Accelerated development: A new era for health and life science cooperation with the Global South? Public S|B (Sector Day) conference

In Brussels and online

About the theme:  Among the issues that the COVID-19 pandemic brought to the surface, global cooperation in health research emerged as an essential requirement – from concerted surveillance of emerging infectious diseases and drug manufacturing, to knowledge transfer, data sharing and biodiversity protection. Beyond pandemic preparedness, the need for a broader, structural and sustainable North-South partnership has now become obvious. In addition, the health sector’s digitalisation rush and the growing importance of AI offer enormous opportunities to deepen North-South partnerships. Moving forward, the key questions are where to prioritise in terms of funding, programmes and R&I domains, and how to ensure a coordinated approach?

Featured guests:  On 25 June, we will bring together key representatives from international bodies, EU institutions, national governments, research and industry to discuss the steps needed to crystallise a new era for North-South cooperation in health and life sciences.  Confirmed speakers include Michael Makanga, Executive Director, European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP); Ole Petter Ottersen, Acting Secretary General, The Guild & former President, Karolinska Institutet; Irene Norstedt, Director ‘People’, DG RTD, European Commission; Marleen Temmerman, Director ‘Women’s Health’, Faculty of Health Sciences – Aga Khan University Hospital; Srini Kaveri, Director of India Office, CNRS; Hilary Hanahoe, Secretary General, Research Data Alliance; Mario Reale, Senior Research Engagement Officer at GÉANT, Glaudina Loots, Director for Health Innovation, South Africa Department of Science and Innovation; and Rajendra Pratap Gupta, Chairman – Dynamic Coalition on Digital Health, United Nations’ Internet Governance Forum.

How to engage:  While the speaker line-up is essentially complete, we now look to our Network members to inform and inspire the wider debate on the most effective ways forward!  As such, we would be grateful if you could share details of the event with relevant faculty leads, and/or let us know if you wish to recommend specific colleagues for us to invite.

NB: as with all S|B Network events, each member is allowed one participant in person – but an unlimited number of additional colleagues can follow the proceedings as online observers. For both options, registrations are open at the following link.