WASP Course, led by Prof Victor Grech and Prof Charles Savona Ventura, has recently organised a course in Bahrain. 

Co-hosted with Arabian Gulf University, the course, on how to write a scientific paper, focused on quantitative analysis methods and was targeted for medical doctors and allied health professionals.

Talks highlighting specific aspects of scientific publishing were delivered by Prof Victor Grech and Prof Charles Savona Ventura from the University of Malta and Prof Diaa Rizk from Arabian Gulf University. Hands-on sessions on statistical analysis using Excel were also held during the two-day course. Attendees were given soft copies of all talks, while all spreadsheets were utilised with actual data used in published papers. WASP was concluded with a half day of statistics exercises using Excel.

This course is unique worldwide and its purpose is to impart the lecturers’ collective experience to the delegates in this crucial aspect of career on publishing. It is imperative that research receives official public recognition. Thus the course is specifically tailored to negotiate intervening steps before a paper can be completed; from drafting a proposal for ethics and data protection, all the way to dealing with rejections, editors and resubmissions. Previously held WASP courses in Malta and one in London garnered positive comments from all delegates. In addition, Prof Victor Grech has been tasked by the journal Early Human Development with guest-editing a collection of medical education papers from lectures arising from WASP. In all there will be some 14 papers pertaining to biomedical statistics using Excel. This is an excellent opportunity and one of great repute which will further help in promoting the course abroad. Other exciting projects are also in the pipeline for WASP.

For more information, visit:

www.ithams.com/wasp

https://www.facebook.com/ithamsmalta/

Mariella Scerri for WASP