Growing Data-science Research in Africa to Stimulate Progress (GRASP)

ABSTRACT Growing Data-science Research in Africa to Stimulate Progress (GRASP) Efforts to address the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Africa have been hugely impaired by the vast deficit of sustainable & indigenous research capacities & adequately qualified personnel vital for articulating personalized, context-specific interventions for African populations. Neurological disorders are a leading NCD cause of death and disability. Brain health, which determines brain capital, is central to achieving overall health and all sustainable development goals. However, the current DS-I Africa programs do not have a dedicated training program in brain health research to unravel its determinants, especially sociodemographic and lifestyle factors which play a major role elsewhere. GRASP is aimed at developing a sustainable cohort of scientists to tackle the brain health burden by improving the data science skill of selected African scholars to unravel sociodemographic determinants and dietary & lifestyle factors affecting brain health & cardiovascular risk using the SIREN, ARISES, CHAIR, & other relevant datasets in H3Africa & DS-I Africa consortia and beyond. This will include integrating sociodemographic data with cognitive, neuroimaging, genomics, climate & geographical data, in mentored research projects & consortia-related activities in a multidisciplinary team of five selected researchers-in-training & their elite mentors annually for three years. GRASP will increase the scholars' scientific knowledge, professional skills, motivation, & credentials in the field of translational data science research with a specific focus on Brain health with emphasis on identifying sociodemographic determinants and other markers and patterns in data from genomics, brain imaging, Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping & public health data. The training comprises a 9-month Postgraduate Certificate program that will include six (6) months of online training activities & a compulsory six (6) weeks intensive residency at the University of Ibadan (UI), Nigeria and a research project. Mentoring will be enhanced via mentor matching (content & analytic area) & peer mentoring networks. Each scholar in the Postgraduate Certificate program will be assigned to a mentor/supervisor (preferably a faculty member of the training or host institutions & mentoring will take place online or face-to-face based on the mentor/mentee preference).The effectiveness of GRASP will be monitored based on Scholar academic positions & publications; and funding for investigator-initiated research projects or career development awards. 1