Good Practice in Research Capacity Strengthening

Date and time of the live sessions: 16^th, 23^rd, 30^th of April and 7^th of May, from 12:00 to 14:00 UK time

Summary

This short course will provide participants with the conceptual understanding and practical tools to design, implement and evaluate equitable, effective and sustainable research capacity strengthening (RCS) activities. The focus will primarily be on RCS activities delivered within the context of research partnerships. The content will be relevant to a wide audience, including those who fund, lead, deliver and evaluate research partnerships (e.g. leaders and members of research consortia, workstream leads, project managers, early- and mid-career researchers) that seek to strengthen research capacity whether as a primary or secondary objective.

Course benefits at a glance:

• The course is designed to provide practical guidance that can be readily applied by participants
• Taught content is supported by a wide range of open access resources
• All presenters are global leaders in the science of research capacity strengthening and are at the forefront of current research and practice in this area

Course content

Session 1 – Week 1 Understanding Research Capacity Strengthening (RCS)

• What is RCS?
• Why seek to strengthen research capacity?
• Research partnerships as an RCS platform

Session 2 – Week 2 Designing robust and strategic RCS initiatives

• Developing a theory of change
• Examples of RCS activities
• Designing activities to strengthen research capacity systematically

Session 3 – Week 3 Implementing RCS initiatives within research partnerships

• Identifying RCS activities when implementing planned activities and processes

• Promoting sustainability during implementation of RCS initiatives
• Partnership management

Session 4 – Week 4 Monitoring, evaluation and learning within RCS initiatives

• MEL frameworks and approaches suited for use within RCS programmes
• Reflecting, sharing and using learning within (and beyond) RCS programmes
• Assessing short- and long-term impacts and capturing RCS ripple effects

Course tutor(s)

Prof. Imelda Bates

Prof. Bates, Chair in Clinical Tropical Haematology and head of LSTM’s Centre for Capacity Research (CCR) which is at the forefront of research into how to design, measure and evaluate programmes to strengthen research capacity and laboratory systems in LMICs. She also has a research focus on anaemia and blood transfusion systems in LMICs particularly on evidence to improve the supply and use of blood for transfusion.

Dr Nadia Fazal

Dr Nadia Fazal is an Honorary Senior Lecturer with the Centre for Capacity Research (CCR), LSTM. Her research interests in global health are centred around capacity strengthening, fostering equitable partnerships, and decolonial approaches.

Dr Justin Pulford

Dr Pulford is a Reader in Global Health and deputy head of LSTM’s Centre for Capacity Research (CCR).  He has published widely on the topic of ‘research capacity strengthening’, is a behavioural scientist by training and has worked extensively throughout the South Pacific and across sub-Saharan Africa.

Dr Nadia Tagoe

Dr Tagoe is a Research Manager, Researcher, and Adjunct Lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana and an Honorary Lecturer at LSTM. Her research interest is in global health policy and practice, with a current focus on capacity development and health research systems and practice. She holds a PhD in Development Policy and Practice (Global Health) from Open University in collaboration with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK.

Entrance Requirements

Course pre-requisites: Nil

Academic requirements: This course is designed to support those who fund, lead, deliver and/or evaluate research partnerships that seek to strengthen research capacity whether as a primary or secondary objective.  It is anticipated that many participants will have some applied experience supporting capacity strengthening in research partnerships, but this is not essential.

Technical requirements:

• A laptop, desk top computer or other means (e.g. mobile phone) to access online sessions.
• A reliable internet connection

English language requirements:

The course is taught in English and in a postgraduate setting. More details on English Language requirements can be found here -http://www.lstmed.ac.uk/study/how-to-apply/language-requirements.

We are happy to discuss further on an individual basis or interest from groups – contact mylstm@lstmed.ac.uk

Aims/Objectives

LSTM education courses are taught within a dynamic environment by staff working at the cutting-edge of research in tropical medicine and global health. They are designed to enable the professional development of participants, to be relevant to those from the UK and overseas and to promote approaches to study that will enable participants to continue their learning into the future.

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Define research capacity strengthening (RCS)
• Identify diverse rationales for undertaking research capacity strengthening and their respective implications for RCS design, implementation and evaluation
• Discuss how to systematically design activities to strengthen research capacity and how to align these within a ‘pathway to change’ framework
• Describe how to optimise RCS within the context of research partnerships
• Describe effective approaches to monitoring, evaluation and learning within a RCS context

Teaching approaches

• Presentations/lectures introducing the concepts and principles
• Interactive question and answer (Q&A) and shared learning sessions
• Case studies
• Pre- and post-session reading (recommended, not required)