By Arinaitwe Rugyendo
Research translation is a form of science communication that has come a long way, globally. In Africa, it is a new form story storytelling that is not particularly attractive to journalists who are after exciting events such as politics, conflict corruption, and war. Science reporting is not particularly an attractive news beat unless deliberately funded. We are proud at Research Finds News to pioneer a news model that will liberate research from the shelves and make it a people-centered product for socio-economic transformation throughout Africa.
Africa currently contributes a very small percentage to global research, with estimates placing it at around 1% of the world’s total research output, according to various REPORTS.
My motivation to start this news website came from my enrollment for a doctoral program at Makerere University in 2019 during my literature review for the proposal and from fellow researchers who were constantly complaining about why Ugandan media never focused on their useful findings and helped to tell their stories.
From my interaction with research findings and mountains of research products from various peer-reviewed and prestigious journals, I discovered a huge communication gap between media and academia. I also noticed this was the sole reason there was a gap between academia and industry. While academicians were communicating to themselves through the publication of their research in journals, the public and particularly policymakers had no clue about this. Yet, research, beyond enriching academic knowledge, ought to benefit the wider society.
Having discovered this huge gap, I set on a mission to newsify complex scientific research findings using a newsification model that combines academic rigor with a journalistic flair. I felt the flair would be the bait for the wider society to read the journal articles through a hyperlink within the ‘newsified’ stories.
When the COVID-19 crisis engulfed the globe and the Ugandan government subjected the country to many lockdowns, I shelved the idea until the first journal-sourced test story which was published on September 14, 2023. It was titled: Study Links Intimate Partner Violence to HIV in Women. The feedback was immense, with scholars freely contributing their papers to be newsified. So, somewhat naively, I decided to set up a platform for researchers, graduate students, universities, and journalists, which later became Research Finds News.
Translation of complex scientific research has come a long way since then, with more news coverage from universities, journals, graduate students, and researchers from around the country, region, and the globe. I am grateful for the opportunity to innovate in academia and create a conversation between academicians and journalists for the benefit of research. The results of our efforts are enormous. In August 2014, I was nominated for the prestigious Vitae Impact, Culture, and Engagement (ICE) Awards in the UK. Particularly, I was nominated for the Innovative and Inclusive Practice Award, highlighting our efforts to bridge the gap between academia and the public in Uganda through our impactful solution.
Over the years, we’ve worked with leading research institutions in Africa, listened to their needs and developed solutions to meet those needs. It was not an easy journey – working long hours with no pay, but each year, we continue to grow, expanding through word of mouth and continuous building of new relationships and cementing existing ones in the hope that we will morph into one supportive community.
I would like to thank the many people who have helped us along the way. We are proud to support Africa’s research community by continuing to increase awareness of impact research and innovation throughout the region.