Research Capacity Strengthening

Research Capacity Strengthening (RCS) is at the core of the NIHR-Global Health Research Centre (GHRC) for Non-communicable disease & Environment Change. Its overarching goal is to strengthen the capacity to design, implement, communicate, and utilise research evidence for NCDs and Environmental change.

The RCS strategy targets four domains, which crosscuts along all major themes of the centre and the activities outlined for each are instrumental in driving the Centre towards sustainability over the long run. They encompass country-specific activities at each level, as well as cross-country activities that target capacity gaps at each level of the evidence-to policy ecosystem for each country partner and their collaborators.

These 4 domains of our frameworks include:

  1. Individual refers to RCS activities targeted at building capacity in core research skills for research staff, including pre-doctoral, doctoral, post-doctoral early and mid- career researchers, and senior academics.
  2. Institutional refers to RCS activities targeted towards organisational strengthening, such as financial management, program management, human resource management, communication and research promotion, and internal monitoring and governance processes for research quality assurance, professional development, and diversity and inclusion.
  3. Network refers to RCS activities targeted at those close collaborators of the individuals and institutions. Close collaborators include community members, community service organisations, Government representatives, non-government organisations, advocacy groups, and the media.
  4. Ecosystem refers to RCS activities that bring together national, regional, and global stakeholders in the evidence to policy environment for knowledge exchange and shared learning.

The salient features of our RCS strategy includes (but is not limited to):

  1. Dual Supervision for all PhD cohorts at the Centre
  2. Tailored training program based on training needs assessment focused on LMIC context
  3. Teaching & training via Online learning platform for self-paced learning and knowledge management
  4. Practical skill-building opportunities
  5. International mentorships for identified New Research Leaders including sabbatical opportunities, specialized training in leadership and competitive research seed funding
  6. Establishing a Research Operations Community of Practice to facilitate strengthening of Institutional Capacity across all member institutes of the centre
  7. Developing an Engagement Academy to enhance skills in participatory approaches in public health
  8. Capacity building of the affected communities in tackling NCDs due to Environment Change
  9. A strong monitoring and evaluation framework to assess progress by a RCS working group with representation from each institute for cross-country learning and engagement
  10. Following the Equity, Diversity & Inclusivity for all appointments and capacity strengthening opportunities

Expected Outcomes

  • Strengthened core research skills in the intersection of NCD and EC
  • Enhanced research governance and management
  • Supporting women in science
  • Staff retention
  • Achieving impact through effective research translation into policy and practice
  • Creating and strengthening partnerships with communities for research co-production and translation

RCS Centre Team

  1. Prof Christopher Millett: Co-PI RCS
  2. Laura Downey: RCS Co-Lead
  3. Niveditha Devasenapathy: RCS Co-Lead
  4. Aakanksha Mehrotra: RCS Manager
  5. Madhuri Dutta: Lead, Institutional RCS & Knowledge Management
  6. Chhavi Bhandari: Co-Lead Network & Ecosystem RCS
  7. Deepika Luthra – Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning Manager
  8. Dr Krishnendu Mukhopadhyay- RCS Lead (SRIHER)
  9. Dr. Noshin Farzana – RCS Lead (icddr,b)
  10. Dr. Holipah – RCS Lead (UB)