Not all health questions can be answered the same way. This is why multiple types and modes of evidence synthesis exist. Join this comprehensive webinar, which will provide an overview of the evidence synthesis family and help you select the most appropriate method for your needs.
Drawing on insights from the Evidence Synthesis Taxonomy Initiative (ESTI), this session will introduce you to the most common evidence synthesis types and modes and when to use them. It will explore systematic reviews and meta-analysis, qualitative evidence syntheses, mixed methods reviews, overviews of reviews, and 'big picture' approaches including scoping reviews, mapping reviews, and evidence gap maps.
It will also examine how rapid reviews (for urgent decision-making) and living reviews (continuously updated as new evidence emerges) can be applied across different synthesis types to meet evolving research and policy needs.
Whether you are a clinician, researcher, or policymaker, this webinar will equip you with practical knowledge to match your health question with the right evidence synthesis approach.
Presenter Bios
Professor Zachary Munn is an advocate for evidence-based healthcare and for ensuring policy and practice is based on the best available evidence. Professor Munn is the founding Director of Health Evidence Synthesis, Recommendations and Impact (HESRI) in the School of Public Health at the University of Adelaide; Head of the Evidence Synthesis Taxonomy Initiative (ESTI); Founding Director of the Adelaide GRADE Centre; past-Chair of the Guidelines International Network (GIN) and a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator. He is a systematic review, evidence implementation and guideline development methodologist.
Dr Danielle Pollock is a Senior Research Fellow at HESRI (Health Evidence Synthesis Recommendations and Impact), and lead researcher for the Evidence Synthesis Taxonomy Initiative. She led the scoping review which identified over 1000 terms for evidence synthesis. She developed the JBI Scoping Review Network is actively involved in the JBI Scoping Review methodology group and GIN ANZ working group. Danielle is a lived experience researcher and prides herself on community and interest-holder involvement within evidence synthesis and guideline development, as is a member of the Cochrane PPI Executive.
Andrew Booth is Professor in Evidence Synthesis at the University of Sheffield in the UK. He is a co-convenor of the Cochrane Qualitative and Implementation Methods Group, a co-founding member of the Information Retrieval Group and a contributor to the Rapid Reviews Group. A committed "reviewologist" he has contributed to highly cited articles charting 14 and then 50 different review types as well as inputting to the Right Review resource and the Evidence Synthesis Taxonomy Initiative. His activity as a methodologist has recently been recognized with an NIHR Senior Investigator Award.
Barbara Nussbaumer-Streit is Professor of Methods Research in Evidence Synthesis at the Department of Evidence-Based Medicine and Evaluation at the University for Continuing Education Krems, Austria. She is also Co-Director of Cochrane Austria and JBI Austria and co-convenor of the Cochrane Rapid Reviews Methods Group.
