MRC holds 2nd annual festival

The Medical Research Council (MRC) Unit-The Gambia Wednesday held its second annual festival at their main office conference room in Fajara.

The festival brought stakeholders and community to interact with MRC staff and share their success and experiences on what MRC has been doing in The Gambia.

As MRC Unit The Gambia celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, their interactive festival was a great opportunity to explore the unit large research on portfolio, learn more about research priorities and ask questions about the work they do.

The festival was in the form of an open day to increase awareness and understanding of the global benefits of medical research.

According to MRC Director, Prof. Umberto Alessandro, the event was an excellent opportunity to showcase the achievements of their young scientists and offer the opportunity to transfer knowledge.

It engages the staff and the local community on a wider understanding of MRCG strategic objectives, which was to save lives and improve health across the world.

 It has also build trust in medical research by sharing research findings and interventions with the local and the international scientific community.

The festival was a fantastic opportunity to show their research and the potential impact of its results on everybody’s life.

Last year’s festival was a resounding success, he said, adding that this year they were able to stimulate the same level of interest and promoting dialogue with the public about Medical Research Council mission.

For his part,the head of research training and career development, Dr. Assan Jaye, gave an overview of research training and development, saying MRC Unit The Gambia has placed considerable importance to training and career development.

It has also continue to develop the activities of the department for creating opportunities to build competent skills, knowledge and research leadership that could allow talented young scientists to undertake quality research in addressing the health problems in Africa.

According to him, their training strategic approach has recently been re-defined to enable the building of required competent skills and knowledge.

He said this strategic include retention program, identifying and developing talents through attractive and supported pathways, technical and research support competency program, increasing  focused skills of research support staff among others.

Dr Jaye further stated that the number of undergraduate, post graduate and other professional training continue to grow.