Research4Life newsletter – October 2019
Dear Research4Life partners and supporters, we’re proud to share with you the many highlights of the past six months in this newsletter. At the General Partners Meeting in July, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of ARDI, the Research4Life program coordinated by the World Intellectual Property Organization. We also welcomed Brahim Jrah (CABI) and Miriam Maus (Wiley) to the Executive Council as publisher representatives, and Ylann Schemm (Elsevier) as the new Vice-Chair.
We’re excited to announce that the first ever Research4Life MOOC will launch on 15 November. Research4Life users from across the world can join in and learn all the ins and outs of the platform and the five programs. More locally, earlier this month the AGORA team held its first regional workshop in Eastern Europe (Moldova). Read on for more, and thank you to all Research4Life partners for your efforts and contributions.
Domiziana Francescon (The Elsevier Foundation), co-chair, Research4Life Communications and Marketing Team
Table of contents
General Partners Meeting
In July, Research4Life colleagues and partners from all corners of the world met at the WIPO offices in Geneva for the 2019 Research4Life General Partners Meeting. Lots of ideas were discussed as the different Research4Life subgroups discussed their activities of the past year. Highlights of the day include:
- ARDI’s 10th anniversary: Dr John Okuonzi of Kyambogo University in Uganda shared how he and his colleagues have benefited from access to ARDI. Dr Soumya Swaminathan, WHO’s Chief Scientist, and Dr. Francis Gurry, Director General of WIPO also joined us in the celebration. Read more.
- New Research4Life User Representative Edda Tandi Lwoga presented her survey targeting Research4Life users in Sub-Saharan Africa.
- Executive Council news: Earlier this year, Vice-Chair of the Executive Council Liesbeth Kanis left her position with partner Brill and needed to step down from the Executive Council role. At the meeting, it was announced that Ylann Schemm from Elsevier will take her place as Vice-Chair. The Governance Recommendations were considered and adopted unanimously. This was the first year Research4Life made use of a poll to gather partner opinions in advance of the General Partners Meeting.
Venue selected for 2020 General Partners Meeting
The American Medical Association has generously offered to host the Research4Life General Partners Meeting in July 2020. As a result, the partners are going to Chicago, IL in the USA for the next partners meeting.
Two new Executive Council members
Next to the news of the new Vice-Chair, we are also happy to announce that Brahim Jrah (CABI) and Miriam Maus (Wiley) have joined the Research4Life Executive Council as publisher representatives.
Brahim Jrah has over fifteen years of experience in the education sector and currently works at CABI as a Senior Sales Manager for the Milddle East and Africa. Miriam Maus has spent the past twenty years working in academic publishing. As Vice President and Publishing Director at Wiley, she oversees the publication of journals across a range of STM and Social Science and Humanities disciplines.
Research capacity development
So far this year, fifteen face-to-face trainings have taken place in nine countries, and the Research4Life team also offered an online AGORA course in English, French and Spanish. The trainings have reached a large number of participants from a diverse geographical landscape, as is illustrated in the infographic above. Below is an overview of some highlights regarding Research4Life training activities.
First regional Research4Life workshop in Moldova
The first regional AGORA workshop took place in Chișinău, Republic of Moldova on 3-4 October 2019. 26 selected participants joined the workshop from Belarus, North Macedonia, Republic of Moldova, Serbia, Ukraine, Armenia, and Georgia. Read more.
New Research4Life MOOC equips users with the necessary skills to fully benefit from the five programmes
Earlier this month, the Capacity Development Subcommittee launched the Research4Life MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) for users of all five Research4Life programs. Supported by the Elsevier Foundation, this online course provides the necessary skills to effectively and efficiently use Research4Life. Users can apply to participate until 31 October. A second edition of the course is planned for June 2020. Read more.
Applications open for grants that support the use of Research4Life in low-income countries
The Medical Library Association (MLA) has opened the call for applications for the MLA Librarians without Borders® / Elsevier Foundation / Research4Life Grants. The grants support training activities that promote the use of the scientific resources available through Research4Life in low-income countries. Read more.
Looking ahead: 2020 plans
Next year, the team is planning to update and reorganize the face-to-face training material available through the program websites. The aim is to align face-to-face training activities across the programs, like is the case for the MOOC. Eventually, the MOOC and face-to-face training information will be used to develop a blended learning course to certify Research4Life trainers.
