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The course which starts 3rd November 2023, and finishes on the 15th April 2024 is being delivered using a combination of synchronous and asynchronous formats.
During the asynchronous online sessions, every week, learners go through the course materials independently for approximately two to four hours per week. Participants can follow the pre-recorded lectures on their own time and at their own pace but must complete the lectures before the live session (see schedule of live sessions in the “Live sessions schedule” tab). These pre-recorded lectures include:
Presentations developed by the instructors on one topic. Each unit is about 20 minutes long. To reinforce learning, the learner then completes a brief quiz on the content of each unit. The quiz has 1-2 questions. Both questions must be answered correctly in order to move on to the next unit. Participants can try to answer the quiz as many times as they need.
- Optional: the recorded lectures include transcripts of the voiceover. Participants can switch them on or off as needed.
- Optional: read additional reference materials and visit external websites (listed under the “References” tab).
The total estimated time needed to complete the online materials is approximately ten hours. You can start the course at any time, pause and come back to it at a later stage, and continue at the same point where you had left it.
Furthermore, an online forum is available for continuous discussions throughout the training period. Participants are kindly asked to use the forum to post any questions they might want to be addressed during the live sessions. The faculty will be checking the forum before the live sessions so they can prepare their answers.
Additionally, participants are expected to attend live sessions where they will be able to clarify concepts presented on the pre-recorded lectures and will be working on the different sections on their research proposals. The live sessions vary in duration, some lasting 90 minutes, some 180 minutes. The live sessions are key to progress on the development of the research proposal. This is the structure of a live session:
- Review of the week’s instructional content and Q&A
- Break out in groups, work with faculty and mentors on the week’s assignment
- Additionally, the longer sessions will include time from the different teams to present progress to date and receive feedback from peers
As well as completing the online materials and attending the live sessions, participants will be working with their teams and will be able to request support from their allocated mentors in the completion of their weekly assignments. How each team decides to work with their mentor is something for the teams and mentors to decide.
Course Content:
- Introduction to operational research with examples
- Research questions and methodology
- Research methodology, data analysis and statistical analysis
- Investigators, authorship, references
- Ethics and completion of protocol
- Types of grants and calls for proposals
Course Evaluation
Once you complete all the course materials, you will be asked to complete a standard questionnaire to leave feedback about the platform and quality of the course.
Certificate of Completion
Once you complete the course evaluation, you will be able to download a certificate of completion of the online materials with your name, the title of the course and the date of completion. The certificate also includes the equivalent number of hours of the educational content available on the online platform.
By the end of this course, participants should be able to:
- Understand the different components and principles of developing a research grant proposal in line with the learning objectives detailed in each session
- Develop a research grant proposal based on the research idea submitted in the concept note
Dr. M. V. Ajay Kumar is a seasoned Public Health Practitioner with over 20 years of experience in low- and middle-income settings. He has worked for WHO-India as a consultant for providing technical assistance to the Government of India’s National Tuberculosis Programme, particularly in leading TB-HIV co-ordination activities. He is an author/co-author of over 250 publications, with many contributing to a change in policy/practice and has facilitated over 100 national and international courses.
Prof. Anthony D. Harries is a physician and registered specialist in the United Kingdom in infectious diseases and tropical medicine. He spent over 20 years working in sub-Saharan Africa, with 15 of those years working on TB, HIV/AIDS and TB-HIV in the public health sector at the programmatic level. Author of hundreds of published papers, in 2008, he joined The Union to launch the Department of Research. His main interests are in the field of tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, non-communicable diseases, tropical medicine and operational research
Dr. Divya Nair is a Public Health Practitioner with close to ten years’ experience in low- and middle-income settings. She has been a senior trainer cum mentor in international SORT IT courses conducted by The Union and World Health Organization offices in several countries and regions. She has been involved as a resource person in the development and conduct of courses on data management in research.
Dr. Srinath Satyanarayana is a medical doctor with a PhD in Epidemiology from McGill University with over 15 years of experience in public health with particular focus on TB and has worked as a consultant to the Government of National TB Programme for over five years strengthening its monitoring, evaluation and operational research components. He has been associated with the SORT IT programme since its inception in 2009, first as a trainee and thereafter as a mentor from 2010 onwards. He has mentored more than 75 public health professionals from several countries in Asia and Africa in their operational research projects and is a author in more than 200 scientific publications.
Dr. Pruthu Thekkur is a Public Health Practitioner with ten years of experience in low and middle-income settings. He has been a senior trainer in the SORT IT courses and has mentored about 50 participants from 11 countries. In addition, he developed and led short courses on data management in research. He is an author/co-author of over 100 research publications in peer-reviewed journals. His main research interests are tuberculosis, non-communicable diseases and operational research.
Dr. Collins Timire is a Senior Research Fellow with the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (seconded to the National TB Programme, Zimbabwe). He has over 60 publications in international journals, and has mentored over 50 health professionals in Africa and Asia during SORT IT research capacity building courses. With backgrounds in Medical Laboratory Science and Public Health, Collins’ toolkit is well equipped to diagnose public health challenges using biomedical and social lens. As a result, he employs both qualitative and quantitative research methods to get the best of both worlds. A recipient of the New Zealand Development Scholarship, Collins graduated with a Master of Public Health (Honours 1st Class) from Auckland University of Technology in 2014. His other awards include the prestigious Fogarty Fellowship (National Institutes of Health, USA) to read for a PhD at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Antimicrobial Resistance Centre (AMR) Publication prize 2023.
Dr. Mahalakshmy Thulasingam is a medical doctor working as Additional Professor in the department of Preventive and Social Medicine at JIPMER – one of the premier medical colleges in India. She has extensive research experience, especially in qualitative research methods, operational research and data analysis tools such as EpiData and Stata. She has co-authored over 120 published papers in peer-reviewed journals. She has an H-index of 17 and is currently pursuing a fellowship in Health Policy and Systems Research in India.
Ms. Elizabeth Yarly is an organizational development practitioner and an adult learning specialist with over eleven years of experience in learning design for transformational change. She has lead face to face and eLearning programmes in Africa (both East and West) for various international organisations. She is an Adjunt Professor at Kean University and Rutgers University (USA) where she designs and delivers lectures about project management and leadership to public health graduates.
The live sessions schedule is available for download in the Introduction and Welcome section of this course.
The course content was developed by The Union
Faculty and reviewers have no real or perceived, direct or indirect conflicts of interest that relate to this online course.
- Dr. M. V. Ajay Kumar has no conflict of interest to declare
- Prof. Anthony D. Harries has no conflict of interest to declare
- Dr. Divya Nair has no conflict of interest to declare
- Dr. Srinath Satyanarayana has no conflict of interest to declare
- Dr. Pruthu Thekkur has no conflict of interest to declare
- Ms. Elizabeth Yarly has no conflict of interest to declare
This online course was supported by the PROTECT project and funded by the CDC Foundation. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the CDC Foundation.
Commercial names of medical devices/software/equipment may appear in this content because they are linked to specific medical procedures, which are the focus of this training material. Other products in the market can be used to perform the aforementioned medical procedures. The educational provider does not endorse any particular product.
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Introduction and Live Session Schedule
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Module 1: Introduction to Operational Research
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Module 2: Research Questions and Methodology
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Module 3: Research Methodology, Data Analysis and Statistical Analysis
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Module 4: Investigators, Authorship, and References
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Module 5: Demonstration on the Use of Reference Management Tools
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Module 6: Ethics and Completion of Protocol
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Module 7: Structure of a Grant Proposal. Project and Budget Management
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Evaluation and Certificate
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