Dear Cochrane Colleagues,
We are looking forward to seeing many of you at the April Governance Meetings in Krakow, kindly hosted this year by Cochrane Poland.
The Governance Meetings provide the main annual opportunity for Cochrane’s senior leaders and Group managers to come together to learn about and discuss organizational priorities, challenges and opportunities. Feedback from previous meetings has shown that participants would value more time working together across Group-types. We’re therefore trialling a new format this year, with a full day of cross-group strategic sessions on Tuesday 2 April and a half-day on the morning of Wednesday 3 April.
The content of these strategic sessions has been developed over the past couple of months in partnership with many of you, focused on the priorities you have identified, and facilitated by the Central Executive Team. See the full program for the strategic sessions and all other scheduled meetings in Krakow on the Cochrane Community website.
On the Tuesday we will spend a full day together, beginning with brief presentations from the Governing Board and Council Co-Chairs; and the CEO, Editor-in-Chief and their teams, to bring you up-to-date on activities over the last six months, followed by a Question & Answer session with all participants. Any participant is invited to ask questions at the session, but we also welcome questions in advance on the Cochrane Forums (topic: Governance > Governance Meetings 2019), which will be answered at the session and/or on the Forums directly. The Forums provide a space for all Members and Supporters to have open and transparent online discussions about issues relevant to Cochrane.
In the morning, the Council will lead an interactive discussion on the development of a set of key principles for how Cochrane Members and Supporters work together. In order for Cochrane to achieve its goals, it is essential that all those who work for and with us around the world understand the shared values of the organization, and the key principles that promote effective collaboration and minimize the risk of serious and disruptive conflict. The Board and Council feel the time is right, given recent events within the organization but also internationally, that we set out in writing these principles and the kinds of behaviours expected of everyone interacting with Cochrane. A draft of the principles is currently being developed by the Council and will be sent out to the community before the Governance Meetings. Feedback will be invited online and at the session, with the aim of finalizing them in time for this year’s Colloquium, in Chile.
After lunch on the Tuesday we will come together again for a panel session and interactive discussion on ‘Creating an author experience fit for the future’, based on a paper developed by the Council with invited input from the Central Executive Team. Following the coffee break, there will be a presentation and discussion on the opportunities and challenges for all Group-types in in improving the author experience, supporting the continuous improvement of editorial standards for Cochrane Reviews, and the development of Cochrane Review Group Networks. Presentations will be given by the Senior Editors of the Cochrane Review Group Networks, and this will be followed by general discussion.
On the Wednesday morning, participants are invited to choose to attend one of three sessions on:
- Addressing Risk of Bias 2 and RevMan Web implementation (Particularly relevant to members of CRGs and Methods Groups)
- Supporting policy-makers in the use of evidence in governmental policy-making (Particularly relevant to members of Centres and Fields – this session has a restricted number of participants and the deadline for applications has now passed)
- Delivering training in Cochrane: a strategic discussion (Relevant to members of all Group-types)
We sincerely thank those who provided input into the organization and content of the Krakow Governance Meetings. We look forward to an exciting, informative and thought-provoking meeting with our Cochrane leaders from around the world. One final reminder: please don’t forget to sign-up to attend the Governance Meetings online by 15 March.
With very best wishes,
Marguerite Koster and Martin Burton
Board Co-Chairs
Fergus Macbeth and Miranda Langendam
Council Co-Chairs