Combining development, capacity building and responsible innovation in GCRF-funded medical technology research

Louise Bezuidenhout; Julian Stirling; Valerian L Sanga; Paul T Nyakyi; Grace A Mwakajinga; Richard Bowman

doi:10.1111/dewb.12340

Combining development, capacity building and responsible innovation in GCRF-funded medical technology research

Louise Bezuidenhout, Julian Stirling, Valerian L Sanga, Paul T Nyakyi, Grace A Mwakajinga, Richard Bowman

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Abstract

Development-oriented funding schemes such as the UK Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) have opened up opportunities for collaborations between low-middle income countries (LMICs) and high-income country (HIC) researchers. In particular, funding for medical technology research has seen a rise in previously under-represented disciplines such as physics and engineering. These collaborations have considerable potential to advance healthcare in LMICs, yet can pose challenges experienced to researchers undertaking these collaborations. Key challenges include a lack of tradition of HIC/LMIC collaborations within participating departments, lack of experience with development agendas, designing contextually-appropriate technologies and ensuring long-term viability of research outputs. This paper reflects on these key challenges, using the experiences of the authors on the Open Laboratory Instrumentation (OLI) project as a focalizing lens. This project was a GCRF-funded collaboration between physicists in the UK and engineers in Tanzania to develop an open-source, 3D-printed, fully-automated laboratory microscope. The paper highlights key ethics lessons learnt.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	276-287
Journal	Developing World Bioethics
Volume	22
Issue number	4
Early online date	26 Mar 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/dewb.12340
Publication status	Published - 31 Dec 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The Global Challenges Research Fund (SDGs). 20 The fund constituted a significant investment of ODA money in research. The GCRF thus links to a growing discourse outlining both the need for, and the establishment of, equitable partnerships in research between LMICs and HICs. Frameworks for equitable partnership have emerged over in recent years that identify key elements such as co‐creation, communication, commitment and continuous review. These elements are supported by ethical values such as fairness, respect, care and honesty. 22 The GCRF thus represented a new approach to research funding combining research project funding with priorities from the development agenda and societally responsive research commitments. Indeed, the GCRF had a number of key objectives, including to: In order to do this, it explicitly highlighted the need for meaningful and equitable relationships between the UK and developing country partners to identify context‐appropriate solutions to existing problems. The inclusion of the development agenda into research funding introduced a new set of ethical commitments for researchers receiving grants from this fund.

Keywords

GCRF
LMIC
development
ethics
medical technologies

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Issues, ethics and legal aspects
Health(social science)
Health Policy

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1111/dewb.12340Licence: CC BY

Cite this

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abstract = "Development-oriented funding schemes such as the UK Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) have opened up opportunities for collaborations between low-middle income countries (LMICs) and high-income country (HIC) researchers. In particular, funding for medical technology research has seen a rise in previously under-represented disciplines such as physics and engineering. These collaborations have considerable potential to advance healthcare in LMICs, yet can pose challenges experienced to researchers undertaking these collaborations. Key challenges include a lack of tradition of HIC/LMIC collaborations within participating departments, lack of experience with development agendas, designing contextually-appropriate technologies and ensuring long-term viability of research outputs. This paper reflects on these key challenges, using the experiences of the authors on the Open Laboratory Instrumentation (OLI) project as a focalizing lens. This project was a GCRF-funded collaboration between physicists in the UK and engineers in Tanzania to develop an open-source, 3D-printed, fully-automated laboratory microscope. The paper highlights key ethics lessons learnt.",

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Combining development, capacity building and responsible innovation in GCRF-funded medical technology research

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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Detailed Malaria Diagnostics with Intelligent Microscopy

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Combining development, capacity building and responsible innovation in GCRF-funded medical technology research

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Projects

Detailed Malaria Diagnostics with Intelligent Microscopy

Cite this