The European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) is a public-public partnership between 14 African and 14 European countries. These 28 countries, also called the Participating States, are members of the EDCTP Association.
EDCTP aims to support collaborative research that accelerates the clinical development of new or improved interventions (drugs, vaccines, microbicides and diagnostics) to prevent or treat HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected infectious diseases in sub-Saharan Africa. EDCTP funds mainly clinical trial (Phase I to IV) and product-focused implementation research in sub-Saharan Africa. It also supports relevant individual, institutional, national and regional capacities for clinical research as well as research ethics review in sub-Saharan countries.
requirement
The purpose of this assignment was to increase the impact of its fellowship schemes by providing an online platform where EDCTP Fellows (current and past) can interact. The implementation of an alumni interaction platform will provide an excellent opportunity for EDCTP to track and interact with funded EDCTP fellows, and monitor the impact these funding schemes are making to increasing critical mass of African researchers on the continent.
objectives
Develop and host an online platform where current and previously funded EDCTP fellows (and their supervisors) will be encouraged to register for membership.
The activities included:
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Developing an online virtual community platform with a facility to register for membership and login details.
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Promoting the platform to attract and retain subscribers (i.e. EDCTP fellows – current and past.
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Collecting and publishing research profiles of the fellows and their African institutions where they trained and where they are currently based.
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Providing the facility for presenting contributions of researchers and institutions that are members on the platform.
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Analysing and publicising grants trends attracted by members and their institutions (in consultation with the responsible EDCTP Project Officer) to facilitate joint research activities.
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Providing EDCTP with vital statistics related to key performance indicators for production and retention of fellows in sub-Saharan Africa.
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Working hand in hand with EDCTP in organising periodic EDCTP Fellows’ Meetings, as and when required.
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Supporting virtual communities, networking listservs and promotion of other services related to alumni activities.
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Training of nominated EDCTP staff member(s) on use and management of the platform.
outcome
