• The Cochrane Collaboration Visiting Fellowship

• The Aubrey Sheiham Public Health and Primary Care Scholarship

• Cochrane Complementary Medicine Field Bursary Scheme

The Cochrane Collaboration Visiting Fellowship

Introduction

The Cochrane Collaboration Steering Group (CCSG) introduced a Visiting Fellowship in 2004, as part of a program to facilitate quality processes surrounding the production of Cochrane Reviews. The Fellowship is open to all those working (employed or honorary) in a Cochrane entity towards producing, updating, disseminating or promoting the accessibility of Cochrane Reviews.

Funds are made available annually for one successful applicant to travel to and work in another Cochrane entity for a period of up to one month.

Governance

The Quality Advisory Group oversees the processes involved in the awarding of the Fellowship, with administrative support from the Cochrane Collaboration Secretariat. The Co-Convenors of the Quality Advisory Group choose a selection committee of four people from amongst its members.

Applicants and other members of their entity may not participate in the selection process. The selection committee assesses applications against the following selection criteria, and recommends a successful applicant to the CCSG Executive for approval. The selection committee and the CCSG reserve the right to withhold the Fellowship in the absence of a suitable application.

Selection criteria

Applications may take several forms:

1. Visiting another entity for training and mentoring.
2. Visiting an entity to train and assist them.
3. Working towards process improvement for The Cochrane Collaboration in general.

Click here for the application form.

Funding and entity requirements

The Fellowship will comprise economy class travel and reasonable accommodation costs for the applicant for up to a maximum of one month. The Cochrane Collaboration Secretariat, on behalf of the CCSG, will provide administrative support to the Fellowship, including arrangements for funding economy class travel and reasonable accommodation costs. It is expected that the salary (plus living expenses if applicable) of the successful applicant will continue to be met by his or her own entity. Applications should therefore include a letter of support from the entity and/or employer (providing their full contact details), and also from the proposed host entity stating their willingness to 'host' the applicant.

Obligations of the applicant

The Fellowship will be awarded subject to the successful applicant agreeing to be bound by the following conditions laid down in a Memorandum of Understanding between the Fellow and the CCSG, prepared by the Cochrane Collaboration Secretariat in consultation with the Co-Convenors of the Quality Advisory Group.

Output requirements

1. On completion of the Fellowship, within one month of returning to his or her home entity, the successful applicant will be required to submit a report to the Co-Convenors of the Quality Advisory Group, again outlining the problem area and aims of the Fellowship, reporting the progress made towards overcoming the barriers to solving this problem, and outlining a plan for implementing the learned strategies.
   
2. Within six months of his or her return, a second report outlining the implementation of the learned strategies and demonstrating improvement of the problem should be submitted to the Co-Convenors of the Quality Advisory Group.
   
3. The successful applicant is encouraged to submit an oral or poster presentation to The Cochrane Collaboration at the Colloquium in the year following the Fellowship. This presentation could comprise a summary of the Fellowship, its benefits toward quality improvement, and the processes learned.

Annual Timetable

The timetable for the Fellowship is announced each year by the Cochrane Collaboration Secretariat, via all relevant Cochrane Collaboration e-mail lists and CCInfo, giving a deadline for applications. The Co-Convenors of the Quality Advisory Group then appoint a selection committee of four non-conflicted people from amongst its members. The Quality Advisory Group's selection committee recommends an applicant to theCCSG Executive for approval, and the Secretariat then announces to all entities the name of the person to whom the Fellowship is being awarded. In the event that a successful applicant is unable to take up the Fellowship within one year, a twelve-month deferment is permissible in exceptional circumstances, with the approval of the Co-Convenors of the Quality Advisory Group.

Timetable for the Cochrane Visiting Fellowship
 
Early September: Call for nominations for the Fellowship via entity mailing lists and CCInfo.
 
1 November: Closing date by which applications should be e-mailed to the Secretariat (secretariat@cochrane.org).
 
Early December: The Quality Advisory Group Co-Convenors appoint a selection committee.
 
Early January: The Quality Advisory Group makes its recommendation to the Steering Group Executive for approval; an announcement is made shortly afterwards of the person who has been awarded the Fellowship.  

