Two days before the GYA 2023 Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Kigali, Rwanda, 25 particpants –  newly selected GYA members – met for a Science Leadership Workshop. The workshop was designed to give participants space to reflect together on how to be leaders in diverse contexts: in their research contexts, in the institutions and communities where they live and work, and in the GYA. During the workshop, participants discussed and practiced effective and creative problem solving, collective leadership models, and cultural dexterity.
Pre-AGM science leadership workshops have been held as a training opportunity for new members since the GYA’s 2018 AGM, expertly facilitated by InclusiveInnovation; after three years of online workshops, this year, the event took place in person at Carnegie Mellon University Kigali. The 2023 workshop was facilitated by Alisa Phulukdaree, Anina Rich (GYA alumna) and Eshchar Mizrachi (GYA member). Seasoned GYA members Sandra Lopez Verges, Goran Bandov and Devina Lobine participated in the new member workshop in the role of mentors, to guide and encourage new members and to answer questions about the GYA.
Impressions from participants
I like how engaging the workshop is. It was also overall extremely well planned and thought out. And what I like the most are the facilitators of the workshop. They are brilliant and I will always remember them as the first faces I met on my GYA journey.
– Hiba Baroud
It helped me to realize my potential and encouraged me to become leader in the future.
– Hoan Ngo
About Science Leadership and the GYA
The GYA helps young scientists develop competency in how they talk about their science, conduct discourse across disciplines, develop networks and engage the public with science. These soft skills, however, aren’t necessarily part of a research career.
To address this gap, GYA members worked together with Inclusive Innovation to build the Africa Science Leadership Program (ASLP) in 2015. The programme aims to help early-career researchers in Africa engage more effectively across disciplines, and up and down the hierarchy of their universities and academies. Since the start of the Africa SLP, the ASEAN SLP, a new LAC-SLP and numerous spin-off science leadership workshops have been organised by GYA members.
Read more about the GYA science leadership model, and related programmes and workshops here.