Suchergebnisse

Researchers holding multiple affiliations can play an important bridging role between organizations, fostering knowledge transfer and research collaboration. We propose a methodology to identify authors with multiple affiliations co-hosted by two organizations for a prolonged period of time, which distinguishes them from authors who change jobs or only hold short appointments. We apply this methodology to all authors and organizations residing in the Netherlands and find 626 organizations with at least one co-affiliated researcher. We perform a regression analysis of the inter-organizational network spanned by all co-affiliated researchers, and find strong negative effects of travel time. We also find that researchers who hold multiple affiliations, often cross the institutional boundaries between university, industry, government, healthcare and public research organizations. In particular, university-affiliated researchers tend to be most active in bridging to organizations in other institutional spheres. We end with some reflections for future studies and implications for science policy.

AbstractResponding to health needs in one disease area might rely on being able to draw on research and funding oriented towards other disease areas. However, the tendency of medical research to cross-disease areas has received limited empirical consideration. An outbreak, in a disease area with little prior research or funding, means that any research response will necessarily be rich with cross-disease flows. This affords a setting that allows us to identify and examine the phenomenon over time. We estimate the extent to which the vaccine research community's response to Zika virus drew on research and funding from other diseases. We find that a persistently low share of funding into Zika vaccine research was Zika-oriented. In contrast, a much higher share of knowledge inputs was oriented to Zika. The exercise serves to illustrate some general themes in priority setting for health research systems alongside some core features of vaccine innovation.

Abstract
A current issue in mission-oriented research policy is the balance of priorities in research portfolios. In parallel, in health policies, there is a debate on shifting research away from biomedical treatments towards health promotion and well-being. In this study, we examine if research agendas are responsive to these demands in cardiometabolic and mental health. First, we conducted bibliometric analyses which showed that most research remains focused on biomedical and clinical approaches. In contrast, focus groups and interviews suggested that more research is needed upstream, i.e. on broader determinants of health, public health, and health systems. Most experts also saw a need for more intervention-oriented research. Furthermore, comparisons between cardiometabolic and mental health suggested that they require similar upstream knowledge in issues such as health systems, nutrition, labour, or economic conditions. We discuss the reasons for the persistence of current priorities and the implications in the context of funding strategies.