SPF President Lonnie Rowell has authored an article in the Sri Lankan journal Gaveshana, which is the journal of the country’s Institute for Research and Development (IRD). Academic members of IRD include epidemiologists, psychiatrists, physicians, geneticists, veterinarians, public health specialists and people from many other disciplines. The IRD mandate is “to promote an overarching research culture in Sri Lanka” and to conduct “multi-disciplinary research, working with people who will benefit from research, establish strategic partnerships, and to work for policy impact.”
Rowell’s article addresses strengthening public involvement in research, in particular the role of publishing practitioner-research and participatory community-based research in relation to Sri Lanka’s efforts to sustain its initiative for Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement in Health Research (PPIE). SPF and the IRD are exploring collaborations for publishing PPIE-oriented, community-based participatory and practitioner research on the SPF platform. As Rowell sees it, “all the new tools and perspectives that strengthen relations between research initiatives and improved personal and social wellbeing should be mobilized in preparing for a better future. SPF looks forward to collaborating with IRD to help this happen in Sri Lanka.”