“I would like to see at least one or more research proposals this year funded by PCHRD, “CRHRDC chairman and UP Baguio Chancellor Raymundo D. Rovillos underscored during the work planning activity of the consortium on January 20, 2015 at the Crowne Legacy Hotel, Baguio City. This according to him is possible through closer coordination between and among the committees as well as the active engagement of individual and institutional members.
Also, the efforts of the four technical committees (Research Management, Ethics, Capability and Training, Research Utilization) combined are aligned towards its attainment to be facilitated by innovative mechanisms instituted last year. These efforts yield the following priority action areas:
Sustain capacity building for individual and institution members. The Capacity Building Committee in coordination with theEthics Committee will equip in two phases the CRHRDC members about the requirements for ethical review of health research. The first phase is an Orientation on Ethics to enable the members of a common understanding about the ethical considerations of doing a research as this involves human participants as respondents. This is to be followed by Training on Ethics which is the second phase. On this, other and more stakeholders will be invited to participate. According to Joint Memorandum Order 2012-001, all health researches involving human subjects must undergo ethical review and clearance before implementation to ensure the safety, dignity and well-being of research participants. The members of the Ethics Committee will serve as resource persons for the orientation while the Philippine Health Research Ethics Board will act as resource persons for the training.
Moreover, the Capacity Building Committee is expected to conduct a series of capability trainings on varied topics such as research proposal preparation, data analysis using quantitative and qualitative methods, and how to prepare powerful presentations. All these will shepherd participants enhance their capacities until they are ready to present their paper in conferences and forums. There is also the project BINNADANG, a coaching and mentoring type whose participants will be taught hands on data collection methods (e.g. facilitating key informant interviews and focus group discussions).
Meanwhile, the Research Utilization Committee will benchmark best practices of successful health consortium and aims at learning in greater heights about research dissemination, utilization and advocacy. This will not only cover experiential learning of innovative processes, products, and services but will also identify replicable practices for CRHRDC’s adoption and implementation.
Update the Regional Health Research Unified Agenda (RHURA). This will be spearheaded by the Research Management Committee. The RHURA will serve as a guide for higher education institutions in generating their own institution research agenda containing thematic areas for basic and applied research. The students and faculty members alike will use this as a reference in selecting researchable topics. Main inputs to the RHURA formulation shall be drawn from the national and regional priorities.
On the part of CRHRDC, this will be used as basis for calling incoming proposals. A flowchart is now in place showing the approval process from evaluation to funding.
Intensify advocacy through dissemination and utilization of health researches. Under the Research Utilization Committee, the Regional Health Research Conference is conducted annually. This is usually an avenue to (1) provide an interactive space for graduate and undergraduate students to present their completed studies (thesis, seminar paper), (2) disseminate to the public research- based understanding and solutions to health and well-being problems, (3) be a source of studies for knowledge sharing, and (4) choose papers for the annual Philippine National Health Research Systems (PNHRS) Week celebration. This year, instead of the PNHRS, the Global Forum on Research Innovation for Health will be celebrated on August 24-27, 2015 in Manila.
“The forum is geared to help participants acquire new understandings of current and future challenges in global health, as we together find appropriate solutions sourced from all corners of the world,” says Dr. Mario Montejo, the Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology (as retrieved from http://www.forum2015.org)
Considered a milestone in the making, the committee is expected to reach out to the communities whose people can benefit from the results of studies in improving their lives.
Lastly, the regional Health Research and Development Information Network (HERDIN) will be strengthened and becomes fully operational filled up with completed researches for use by the research community and the general public.
