Equitable Research Partnerships: North-South Collaboration in Research Careers

Join us online on Wednesday, 29 October for a career development event focused on building fair and impactful research collaborations between the Global North and South.

Chaired by Professor James Berkley FMedSci, a diverse panel of researchers will share their experiences working across borders in international scientific collaborations.

Through engaging talks and personal stories, our speakers will explore what equity looks like in research collaborations. They'll share lessons they've learned, challenges they've faced, and practical tips for creating inclusive and rewarding collaborations.

Register now 

Who is this for?

• This free event is open to everyone.
• It’s especially helpful for early career researchers in biomedical and health fields, offering insights into global collaboration, career development, and research impact. You’ll also hear about different career paths and have the chance to ask questions.
  
  

How can I stay updated?

• Follow the Academy of Medical Sciences on LinkedIn, and @acmedsci on X, Instagram and Bluesky, to hear about our upcoming events, funding schemes and other opportunities.

The event will begin at 10.00 GMT and finish at 12.30 GMT. 

Agenda

About the speakers:

Professor James Berkley FMedSci, Wellcome Trust
James Berkley is internationally recognized as one of the UK’s most outstanding clinical researchers in global child health. After 25 years based in Kenya, he continues to work between Oxford and Kenya and leads the international Childhood Illness & Nutrition (CHAIN) Network as well as various advisory guideline roles with the World Health Organisation. From a long term research base in Africa he has made a sustained and major contribution to advancing medical science in relation to better understanding and tackling the leading causes of childhood mortality worldwide. His expertise is in infectious diseases and determinants of survival amongst especially vulnerable populations, including undernutrition and the early infancy period. He has been responsible for a number of landmark studies which have often led directly to international policy recommendations. 

Dr Esmita Charani, University of Liverpool    
Esmita is an Associate Professor and a Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellow at the University of Cape Town (2023-2027), where she is undertaking research that investigates intersectionality in AMR. At the University of Cape Town she is also a Co-Investigator in the Wellcome Trust funded CAMO-Net research programme (2023-2026) which spans across five countries and is focused on optimising antibiotic use in human populations.

In the UK she is an Honorary Reader in Infectious Diseases, AMR and Global Health at the University of Liverpool. She is a visiting Researcher at Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen Norway, and Adjunct Professor at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kerala India, where she is involved in helping implement and investigate national antibiotic stewardship programmes. Her work in AMR has been recognised through the Academy of Medical Sciences UK-India AMR Visiting Professor award. She has served as an expert advisor to the Commonwealth Pharmacy Association and a Global Health Fellow with the Office of Chief Pharmaceutical Officer, England. She is involved in mentoring and supporting clinical pharmacists across different healthcare settings and economies in implementing antimicrobial stewardship interventions. Her doctoral thesis investigated antimicrobial stewardship across India, Norway, France, Burkina Faso and England. She holds several other active grants with Wellcome Trust, GARDP, and WHO TDR.

Dr Margaret Ebubedike, Open University      
Dr Margaret Ebubedike is a Research Fellow in International Education at the Open University UK, and holds a Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). Additionally, she serves as the Grand Union Doctoral Pathway and Training (GUDPT) Lead for Innovation and Learning. Her academic background includes a BSc in Business Education (Accounting), an MSc in Educational Leadership and Management, a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PGCAP), and a PhD (Doctor of Philosophy).

With over 15 years of experience in teaching, training, and educational research, her focus revolves around children's access, retention, and completion of education. Within this sphere her interest is in exploring gender equality, and development across diverse cultures, particularly in marginalised communities. Her expertise lies at the intersections of Gender, Equity, and Social Justice. She is also actively involved in research focusing on teachers' continuous professional development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Here, her focus is on practitioner-based co-creative research methods that involve educators collaboratively co-creating contextually relevant pedagogical approaches that improve learner outcomes by tailoring educational strategies to the unique experiences and needs of students in each specific context.      

Professor Tajudeen Akanji, University of Ibadan    
Tajudeen Ademola Akanji is the Director of the Institute for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He is a specialist in Industrial and Peace Education with a considerable experience in capacity building, project development and management. He is also the lead person for the Programme of Traditional Conflict Resolution Mechanisms, which enabled me to interface with local communities on disaster prevention advocacy. Akanji facilitates courses in Conflict Prevention and Early Warning, and Disaster Risk Management, in the professional Master program in Humanitarian and Refugee studies. He is a beneficiary of several professional development programs, the latest being a diploma in Conflict Prevention, Intervention Reconciliation and Reconstruction from Transcend Peace University, Romania. He is a professional trainer, and a chartered Mediator and Conciliator, having been admitted as a member of the Nigerian Institute for Training and Development, (NITAD), and a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Mediators and Conciliators in Nigeria.       

Dr Claire Bourke, University of Glasgow       
Claire Bourke was awarded a BSc in Biological Sciences with Honours in Immunology and a PhD in the immunobiology of human parasitic worm infections from the University of Edinburgh. Her PhD included extended periods of field work in rural Zimbabwe as part of a longitudinal assessment of school-based treatment for schistosomiasis and collaboration with researchers at the Serum Statens Institute in Copenhagen on a placebo-controlled trial of voluntary nematode infection. Claire went on to study the cellular immune response to parasites at barrier sites during a postdoctoral position at the University of York, working with an in vivo model of cutaneous schistosomiasis and samples from a cohort study of schistosome co-infection in Senegal. She went on to investigate the clinical and immunological effects of prophylactic antibiotic treatment among Ugandan and Zimbabwean children living with HIV during a postdoctoral position at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). Throughout her time at QMUL she developed an interest in the immunopathogenesis of malnutrition, establishing pilot studies among affected pediatric populations with collaborators in Zambia and Zimbabwe. In 2017 she was awarded a 5-year Sir Henry Dale Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society. Claire’s current work is split between QMUL, the Zvitambo Institute of Maternal of Child Health in Harare, Zimbabwe and the Tropical Gastroenterology and Nutrition (TROPGAN) group in Lusaka, Zambia

Dr Duy Pham Thanh, Oxford University Clinical Research Unit         
Dr Duy Pham is a Wellcome Trust Fellow and Head of Molecular Epidemiology Group at Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU), Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Dr Pham is a molecular biologist and has expertise in genomics and molecular epidemiology of bacterial infections. His research integrates advanced molecular biology and genomics with epidemiological surveillance and clinical study to address drug-resistant bacterial infections in Vietnam and across Asia. He has been working on typhoid fever (S. Typhi and S. Paratyphi A), and diarrheal diseases (i.e. diarrhea-causing E. coli, Shigella spp) since 2008, and have recently expanded his research interests in bloodstream infections (i.e. E. coli, K. pneumoniae), and nosocomial infections (i.e. A. baumanii, K. pneumoniae). His research aims to provide better understanding of the evolution, transmission dynamics, and clinical impact of drug-resistant bacteria in low- and middle-income settings for guiding public health interventions and improving clinical practices.

Professor Mutsawashe Bwakura, University of Zimbabwe
Dr Bwakura is an Associate Professor in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health with training in Clinical Epidemiology. She has been involved in multicentre Paediatric HIV clinical trials. Her current research is focused on malnutrition and HIV infection in children.