Speaker
Description
Computational literacy remains a critical gap among life scientists in sub-Saharan Africa, limiting their contribution to global science and competitiveness in data-driven research careers. Bioinformatics Outreach Nigeria (BON) organised a 3-day intensive R training for life scientists, covering base R, data types and structures, data cleaning, tidyverse-based manipulation, and ggplot2 visualisation, using life sciences examples throughout (gene expression, ecological data, clinical datasets).
Pre-training surveys (n ≈ 200) revealed that approximately 65–70% of participants had no prior R experience, with most self-rating confidence in base R, tidyverse, and ggplot2 as 1–2 on a 5-point scale. Despite limited exposure, nearly all participants rated R as "extremely important" for their academic and career goals, indicating strong motivation.
Post-training evaluations showed high satisfaction: the majority rated overall quality as "Excellent" or "Good," and most found life sciences examples "highly relevant." A 20-item applied knowledge assessment demonstrated meaningful skill acquisition, with most participants correctly answering questions on data structures, filter(), mutate(), group_by(), and ggplot2 syntax. Nearly all respondents indicated they would "definitely" or "probably" recommend the training to peers.
The dominant improvement suggestion — raised by a substantial majority — was extending training duration to at least one week, with additional requests for prompt sharing of session recordings and more hands-on exercises.
This work demonstrates that targeted, context-relevant R training can meaningfully shift computational confidence in underrepresented scientific communities, and contributes practical insights for designing inclusive R outreach programmes globally.
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| Keywords: Please list up to 5 keywords to help us find the right session for your contribution. | R education, bioinformatics outreach, capacity building, Africa, life sciences |
|---|---|
| Virtual Option | This submission is for onsite presentation primarily, but I would also like it to be considered for pre-recorded virtual presentation if I don't get an onsite slot |
| Video Recording | Video sharing is fine |
| The author(s) agree(s) to take responsibility and be accountable for the contents of the submission and is/are authorized to present it. | Confirm |