Our impact across the globe
At CIRU we also specialise in Healthcare Research by running a number of different innovative projects which add positive impact to countries all over the world. Read more below.
REsearch Investments in Global Health Study
The Research Investments in Global Health (RESIN) study is an analysis of global research investments in infectious disease research awarded from public and philanthropic funders in the G20 nations. RESIN is a multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary collaborative team, based at CIRU at the University of Southampton. Collaborations with colleagues across many disciplines and institutions include Public Health England, University College London, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of Birmingham, King’s College London, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Liverpool, Imperial College London, the Amsterdam Institute of Global Health and many others. Award data used is from national and international funders, including the Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council, National Institute for Health Research and Department of Health, European Commission and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Commonwealth Centre for Digital Health
The vision of the Commonwealth Centre for Digital Health (CWCDH) is to strategically digitalise the health system across the components identified in the Commonwealth’s Systems Framework for Healthy Policy (SFHP) to build sustainable health systems that act as a common good for all.
Their universal goal is to create a more equitable market across the Commonwealth and incubate Digital Health innovation and venture capital in the best places in order to implement SDG3 focusing on:
delivering innovative digital health technologies, infrastructure and services appropriate for low resource settings;
setting up partnerships to implement the new sustainable development agenda, to achieve scale, improve efficiency and develop education and training; and
putting in place new financing mechanisms and business models based on the Commonwealth’s value-based investment guidelines.
CIRU’s successful collaboration with Dr Joanna Nurse, BMed, BSc, MPH, MRCGP, FFPH, PhD from the CWCDH has led to the establishment of a Commonwealth Digital Health Fellowship Programme for Health Informatics Specialists. The first cohort from Sri Lanka arrived in the UK in 2020 and the second in 2021.
InternationAL BLAST INJURY RESEARCH NETWORK
The International Blast Injury Research Network (IBRN) is a trans-disciplinary network launched by the University of Southampton in collaboration with the Blast Impact and Survivability Research Unit (BISRU) at the University of Cape Town. This initiative aims to facilitate ongoing research cooperation between the fields of engineering and medicine to address the humanitarian aspects of blast injury and protection research and to promote wider collaboration between academia, industry, defence, clinicians and humanitarian organisations.
The IBRN brings together expertise in blast engineering, public health, research investments analysis and clinical informatics to undertake novel research-on-research to establish an evidence-base to ensure that future methodologies and investment reflects priority areas that best translate into improved health outcomes.
Dr Rebecca Brown, Research Fellow at CIRU supports this initiative working with Dr Jack Denny, BEng(Hons) PhD CEng MIMechE Research Fellow from the University’s Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Dr Michael von Bertele, CB, OBE, QHS, Non Executive Director, Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, and Professor Genevieve Langdon, University of Cape Town.
“This research agenda is extremely relevant, strategic and interesting as it intersects with many aspects of BISRU’s research and introduces new, translational-thinking to a clinically important global issue. I strongly support the team’s research agenda and believe this is a notable example of institutional collaboration and strengthens working together as WUN partners to solve real-world needs.” — Professor Genevieve Langdon, University of Cape Town
covid-19 salvia testing programme
Members of CIRU including the Head of Development David Miller, Data Analyst Pat Oxford, KITE’s Programmer Bart Feenstra, as well as our Director Professor James Batchelor have been working on a COVID-19 Saliva Testing Programme along with other University of Southampton staff, and colleagues from University Hospitals Southampton NHS Foundation Trust (UHS). CIRU’s involvement includes the build of the online test registration site for participants, data visualization, as well as programme reporting. The programme has involved tens of thousands of participants and recently won the VC Public Good award.
