Building Practical Skills in R for Research

On April 27th, the Sustaining the African Health Initiative Community of Practice Project supported the capacity building of 26 young researchers by equipping them with practical skills to use an AI tool for teaching and communicating research findings. They were also equipped with the skills in creating tailored videos to different audience. 

The facilitator, Mr. Emmanuel Oboni, an IT Technician from the Regional Institute for Population Studies, introduced the participants to Google Vids, an application built on the “Docs‑for‑Video” approach. Using familiar tools such as Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets, Google Vids enables users to create structured video content without advanced editing software, facilitating communication of research findings to different audiences in multiple languages. 

The training covered Google Vids and its components and how to work in each, planning before production to ensure organized and accessible projects, editing using transcripts to simplify trimming and adjustments, converting PowerPoint slides to videos, language and voice selection, and collaboration features that allow teams to work together within the app.

Participants then engaged in a hands-on module in which they built and refined their own projects. The day concluded with each researcher creating or recording a short video message to their “future self,” reflecting on how they plan to apply these skills in future work.

This initiative was not only about learning a new tool. It aimed to broaden the ways in which African researchers communicate knowledge, making their findings more accessible and impactful. By the end of the training, the participants produced videos based on their research findings, demonstrating the practical application of the skills gained.

At the end of the training, the trainees expressed satisfaction with the overall experience, while also recommending that future sessions be less densely packed and more hands‑on to enhance practical learning. Below are a few quotes from the feedback.

“Equipping me to explain a whole paper or research material in few minutes using AI videos is simply amazing.” 

“Being able to create my own version at the end of the training”

“It's been a great experience”