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Call for applications: Internship for Females at African center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Data Intensive Sciences


Empowering Uganda’s Women in Health Data Science: Identifying Barriers, Bridging Knowledge and Innovation for Tangible Impact: She Data Science (SHEDS)
Proposed start: June 15th, 2024

The She Data Science (SHEDS) project is pleased to invite suitable applications from females for six internships for the year 2024. SHEDS is a collaborative initiative between the African center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Data Intensive Sciences, Infectious Diseases Institute, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda and the Institute of Global Health Sciences (IGHS) at the University of California San Francisco (¬¬¬¬UCSF), USA.

About the SHEDS program
The increasing adoption of technologies like mobile phones, high throughput genomic sequencing, IoT and electronic health records is accelerating the buildup of an avalanche of data: clinical, genomic, epidemiological, climate-related and social/behavioral data. These growing volumes and complexity of data, render the rapidly expanding field of “Big Data” analysis and interpretation essential to improving health and economic outcomes.

Data Science (DS¬¬¬), which encapsulates Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) provides a pathway to the leveraging and enhancement of these data into meaningful and actionable information. However, the highly technical nature of DS as well its powerful potential, simultaneously pause the risk of ‘leaving behind’ sections of the population that have already been disadvantaged. In Uganda in particular, the high gender disparity within STEM fields means that women are more likely to be left behind, resulting in the unintended consequence of DS further widening the gender gap in STEM.

This program is thus going to target the training and advancement of Ugandan women in data science and (or) bioinformatics. It achieves this goal through three critical areas: 1) Skilling women in data science / bioinformatics methods and techniques, 2) identify barriers to women in STEM, Data Science and bioinformatics 3) Providing a bridge to help trainees translate their data science skills into biomedical and public health practice.

Benefits of the program
• Working of projects solving real life problems like Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), Cancer, Genetic diseases
• World class health data science mentorship from some of the best mentors in the field.

Internship fields
The interns will work on projects that employ data science, mathematical and (or) bioinformatics to any of the following areas: a) Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) including the design of antimicrobial drug combination therapies, identifying One Health AMR transmission pathways, and utilizing data science methodologies to guide antimicrobial stewardship initiatives; b) Human Genomics including the role of repeats in the human genome; c) cancer including cancer genomics and genomics data science; and d) Natural Language Processing (NLP) and (or) generative AI solutions for health problems.

NB:
• This is a full-time internship. It is expected that the intending applicant is not involved in any other form of study or employment.
• Only successful candidates will be notified.
• Although this opportunity is majorly targeted towards females, exceptionally qualified males are encouraged to apply.