| Abstract | Innovation and enterprise (IaE) capacity is an essential component of any national health research system. Unfortunately, IaE capacities in the global South are often weak and/or imbalanced relative to many higher-income countries. This means the health- and broader socio-economic benefits that can result from health research innovation are disproportionately accrued in the global North. Furthermore, many of the diseases that primarily impact countries in the global South, such as malaria, TB and other infectious diseases, are less likely to be prioritised within Northern health research innovation systems where they are of less concern. Whilst there are numerous initiatives designed to strengthen health research capacity in the global South, very few of these focus on innovation and enterprise capacity. A key factor contributing to this neglect is the absence of a framework that: A) clearly describes the required innovation and enterprise functions and capacities needed within a health research system; and B) that provides a means to assess existing innovation and enterprise functions and capacities. This is especially true in a global South context where the priorities and functions of health research innovation systems are likely to differ from those in the global North. This project aims to address this gap by developing a specialist framework and set of associated indicators that would allow health research innovation systems to be reliably described and assessed in a sub-Saharan Africa (sSA) context. It is anticipated that this framework would then catalyse greater recognition for, and investment in, health research innovation system capacity strengthening across sSA and ensure these investments are appropriately targeted towards priority capacity needs. This will be a mixed-methods project (described below) embedded within LSTM’s Innovation and Enterprise Unit and Centre for Capacity Research. The project will be highly applied, centred on one or more sSA countries (with considerable scope to select focal countries) and with substantial opportunities to engage research innovation partners working in this region. Successful completion of this project will position the respective candidate to pursue a career within an academic or industry pathway post-PhD and/or to play a highly influential role in strengthening health research innovation capacities across sSA over the mid- to long-term. |
| Where does this project lie in the translational pathway? | T4 - Practice to Policy/Population |
| Expected Outputs | The PhD project will result in a diverse mix of outputs. We anticipate a minimum of three peer-reviewed publications, including (but not limited to): a scoping review of health research innovation initiatives implemented within sSA since 2000; a framework and indicators for assessing health research innovation capacity at national and regional levels; and completed health research innovation case studies (using developed framework) in at least one national setting. Other published outputs will include a user guide and supplementary resources for applying the developed framework. Funding proposals will be developed to scale up the use of the framework to additional countries/regions across sSA and to address critical health research innovation capacity gaps in focal countries identified through applying the framework. The short-term impact of this project will be a greater understanding of health research innovation capacity gaps in sSA and a reliable means to identify these gaps. The long-term impact will be stronger health research innovation systems across sSA via appropriately targeted capacity strengthening interventions (informed by application of our framework). |
| Training Opportunities | There will be opportunities to receive training on systematic reviews and meta-analysis, qualitative and quantitative research methods and tools like NVivo, R/STATA/Python programming language. It is further expected that the student will gain a detailed understanding of the health research innovation and enterprise space via the PhD topic and via partnership and placement opportunities. Thus, whilst it would be an advantage for a student to have some understanding of this space prior to commencing the PhD, it is not essential. |
| Skills Required | A keen interest and passion for health research innovation (see previous section re experience). Any previous training, background or academic/professional experience in global health, infectious diseases/tropical medicine research or project management is desirable but not compulsory. |
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Key Publications associated with this project |
Wenham C, Wouters O, Jones C, Juma PA, Mijumbi-Deve RM, Sobngwi-Tambekou JL, et al. Measuring health science research and development in Africa: mapping the available data. Health Research Policy and Systems. 2021 Dec 11;19(1):142. |
| Pang T, Sadana R, Hanney S, et al. Knowledge for better health: a conceptual framework and foundation for health research systems. Bull World Health Organ 2003;81(11):815-20. | |
| Hanney S, Kanya L, Pokhrel S, et al. What is the evidence on policies, interventions and tools for establishing and/or strengthening national health research systems and their effectiveness? Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2020 | |
| Khisa AM, Gitau E, Pulford J, et al. A framework and indicators to improve research capacity strengthening evaluation practice. Liverpool: Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and the African Population Health Research Centre, 2019. | |
| Ralaidovy AH, Adam T, Boucher P. Resource allocation for biomedical research: analysis of investments by major funders. Health Res Policy Syst 2020;18(1):20. doi: 10.1186/s12961-020-0532-0 |