Former Visiting Fellowship Recipients

2004: Karishma Busgeeth, Trials Search Co-ordinator, HIV/AIDS Cochrane Review Group [report]
2005: Phil Wiffen, Associate Director, UK Cochrane Centre [report]
2006: Alain Mayhew, Review Group Co-ordinator, Effective Practice and Organisation of Care Group [report]

The Aubrey Sheiham Public Health and Primary Care Scholarship

Aubrey Sheiham, BDS, PhD, DHC
Aubrey Sheiham is a dental epidemiologist who was inspired and encouraged by Archie Cochrane to question many of the practices in medicine and dentistry. His main commitment is to improving the health of populations in underdeveloped countries and challenging dental establishments to be far more critical. The misuse of healthcare resources has more serious ethical and health implications in underdeveloped countries because resources there for health are generally inadequate. Aubrey considers that supporting and training key health personnel in the concepts of The Cochrane Collaboration will improve the effectiveness and efficiency of primary health care. Aubrey and his wife Helena have been exceptionally generous not only through their financial support of the Aubrey Sheiham Scholarship, but also for making their apartment in Oxford, England, available for the use both of the Scholars and other members of The Cochrane Collaboration visiting Oxford to do Cochrane work.

General Information and Requirements of the Scholarship
The Aubrey Sheiham Public Health and Primary Care Scholarship is a three-month scholarship offered annually by The Cochrane Collaboration to health workers, consumers and researchers living in developing countries. The aim of the Scholarship is to enable the development of skills in preparing systematic reviews of healthcare interventions within The Cochrane Collaboration. The Scholarship is awarded annually for work on a topic related to public health or primary health care.

The Aubrey Sheiham Scholar spends the three-month Scholarship period in Oxford. The Scholar is based at the UK Cochrane Centre in Oxford for the duration of the Scholarship, and resides in free accommodation provided by The Cochrane Collaboration. The Scholar is expected to prepare a Cochrane Review during the tenure of the Scholarship and, upon returning home, to maintain the review and undertake to train other prospective review authors in Cochrane methods.

Preferred recipients will have:

• a good understanding of the English language;
• limited access to relevant training where they live; and
• a review topic that is of significant importance to people living in middle- or low-income countries*.

*low- or middle-income countries as defined at http://www.worldbank.org/data/countryclass/classgroups.htm

The Scholarship recipient will be expected to:

• be previously registered as a review author with the Cochrane Review Group relevant to the proposed research area;
• have agreed a review topic with the relevant Cochrane Review Group before submitting an application;
• work primarily from the UK Cochrane Centre in Oxford, but also work closely with one or more UK-based members of a Cochrane Review Group;
• prepare a Cochrane review during the tenure of the Scholarship;
• maintain the Cochrane review on returning home; and
• teach others how to do systematic reviews on returning home.

The Scholarship will cover:

• travel costs including the cost of ordinary fare travel to and from the UK, as well as reasonable travel within the UK to work on the review topic; and the cost of a visa;
• funds to cover reasonable travel expenses within the UK to visit a relevant Review Group or Co-ordinator;
• a monthly stipend of GBP £500 to cover living costs (free accommodation will be provided in Oxford); and
• the cost of a personal laptop computer, both to facilitate carrying out the Scholar’s review, and for loading Cochrane software to take home.
• A condition of the scholarship is that Scholars will arrange their own medical insurance for the duration of their visit.

Applications, in English, should include:

• a full curriculum vitae;
• a description of how the applicant would benefit from the Scholarship;
• a description of how the applicant would use the skills gained on returning home;
• the full names and addresses (e-mail address if possible) of three referees;
• an outline of work already done on systematic reviews or clinical trials, including experience with quantitative data;
• the suggested topic for review, with up to 500 words explaining the relevance to public health and primary care; and
• confirmation from the relevant Cochrane Review Group that the topic has been agreed.

Application and Selection Process
The UK Cochrane Centre (UKCC) establishes and administers the yearly timetable for advertising for and selecting the Sheiham Scholar. Once this has been decided, the UKCC circulates information on requirements and application deadlines to Cochrane entities and e-mail lists, and an announcement is posted on the 'Cochrane Opportunities' page of The Cochrane Collaboration's website. Applications are reviewed by the selection panel, whose members are drawn mainly from developing countries.


Timetable for Applications for the Aubrey Sheiham Scholarship
Late July/early August: Call for applications.
NOTE: Applicants MUST have already agreed a review topic with the relevant Cochrane Review Group before submitting their application.  
19 September 2007: Deadline for applications.
Early December: Announcement of the following year’s Scholarship recipient.

Former Scholarship Recipients

2001:  Charles Shey Wiysonge (The Cameroon)
1. Vaginal disinfection during labour for reducing the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV infection [Review].
2. Vitamin A supplementation for reducing the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV infection [Review].

2002:  Karin Schioler (Grenada) 
1. Vaccines for preventing Japanese encephalitis [Protocol].
2. Vaccines for preventing dengue infection [Protocol].



