Top score for CIH in RCN evaluation
The core research groups at CIH have both received the grade “Excellent” by an international expert panel which has evaluated the medicine and health research in Norway.
Main content
Leading research centre in Europe
The panel concludes that "the Centre for International Health is the leading research centre within international/global health in the Nordic countries, and one of the leading centres in Europe." Furthermore they note that CIH is able to combine biomedical research with public-health focused activities, and suggests that CIH should strive to become a centre of excellence to support other institutes within the field.
Global health in Norway
In the evaluation report, global health is highlighted as one of two research areas that are particularly strong in Norway. The panel noted that Norway has unique possibilities for research on global health, partly because of its political commitment and role, and long research tradition.
Long-term visions
The panel was very impressed by the well developed strategies and long-term visions in the global health area, including real partnership with local partners in low- and middle-income countries. Important mechanisms are in place, by which locally recruited students return to work in their respective home countries after advanced training in Norway. At CIH 42 non-European PhD candidates have graduated during the years 2005-10. So far, 39 of these have returned to their home countries, to work at universities, hospitals or ministries of health.
Research groups: excellent!
Both the Child Health and Nutrition Group (CHN) and the HIV/TB Research Group got the grades “excellent” for their work. The panel remarks that the CHN group is making substantial contributions in the field of childhood illnesses and that the societal impact is great. As for the HIV/TB group the panel points out that their research really targets the needs of the population, since it translates research findings into medical treatment schemes that are also implemented. The evaluation also suggests that both of the research groups could benefit from having more full time researchers in place.
Recommendation: continued support
As research activities over-seas with implementation in preventive activities require units with sufficient size and long-term funding, the panel comments that some of the evaluated research units definitely deserve strong and continuous support by RCN.
Read the full evaluation report here or go directly to the report in PDF here.
