Abstract

KNUST-LISA is a member of the Global LISA2020 and one of the projects undertaken is the collaboration with the Transport Research And Education Center Kumasi, KNUST (TRECK) on the Transforming Evidence to Actionable Practice in Higher education. The project focused on capacity building and research support for the postgraduate students. The project description and some of the results of the collaboration will be presented during the session.

The impact of research is not measured by the degree of rigor and resources committed to it but rather by the impact of research output on the quality of life. For this to happen, there should be knowledge transfer and uptake of research evidence by domain experts and translated to actions, especially in developing countries with a myriad of developmental challenges. This uptake presupposes that there is an appreciation of the research evidence by practitioners. That is, they possess an appreciable level of statistical or data science literacy.
The LISA 2020 Program was started with the vision to promote statistical and data science capacity building in developing countries by creating a strong network of statistics and data science collaboration laboratories (“stat labs”). These stat labs worked with the objective of becoming Engines for Development by training the next generation of collaborative statisticians and data scientists. Collaboration within the network was aimed at the coming together of researchers, data producers, and decision-makers to make a positive impact on society. Another goal of the network was to teach short courses and workshops to improve statistical skills and data literacy as widely as possible. The culmination of all the hard work and dedication of the LISA team is seen in the massive growth in the number of LISA Stat labs across many nations in Africa, India, and Pakistan. The network has grown to 35 full-member stat labs, 6 transitional labs approaching full membership, and 7 proposed stat labs that are in the early application stages. The Labs adopt best practices from sister labs and share knowledge.
KNUST-LISA was inaugurated on 22nd October 2018 and participated in the Transforming Evidence to Actionable Practice in Higher Education (TEACH) project in collaboration with the Transport Research And Education Center Kumasi, KNUST (TRECK). The project focused on capacity building and research support for postgraduate students. The project description and some of the results of the collaboration will be presented during the session.