2003:  Mansur Rabiu (Nigeria)
Environmental sanitary interventions for preventing active trachoma [Review].

2004/5:  Yanina Sguassero (Argentina)  
1. Community-based supplementary feeding for promoting the growth of young children in developing countries [Review].
2. Supplementary feeding and nutritional education for fostering the growth of young children in developing countries [Protocol].

2006:  Belen Dofitas (The Philippines)
Personal protective measures for the prevention of mosquito bites [Protocol].

2007: Janaki Vidanapathirana (Sri Lanka)
1. Interventions using the WHO Health Promoting School Framework to improve health and academic achievements among school students [Protocol].
2. Interventions for reduction of stigma in HIV/AIDS [Protocol].

Cochrane Complementary Medicine Field Bursary Scheme

General information
The Bursary Scheme is offered by the Cochrane Complementary Medicine Field, Center for Integrative Medicine, University of Maryland and made possible through funds from the National Institutes of Health, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The purpose of this bursary scheme is to ensure that reviews relevant to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) (see below) are completed and published in The Cochrane Library. Only Cochrane reviewers who have already registered CAM-related protocols with a Cochrane Collaborative Review Group will be eligible for funding.

Funding offered
- 2 review proposals in the amount of $5,000 USD each will be funded annually

Eligibility requirements
- Review must be registered with a Cochrane Collaborative Review Group, and a protocol of the review must already be published in The Cochrane Library
- The topic of the review must relate to CAM (see below)
- Bursaries will be targeted to reviews for which substantial progress has already been made and whose completion has been stalled due to a lack of funding

Proposal outline
Applications should include the following:
- Completed application form
- Letter of support from Collaborative Review Group through which the protocol has been registered

Assessment
Proposals will be rated on three criteria:
- Importance and relevance to CAM
- Assessment of the likelihood that the funding would insure completion and publication of the review
- Perceived need for the funding to complete the review

Reviewers who have an interest and commitment to publishing the review in a journal as well as The Cochrane Library will be viewed favorably. In addition, reviews relevant to Traditional Chinese Medicine, a primary focus of research at the Center for Integrative Medicine, University of Maryland, are encouraged.

Each proposal will be rated by two representatives from the Cochrane Complementary Medicine Field, both with a sound knowledge of both CAM and systematic reviews.

Topic parameters
Complementary medicine includes all such practices and ideas that are outside the domain of conventional medicine in several countries and defined by its users as preventing or treating illness, or promoting health and well being. These practices complement mainstream medicine by 1) contributing to a common whole; 2) satisfying a demand not met by conventional practices; and 3) diversifying the conceptual framework of medicine.

The list of Complementary Medicine Field topics comprises the entire spectrum of heath delivery mechanisms including treatments a person largely administers to him or herself (e.g., botanicals, nutritional supplements, health food, meditation, magnetic therapy); treatments providers administer (e.g., acupuncture, massage therapy, reflexology, laser therapy, balneotherapy, chiropractic and osteopathic manipulations, certain types of psychological counseling, naprapathy); and treatments a person administers to him or herself under the periodic supervision of a provider (e.g., yoga, biofeedback, Tai Chi, homeopathy, hydrotherapy, Alexander therapy, nutritional therapy, Ayurveda).

In addition to the CM treatments listed in the above paragraph, CM interventions also include Qi Gong, Doman Delcato patterning, Anthroposophical medicine, Unani medicine, Traditional African Medicine, Bach flower remedies, clinical ecology, colon cleansing or irrigation, and music or sound therapy. CM diagnostic techniques, a subgroup in the list, include iridology, kinesiology, Vega testing, biofunctional diagnostic testing, electro-acupuncture by Voll, and hair analysis.

Recipients of 2006 awards
Congratulations to the recipients of the 2006 CAM Field bursary scheme awards:

Jasvinder Singh, for the Cochrane Musculoskeletal Group Review ‘Chondroitin for osteoarthritis’

Taixiang Wu, for the Cochrane Acute Respiratory Infections Group Review ‘Chinese medicinal herbs for the common cold’

Timeline and information for 2007 awards
Completed application forms and letters of support should be e-mailed to Eric Manheimer ( emanheimer@compmed.umm.edu ) by 1 November 2007.  Forms and letters sent by postal delivery or fax will not be accepted.  Successful candidates will be notified by 1 December 2007.  Funds will be distributed to successful applicants in a single installment, after the award notification.

For more information (e.g. the assessment criteria), please see the full Call for Applications and Application Form (available at: http://www.compmed.umm.edu/cochrane_bursary.asp) .

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