Fostering international mentorship and collaborations: evaluation of the Global Bridges program for early-career researchers in health care sciences

The Strategic Research Area Health Care Science was funded by the Swedish government to build strong research environments in 2008. This was assigned to Karolinska Institutet and Umeå University. A major initiative was the development of the Global Bridges program at Karolinska Institutet. The aim was to support junior researchers through mentoring and fostering international networks within health care sciences, as well as provide opportunity for them to cultivate long-lasting international collaborations essential for their careers. As participants, junior researchers were given the opportunity to invite an international scholar to Stockholm for a one-week intensive program consisting of seminars, individual mentoring sessions, and workshops. The Global Bridges program was organized six times between 2013 and 2022 with 48 junior researchers (94% women) at Karolinska Institutet and Umeå University, and 37 international scholars (68% women) from different higher education institutions in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. In this study, we used a mixed-method parallel design to evaluate whether the Global Bridges program had reached its intended objectives. A web-survey was sent out to all participating junior researchers and invited scholars and yielded a response rate of 71% and 83% respectively. The results indicated support for the academic development of junior researchers and that the individual components of the program were useful. Additionally, several collaborations had developed, resulting in peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations and research projects. However, more support was deemed necessary to foster long-lasting collaborations among junior researchers - invited scholar dyads.