International writing workshop for researchers in francophone Africa
A British Academy-funded International Writing workshop was held over one week in January 2026 in Dakar, Senegal, bringing together early-career researchers from across francophone West and Central Africa.
A British Academy-funded International Writing workshop was held over one week in January 2026 in Dakar, Senegal, bringing together early-career researchers from across francophone West and Central Africa.
The event was hosted by CESTI (Centre d'Études des Sciences et Techniques de l'Information), the prestigious publicly funded journalism school at Cheikh Anta Diop University, and delivered in partnership with the University of Sheffield's Institute for Global Sustainable Development (IGSD), reflecting the Institute's commitment to interdisciplinary, globally engaged research that addresses development challenges through equitable international partnerships.
The workshop focused on strengthening academic writing and publication skills by addressing the structural, linguistic and institutional barriers that francophone researchers in Africa face in publishing their work in high-impact international journals. Many participants are based in conflict-affected countries, where insecurity, disrupted higher education systems and limited opportunities for international collaboration create additional barriers to academic publishing and career development. Participants were drawn from both capital-city and regional institutions, recognising the uneven access to mentoring, research networks and publishing support across the region. The workshop adopted a collaborative rather than top-down training model, recognising participants as contributors of knowledge rather than recipients of Western publishing norms. Discussion, peer review and mentoring created a reciprocal learning environment in which African experiences and perspectives informed the programme alongside international expertise. Sessions covered academic writing, publication strategies, responding to peer review, research dissemination, networking, career development, and individual feedback on participants' research.
The workshop brought together 11 early-career researchers from Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad, Benin, Togo, Côte d'Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Four participants were women and seven were men. The workshop was delivered by an international team of lecturers from the United Kingdom, Belgium, Canada, Togo, the Netherlands and France, providing participants with a range of disciplinary, institutional and international perspectives. Participants represented a range of higher education institutions across the region and came from disciplines including journalism, media and communication, information and communication sciences, and conflict and development studies, reflecting the workshop's interdisciplinary focus.
The workshop generated strong early evidence of impact. Compared with the baseline survey completed before the workshop, the proportion of participants reporting a clear publication strategy increased from 50% to 90%, while 100% reported feeling capable of submitting an article to an academic journal following the workshop. In addition, 90% reported greater confidence in their academic future, and participants highlighted the workshop's relevance to research in West and Central Africa, particularly its explicit recognition of the structural and linguistic inequalities affecting francophone scholars.
The workshop forms part of an ongoing programme of collaboration. Planned next steps include continued mentoring to support participants in preparing journal articles for publication, maintaining the network established during the workshop, encouraging collaborative research and co-authorship between participants and mentors, and supporting the transfer of workshop learning within participants' own institutions through teaching and mentoring activities. These plans build on participants' intentions to submit articles, collaborate with peers and share the training within their own institutions, extending the workshop's impact beyond the initial event.