SARIMA has established the International Professional Recognition Council (IPRC) as an autonomous body to award professional recognition, developed a Pan-African professional recognition programme for research managers and implemented the initial stages of the programme with the support of various funding partners. These include the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) hosted at the World Health Organization (WHO) and co-sponsored by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the World Bank and WHO; ESSENCE on Health Research initiative, the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union and the Department of Science and Innovation, South Africa.
The TDR at the WHO has once again partnered with SARIMA to establish a fully operational IPRC and to further build and implement the professional recognition programme as one of the key mechanisms to support the professionalisation of research management in Africa.
The project activities:
- Implementing a newly appointed IPRC, inclusive of regular meetings of the IPRC, developing guidelines and procedures and acquiring recognition/legitimacy for the IPRC through appropriate mechanisms.
- Improving the outreach and uptake of the professional recognition programme through webinars for prospective applicants, promotional materials and raising the level of individual, institutional and regional awareness.
- Running calls for professional recognition.
- Supporting the maintenance of professional status.
- Improving the functionality and content of the IPRC website, including a fully online application process.
In addition, through the BRECcIA project, funded by the Natural and Environmental Research Council (NERC) under the Research Councils of the UK (RUCK) Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) GROW programme, research managers from Malawi, Kenya and Ghana will be supported to apply for professional recognition while the African Academy of Sciences will support applicants from various regions in Africa to apply for professional recognition.
