The University of Edinburgh-RESPIRE Fellowship Scheme

In 2024, The University of Edinburgh funded a number of opportunities for RESPIRE members to develop their research careers in respiratory health – through networking, site visits, attending and delivering training.

On this page, you will find brief summaries of what they did, as well as slides from an update that they delivered as part of the 2024 RESPIRE Annual Scientific Meeting in Sri Lanka.

Cross-learning for Photovoice

Two RESPIRE colleagues based in India and Malaysia, but working on the same multi-country project switched places to gain deeper insights into how the Photovoice qualitative research methodology was implemented in each context.

  • Uddhavi Kand visited RESPIRE partners in Malaysia to learn about PhotoVoice, so she could deliver training and public engagement activities in India.
  • Hani Salim visited RESPIRE partners in India to help deliver training, and to gain an understanding of how Photovoice could be tailored and implemented in new contexts. 

Download slides from Uddhavi and Hani's ASM update below.

Site Visit: Melghat tribal area of India

Kamilla Ramdzan leads on RESPIRE’s multi-country AdAPT study, which looks at the feasibility of school-based interventions for asthma care.

Her fellowship involved visiting MAHAN Trust in India – one of five AdAPT sites, to understand the challenges faced by Melghat’s tribal population, develop skills to tailor research methodologies, and deliver training for researchers working on the AdAPT study.

Download slides from Kamilla’s ASM update below.

Dissemination and implementation for research

Rizawati Ramli visited research centres in Canada to learn about Dissemination and Implementation research for asthma care. The opportunity enabled her to network with a wide range of experts, present her research to new audiences, participate in an advocacy course and develop meaningful relationships to further her career.

Download slides from Rizawati’s ASM update below.

Best practices in open science and data sharing

Tapas Kumar Mohanty is RESPIRE’s Informatics and Data Science Liaison Officer. He visited the UK to gain a deeper understanding of health research data management in different contexts - participating in two conferences hosted by the University of Edinburgh (Impact Festival and Open Research Conference), and visiting teams at the University of the West of England and the University of Oxford.

To supplement the visit, Tapas led an online workshop exploring best practices for health data research management in India. Access resources related to Tapas' Fellowship below.

Upskilling for data science

Sandeep Bhujbal and Bharat Choudhari enrolled in online courses to strengthen their knowledge and skills around data science, including fundamental concepts, methodologies and data management. They learned about machine learning for statistical modelling, artificial intelligence for health research, data analysis and dashboard creation.

Download slides from Sandeep and Bharat's ASM update below.

Innovation for healthcare

Hana Mahmood attended a five-day course, "Executive Health Innovation Management Programme" in Dubai to further her understanding of emerging healthcare challenges. She learned how innovative thinking can be applied to the healthcare sector, and helped to build capacity back in Pakistan by sharing her learning with her team.

Download slides from Hana’s ASM update below.

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