COVID-Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perceptions: A Pilot Model for Student-led, Low-cost, High-Impact International Collaborative Research

Abstract

For many university academics there is a continuous challenge to balance research activities with routine teaching or clinical duties, the latter of which often provide the core funding that supports our positions. Research funding for some academics is erratic, leaving un-funded gaps that need to be plugged by meaningful research and scholarship. There is also the notion of the ‘student as producer’, which emphasises that benefits for students (at all levels) to be involved in research or other purposeful activity (product development, publications, art works, music, etc…). Here we describe the rationale for, and the design, of a novel student-led multi-national project which can be implement with minimal resources. The purpose of the COVID-KAP study is to compare the COVID-knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions (KAP) of healthcare workers and lay persons, between rural and urban communities. This project will pilot a novel model for student-led, low-cost, high-impact international collaborative research. Whilst this individual study is focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, this novel student-led approach could be adoptable in many research fields, including but not limited to biomedical and bioveterinary research, pilot clinical trials, psychology, social science, and many other disciplines.