Almost 100 researchers from Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) have received mentorship and expert support through the mentorship program that was established by AFEW International together with Amsterdam Youth Force and Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA). Applicants for XXII International AIDS Conference have received support with editing, translating, and structuring their work according to the abstract requirements. Out of 100 abstracts got by the expert team, 70 received support with formatting and editing and 30 have received an additional language support (full translation into English.)
The mentorship program was developed to enhance the quality and increase submission chances for the applicants from EECA. Within the program, applicants had an opportunity to consult with experts before submitting their abstracts to the Conference Committee. AFEW International is expressing a big gratitude to the experts who were reviewing the abstracts of the EECA applicants.
“The importance of this mentorship can hardly be overestimated. We were able to significantly increase submissions from the region of Eastern Europe and Central Asia,” AFEW’s project manager Daria Alexeeva is saying. “We are excited to see the fruits of this collaboration both in form of submitted abstracts but also in form of something that is hardly quantifiable: expertise that our applicants have gained in the area of scientific writing for international events. The very communication with and guidance of the mentors was an enormous capacity building exercise for our applicants. They have trained putting their entire research projects into a concise form of an abstract of 350 words. We are confident that this training will lead to more high-quality research from EECA in the future.”
The board panel of experts consisted of:
Anna Szczegielniak, Youth Coalition
Catriona Ester, independent consultant
Chris Obermeyer, Fulbright Public Policy Fellow, Ministry of Health of Ukraine, Public Health Center
Daniel Kashnitsky, Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA)
Eliza Kurcevic, Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA)
Gayane Arustamyan, Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA)
Gennady Roshchupkin, Eurasian Coalition on Men’s Health (ECOM)
Jill Owczarzak, John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore
Julian Hows, Development Research Advocacy Governance (DRAG)
Katherine Kooij, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), the Netherlands
Lela Serebryakova, Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA)
Mariam Uberi, BEARR Trust
Roman Ivasiy, All-Ukrainian Charitable Organization FULCRUM
Ulla Pape, University of Bremen
Heather Stacey, Stand International
Janet Gunn, BEARR Trust
Michael Rasell, BEARR Trust
Karen Kraan, Flowz
Anna Sarang, Andrey Rylkov Foundation for Health and Social Justice
Alexandra Volgina, GNP+
