ARCH Stakeholder Mapping Report

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Executive summary If research is to deliver its maximum impact and positively change health outcomes, findings from health research should be translated into recommendations that can be implemented within policy and practice. Through the Applying Research to Policy and Practice for Health (ARCH) programme we aim to bring together researchers, policymakers, and implementers to address gaps in research uptake to both conduct research to better understand this landscape and together develop the associated mechanisms to bridge these gaps. The Global Health Network, with input from Wellcome and DHSC, conducted a stakeholder mapping exercise. This helps to understand who these key stakeholders are, why they might be interested, how important their involvement is, and how to engage with them in a way that can contribute to successful research uptake. Following a stakeholder mapping scoping exercise to establish a methodology, we defined the initial context and scope of the programme and stakeholder mapping, identified an initial list of stakeholders and their categories, conducted a stakeholder mapping workshop, and supplemented the workshop data with an online stakeholder mapping survey. Key take-home messages from the stakeholder mapping exercise Research uptake is generally understood as “translating research findings into clinical practice and health policy”. Research Uptake is a critical part of the research cycle: study results and recommendations inform policies and practices; policies and practices inform research questions to be addressed. However, there is a knowledge transfer gap between researchers, policymakers, and those who implement work on the ground/ healthcare settings that needs to be addressed. For research uptake to happen: 1) community engagement needs to be thought of and incorporated through during the planning phase of research projects 2) stakeholders’ levels of power and of interest should be considered from the study planning phase, as these change constantly and can even be “provoked” 2
1. Introduction: Applying Research to Policy and Practice for Health (ARCH) programme Currently, there is wide separation between teams that undertake health research, those making decisions on health priorities and policies, and those who are delivering healthcare, particularly in resource-limited settings. Research considered “successful” typically concludes with the publishing of papers. Less attention is paid to how, and indeed if, those findings are made visible and accessible to those tasked with decision-making and clinical caregiving. Further, those working in delivering healthcare are often not aware of new interventions and have no means to determine if they would bring benefit to their community. Such health interventions could be novel treatments or new approaches to practice and prevention that would serve to address their local health priorities. Health researchers, decision-makers and implementers need to work together better to ensure that research evidence is made easily accessible as recommendations that can be taken up into policy and practice at all levels. Previous efforts to enable taking research into practice have typically been short-term focussing on a single intervention or product for a specific disease. As a result, this work was not well-established or embedded into programmes or institutions. Together these factors represent barriers to the implementation of proven interventions, treatments and vaccines which ultimately limit the potential benefits to human health. This programme builds upon proven and existing systems that successfully bring global health organisations together to create efficiency and strong impact by facilitating knowledge exchange, active coordination, and collaboration. The Global Health Network aims to bring together researchers, policymakers, and implementers to address these gaps in research uptake to both conduct research to better understand this landscape and together develop the associated mechanisms to bridge these gaps. In doing so, we aim to: • Foster a global, multi-disciplinary community of practice, bringing together research, development, and policyexperts to share best practice and exchange knowledge and skills. The community will be brought together through a digital knowledge hub. • Understand the research uptake landscape, including stakeholders, barriers, and opportunities, in order to develop and deliver the tools, resources and training needed to support researchers, policymakers and development partners in this work. • Embed a network of Coordinators across the Global South, ensuring the contextual barriers and enablers for research uptake are understood and addressed throughout this work and bridging between local and global initiatives within this project. • Apply advanced digital technology to enable rapid synthesis of available research findings and recommendations to drive improvements in research uptake, beginning with the findings from the ZIKV outbreak. This 2-year Wellcome-funded proof of concept award will develop a strong evidence base for this work and bring together a global community of practice. 2. Stakeholder mapping As part of the ARCH programme, there is a need to understand the research uptake landscape. Partnerships with key stakeholder groups involved in the various aspects of the research uptake are crucial to ensure this project amplifies existing and ongoing work, reduces duplication and that the strategy and initiatives meet the needs of the health research community. A key activity to inform who these groups are and how to engage with them is a stakeholder mapping exercise. With input from Wellcome and DHSC, in March 2021 we conducted a stakeholder mapping exercise to understand who these key stakeholders are, why they might be interested, how important their involvement is, and how to engage with them in a way that can contribute to successful research uptake. Specifically, we conducted the stakeholder mapping exercise to build a common understanding on significant stakeholders within the research uptake landscape and who 3
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