management, they try as much as possible to address them.

6.      What progress have you made so far in your PhD studies? Have you defended your proposal, have you done publications from your PhD work etc
My proposal has been approved by my institution. Hence, I can continue with my research. Currently, I am at the thesis writing stage. Meanwhile, I have presented my work at the 2012 edition of the Population Association America (PAA) conference in San Francisco, USA and I will be doing the same in Busan, South Korean at the 2013 edition of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) conference

7.      It is common knowledge that not everything is without hitches/sacrifices, kindly share these with me so that I can bring them out for people to be prepared to also face the same as they take up the CARTA program.

My arduous challenge is in attempting to carve out time out of no time for my research. Nevertheless, I have taken a clue from one of the sayings of the late Martin Luther King, which goes thus, "If you cannot fly then run, if you cannot run then walk, if you cannot walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward."

Monday 8 July 2013

Simbarashe Takuva appointed to the Editorial Board of the Pan African Medical Journal (PAMJ).

Simbarashe Takuva
Simbarasha Takuva, a cohort 2 (2012) fellow has been appointed a member of the editorial board of the Pan African Medical Journal (PAMJ). http://www.panafrican-med-journal.com/eboard.php  Simba, as he is popularly known, will join other distinguished and reknowned researchers and scientists from all over the world to oversee PAMJ publication activities. 

Simba is registered at the University of the Witwatersrand as a PhD student and does research at the Centre for HIV and STIs, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, South Africa.  Simba’s editorial skills and grasp of issues and ideas in his specialization have seen him land an Invitation to be a reviewer of submitted abstracts for the upcoming International Conference of AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) to be held in Cape Town, South Africa, 07-11 December 2013.

Tuesday 2 July 2013

Melvin Ojo Agunbiade at the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Social Problems(SSSP).

Melvin Ojo Agunbiade 
Melvin Ojo Agunbiade of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) and a cohort 3 (2012) fellow will  be presenting an oral paper entitled “Sexual exploitations, Concealment and Adolescent mothers’ Agency in a Semi-Urban Community in Southwest Nigeria” at the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP). The conference is scheduled for August 9-11, 2013 in New York, United States.  Melvin received a a partial funding from the Lee Scholar Support Fund.  to support his travel arrangements.