In 2019, the LISA 2020 Secretariat performed a Needs Assessment of the LISA 2020 Network. At that time, 14 stat labs participated in the assessment that resulted in several outcomes including:

• focused sessions at the 2nd Annual LISA 2020 Symposium in Kuala Lumpur with materials posted on the LISA 2020 website for those unable to attend,

• increasing the number of talks and educational materials available on the LISACollaboration YouTube Channel,

• expanding the LISA 2020 website to include individual web pages for full member labs (Stat Labs)

• the initiation of development of a LISA 2020 Certificate to provide collaboration skills training and provide an incentive for students to work in stat labs, and

• initiating the publication of a LISA 2020 Edited Volume "Developing Statistical Practice and Collaboration in Developing Countries".

In 2021, as the network had grown to 31 full member stat labs, 10 transitional labs, and many more proposed labs, the LISA 2020 program began focusing on insuring the sustainability of the network and individual stat labs. To support these efforts, the Secretariat performed a Sustainability Assessment to determine:

• What should the LISA 2020 Network do now and in the near future to become sustainable over the next several years?

• What should stat labs do now and in the near future to become sustainable over the next several years?

23 stat labs completed the sustainability assessment questionnaire. The results were synthesized and shared with the network.

Challenge: Incentivizing Collaborators

• Certificates

  • Provide certificates to collaborators leading or supporting workshops and other stat lab events.

  • Provide quarterly/semesterly/yearly certificates to collaborators for meeting with domain experts or serving as walk-in consultants.

  • Network Level: Establish the LISA 2020 Certificate Program.

• Impact of Collaboration Experience

  • Demonstrate the impact of the collaboration experience on the growth and development of student members and on their future employability.

    • Use the opportunity to participate in the stat lab as a recruitment tool for the Department.

  • Provide opportunities to participate in staff exchanges with other network stat labs.

  • Seek out trainees and interns from other local institutions of higher education that do not have stat labs, but could benefit from an internship at a stat lab.

• Token Funding Support

  • For short courses, workshops, and collaborations in which funds are raised, share a token amount with participating collaborators.

• Do not rely on faculty to serve as the stat lab’s only collaborators. Involve students!

• Consider how service as a collaborator can meet educational degree requirements (e.g. a collaboration course, etc.).

• Encourage clients to include collaborators as co-authors on papers where they have made a significant contribution.

Challenge: Insufficient Funding

• Demonstrate the impact of the stat lab on the University, College/Faculty, and Department to secure additional funding or other forms of support (e.g. relief from other duties for faculty, administrative support).

  • One related opportunity is for the Research Office or Vice President at the Institution to rely on the stat lab for review of proposals.

  • Network Level: Continue to publish papers on the reach and impact of stat labs and the LISA 2020 Network to support these efforts.

• Seek out and submit proposals for funding opportunities. Share funding opportunities with other stat labs.

• Charge small fees for workshops or collaboration services.

  • Several stat labs are not allowed to charge fees due to institutional restrictions, potential solutions from network stat labs include 1) accepting donations instead of charging fees or 2) setting the lab up as an external entity separate from the university.

• Consider funding opportunities available from governmental sources.

• Network Level: Hold a workshop on locating and submitting funding proposals, support collaboration on proposals between network stat labs, share funding opportunities.

Challenge: Too Few Projects

• Advertise the stat lab services via social media and flyers/hand-bills.

• Encourage satisfied domain experts to refer their colleagues to the stat lab.

• Give talks to other Departments or Units within the institution to increase awareness of the stat lab.

• Seek out collaboration opportunities outside of the institution in the government and private sectors.

• Reach out to local institutions of higher education that do not have their own stat lab, but may benefit from collaboration with a stat lab.

• Recognize the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on research programs in general and the stat lab specifically.

Challenge: Need for Training in Statistical Areas and Techniques

• Reach out to network stat labs that have expertise in statistical areas that your collaborators need more experience with.

  • Invite experienced statisticians and data scientists to give invited talks or lectures to your stat lab either in person or remotely.

  • Provide opportunities for collaborators to participate in staff exchanges with other network stat labs.

• Attend LISA 2020 Network Symposia or review talks from previously held symposia.

• Network Level:

  • Create the LISA 2020 Network Shared Repository so that network stat labs can share educational resources and best practices.

  • Encourage stat labs that have expertise in certain statistical areas to present at the LISA 2020 Network Zoom meetings.

  • Continue to host annual symposia to provide opportunities to learn and improve skills

  • Continue to post recorded conference talks and short courses on the LISACollaboration YouTube channel.

Challenge: Collaboration Training

• Provide opportunities for collaborators to participate in staff exchanges with other network stat labs.

• Invite experienced collaborators to give invited talks or lectures to your stat lab either in person or remotely.

• Attend LISA 2020 Network Symposia or review talks from previously held symposia.

• Network Level:

  • Develop training materials related to collaboration skills to be shared widely for network stat labs to use in preparing statistical collaborators.

  • Create the LISA 2020 Network Shared Repository so that network stat labs can share educational resources and best practices.

  • Continue to post recorded conference talks and short courses on the LISACollaboration YouTube channel.

Other Insights from the Sustainability Assessment Responses

• Individual stat labs may face their own unique challenges not summarized above but reflected in their sustainability assessment response.

• Many stat labs have learned best practices or sought guidance and advice from their mentor or other stat labs in the network.

• The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the strength and sustainability of many organizations and network stat labs have also been impacted. Even so, network stat labs have been resilient and sought other avenues to continue their services.

• Staff exchanges and symposia have been a powerful opportunity for network members as reflected in the potential solutions above.

With the synthesized results of the sustainability assessment and recognizing that stat labs face many challenges that may derail them from the path of strong and sustainable stat labs described in Vance & Pruitt’s “Statistics and Data Science Collaboration Laboratories: Engines for Development” (LISA 2020 Edited Book), the next step was to determine if these lessons learned and potential solutions can be adapted at other stat labs to overcome the challenges that they are facing and therefore bring them back onto the path of strong and sustainable stat labs.

To that end, the LISA 2020 Secretariat issued a call for proposals for stat labs to perform experiments to test strategies to overcome their challenges and bring them onto the path of strong and sustainable stat labs. Participating stat labs would be invited to present the results of the experiments at the 2022 LISA 2020 Sustainability Symposium in Ghana.

30 LISA 2020 stat labs submitted proposals and initiated small experiments to improve their strength and sustainability. Each of these experiments was formed to the unique situations of the individual labs. The broad themes of experiments included: 1) building reputation and increasing the number of projects; 2) engaging, incentivizing, and training collaborators; and 3) generating funds to support stat lab operations.