05/2021 Dr. Sonia Diaz-Monsalve active in the Academic Advisory Board of GLOHRA

The Global Health Academy Opening Ceremony was hosted by the University of Bonn in an online event that attracted around 200 early career researchers and members of the German Alliance for Global Health Research, GLOHRA. Speakers from academia to the political sector expressed their support for this GLOHRA initiative, while panelists shared concrete ways of how the Academy can best support the development of global health researchers. Our teaching coordinator, Dr. Sonia Diaz-Monsalve, represented the University of Freiburg as part of the Academic Advisory Board.

An opening presentation clarified the intended role of the academy: to increase support for and competencies among early career researchers in Germany interested in global health. The target audience is primarily PhD students and post-docs – individuals who have demonstrated a clear interest in global health research, but who could use assistance in gaining competencies and networking opportunities to assist their career progression.

The vision and contributions of the Global Health Academy were clarified in the panel discussion, which was moderated by Maeve Cook-Deegan from the GLOHRA Secretariat and involved the Academic Advisory Board members and early career researchers. The Academic Advisory Board includes representatives from all GLOHRA research areas and provides informal guidance to the development of the Academy. The board is comprised of Steering Committee Members Walter Bruchhausen, Sonia Diaz-Monsalve, Meral Esen, Eva Kantelhardt and Eva Rehfuess. The panel benefitted from the additional perspectives of two current PhD students: Muluken Gizaw, joining from Ethiopia and Felix Holl, joining from Munich. The fruitful discussion noted the potential of the Academy to firstly, grant researchers access to perspectives from different disciplines, secondly, to enable networking between senior and early career researchers and finally, to build competencies in knowledge translation as well as implementing research insights.

More information about this event is available at the homepage of the German Alliance for Global Health Research.