Scientific Writing Workshop for WHO EIS Officers held in New Delhi, India

A scientific writing workshop was held at the Le Meridien Hotel in New Delhi, India from July 29 to August 2, 2019. The workshop, which was sponsored by the World Health Organization India, was facilitated by Ms. Dorothy Southern with support from SAFETYNET staff who acted as writing coaches. During the workshop, 27 Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officers worked on their draft manuscripts with guidance provided by their assigned writing coaches from WHO, SAFETYNET, USCDC and the Indian National Centre for Disease Control.

The four-day workshop was designed to introduce participants to a structured approach to writing scientific papers for publication in peer-reviewed journals. During the workshop, the writing process was broken down into a series of smaller steps and activities conducted to improve technical writing skills and presentation of data. The workshop also included a session on poster presentations. Mentors/coaches were on hand to assist participants in revising their draft manuscripts for submission to appropriate peer-reviewed scientific journals.

The workshop was well-received by both the EIS officers and their coaches who found the covered topics wholly relevant to their work and appreciated the interactive nature of the workshop. Participants were encouraged to “keep the ball rolling” by continuing to work on their manuscripts together with their co-authors and mentors until the work sees publication.