A Year of Achievements in Research Skills Development Led by the YNC’s Capacity Building Sub-Committee, Featuring a Sneak Preview of 2024 Activities
By Andrea Viecelli
As this year’s chair of the ISN Young Nephrologists Committee’s Capacity Building Sub-Committee, I had the opportunity to lead an amazing team of young kidney health professionals to build capacity and improve leadership skills, clinical workforce management, and research.
Young nephrologists, particularly those practicing in low-income countries, have consistently acknowledged research as a priority. Therefore, this year’s focus was to equip young kidney health professionals with the necessary skills to conduct and disseminate clinical research and develop collaborative research networks worldwide.
This curriculum covers six topics on key aspects of statistics to help nephrologists and related healthcare professionals:
- Better appraise literature
- Improve clinical research design and proposals
- Analyze and interpret data from clinical trials and observational studies
- Build collaborative research networks
A virtual live round table discussion was held for course participants to discuss the curriculum content with faculty and speakers. We also discussed the challenges of developing and sustaining research in low-resource settings to help inform future strategies to support research initiatives in these regions.
Participants at the roundtable webinar to accompany the “ISN YNC Curriculum: Basics of Statistics for a Successful Start in Clinical Research.”
Following a very informative webinar on writing an impactful abstract led by YNC Chair Sabine Karam in collaboration with the ISN Research Committee, I am excited to lead a second webinar on preparing and presenting a poster at WCN’24. This is a truly collaborative initiative with input from the ISN Research Committee, the ISN Social Media team and the WCN Scientific Program Committee.
The webinar will be held early next year in the run-up to the WCN’24 and will cover:
- The key components of a poster
- The right design skills to create a poster
- The difference between a good poster and a bad one
- The process of poster evaluation.
After this year’s achievements, the Capacity Building Sub-Committee looks forward to another exciting year ahead; the committee is planning a second short course to build skills in interpreting research evidence. The YNC will also select members from the Young Nephrologists Network to work alongside the committee on different tasks and portfolios, including collaborating on updating the ISN Fellowship Foundation Course with the ISN Fellowship Committee and translating the first ISN Patient Information Leaflet on how to protect the kidneys.
The ISN has provided me with fantastic opportunities to connect with many outstanding ISN members. I would like to thank everyone involved in planning and holding YNC capacity-building activities in 2023.
