Fogarty launches eCapacity program to spur technology use
March / April 2013 | Volume 12, Issue 2
Photo by David Snyder for Fogarty/NIH
Fogarty's new eCapacity program will build
technology expertise in developing countries.
Information and communication technology (ICT) tools are an increasingly important part of biomedical research, but many developing country institutions have not yet built up enough expertise to access, adapt and integrate these resources into their education programs and research activities.
To help change this, Fogarty is launching an innovative program, Global Health Research and Research Training eCapacity Initiative. It is offered by limited competition to principal investigators or collaborators with former or current Fogarty grants for activities at institutions in low- and middle-income countries.
eCapacity offers support of up to $100,000 per year for as many as three years. Projects are intended to leverage research and education efforts already established by other Fogarty grants.
"Our goal is to develop education programs that teach researchers how to incorporate the many ICT resources out there into their research and research training activities," said Fogarty's Dr. Laura Povlich, who leads the new initiative. "For example, online courses are becoming increasingly more accessible throughout the world. Students and faculty should learn how to best take advantage of these resources, while also learning discovering how to adapt and develop their own courses or learning platforms to best fulfill their training and research needs."
Through the initiative, participants will develop the skills and expertise necessary to integrate ICT into their activities and keep pace with rapidly evolving technologies. Educational opportunities can be linked to any global health research area and may support activities in the use and development of electronic training resources - such as distance learning platforms, open education collaborations or library collections - or the use of ICT research tools including mobile health, modeling, bioinformatics, geospatial information systems or other topics.
Applications are due on May 15, 2013.
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