Sustainable Academic Capacity Building of Excellence through Research and Training Program (SACERT)

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Project Summary In response to PAR-18-901, we propose the Sustainable Academic Capacity Building for Excellence through Research and Training (SACERT) Program. Under the leadership of two US- and two South Africa-based highly experienced Principal Investigators, SACERT goals are to increase timely progression to completion of doctoral degree primarily among underrepresented pre-doctoral students, and to improve the educational and mentoring climates of 12 participating institutions in South Africa. The focus of SACERT is chronic stress and non-communicable chronic mental disorders including substance abuse, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder across the life course. SACERT responds directly to current national governmental initiatives to train pre-doctoral students who are at the dissertation stage in the mental health field. We focus particularly on building capacity of scholars in the nursing, social work, occupational therapy, psychology, psychiatry, and public health fields to conduct translational mental health-related research via two pathways, Tracks A and B. We will provide short-, medium-, and long-term research training which includes coursework and research training in an intensive 3-month in-residence training at UCLA and a long-term mentorship (Track A), as well as annual workshops in South Africa (Track B). The Specific Aims are to: 1) Implement a two-year multidisciplinary training program at UCLA and in South Africa for four pre-doctoral Scholars (“Track A,” who will be post-master’s degree, with approved dissertation proposals) per year (cumulative n=16) to: a) enhance their research skills in the areas of chronic stress and non-communicable chronic mental health disorders, b) support their research productivity during the two-year tenure, and c) strengthen their relationships with mentors; 2) Implement a training model involving annual virtual and/or in-person modular workshops for the Aim 1 Scholars (n=4/year) and mentors (n=4/year) and additional Scholars who will be master’s and pre- doctoral students (“Track B”; n=36/year for four years; cumulative n=144) and faculty (n=36/year), primarily from historically disadvantaged universities, to: a) strengthen research and mentoring skills related to chronic stress and non-communicable chronic mental health disorders, b) build and sustain a supportive network of Scholars and mentors across primarily historically disadvantaged universities, and c) disseminate the results of Scholars’ and mentors’ research related to chronic stress and non-communicable chronic mental health disorders; 3) Provide mentorship training to Scholars’ mentors (n~16/year) to: a) enrich the mentor-scholar dyad, b) increase capacity in South African university environments, and c) promote sustainability of our research mentorship model; and 4) Evaluate these training and mentorship efforts with regard to: a) time to degree, productivity related to publications and grant proposals; sustainability of training and mentoring (Track A) and b) knowledge and skills gained (short- and long-term), and satisfaction with educational and mentoring climate (Tracks A & B).