We are pleased to announce the new one-stop support portal for Cochrane Help and Support Services.

The Cochrane Help and Support Centre is an online portal that allows you to search for answers to common queries about Cochrane's work. If you don't find what you are looking for, you can open a support ticket to be dealt with by the different support teams, including Community Support (for all general queries), ME Support (for Managing Editors), CIS Support (for Information Specialists) and the RevMan Web development team.

The Help and Support Centre opened at the end of February 2019. In the first month, over 500 tickets were dealt with by Cochrane staff from 360 unique users. For the General Community Support Tickets, 41 people have responded to a customer satisfaction survey with 88% (36 people) responding; 'My query was fully and promptly answered'.

For ease of access, you can reach the portal through the 'Help' tab in the top navigation bar of the Community website.

Please let us know if you have any suggestions for articles to be included in the Knowledge Base, or if you have any other feedback on the service by emailing us at support@cochrane.org

• Visit the new Help and Support Centre portal

The agenda and open access papers for the Cochrane Governing Board meeting in Krakow, Poland on 4-5 April 2019 are now available to view online, for information only.

Cochrane's governing body is the Governing Board. The Board is responsible for overseeing the development and implementation of Cochrane’s strategic direction. If you would like to comment on an item you can contact the Board: support@cochrane.org

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:

1. Addressing Risk of Bias 2 and RevMan Web implementation (Particularly relevant to members of CRGs and Methods Groups)
2. 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)
3. 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

The minutes from the Governing Board’s teleconference, December 2018, are now available view online, for information only.

Governing Board members are Cochrane’s directors and trustees, and are elected to direct the strategy and policies of the organisation.

Questions about the minutes can be sent to support@cochrane.org

The Governing Board has approved the proposed organizational Targets for 2019 in support of Strategy to 2020. These are prioritized projects and initiatives that are delivered by Cochrane Groups and the Central Executive Team, supported by core and Group funding.

In 2019, Cochrane Groups and the Central Executive Team plan to :

1. Achieve the annual objectives and targets of Cochrane’s Content Strategy
2. Assure the quality and consistency of Cochrane’s editorial process
3. Make Cochrane Reviews more accessible to decision makers
4. Review our policies on Open Access to Cochrane Reviews and datasets
5. Continue to deliver more features and enhancements in the Cochrane Library
6. Support health policy makers to use Cochrane evidence and new advocacy initiatives
7. Build capacity in the Cochrane community to produce more complex reviews and undertake knowledge translation activities
8. Evaluate, plan and begin implementation of an improved Editorial Management System for Cochrane Review production
9. Strengthen Cochrane as a global organization through a series of initiatives

In addition to the Strategy to 2020 Targets, there is a significant body of work planned for 2019 to be undertaken by Groups and the Central Executive Team, funded by core funds and detailed in the 2019 Plan & Budget.

Read in full about the 2019 Targets and Plan & Budget on the Community's Strategy to 2020 pages.

We are delighted to announce NEW resources freely available on Cochrane’s Knowledge Translations resources website:

• KT Glossary: A handy plain language glossary of commonly used KT terms;
• Buffer.com video: this short video, prepared from Cochrane UK, explains how to use Buffer.com, an easy-to-use tool to manage multiple Cochrane social media accounts;
• Growing Capacity in Users Case Study: A new case study from South Africa discusses work on ‘Developing a workshop and on-line learning for healthcare practitioners, researchers  and  policy-makers;’
• Examples document for Priority Setting: a collection of ‘real’ documents from around Cochrane has been added which can be used to generate ideas for the priority setting process. These include planning documents, workshop invites, workshop agendas and materials, and examples of on-line surveys which have been used.;
• Priority Setting Frequently Asked Questions: this section includes some of the most commonly asked questions about the Priority Setting Guidance Note for Cochrane Groups.

In addition the following exciting opportunities are available:

• Knowledge Translation Learning Live Webinar:  Wednesday 6th March; 16:00 UTC Sarah Elliot from Cochrane Child Health will present on: How to develop and evaluate a Knowledge Translation plan: advice and experiences from Cochrane Child Health Field. You can sign up on the Learning Live Website;
• Training opportunity to help people working within Cochrane to work better with policy-makers: Wednesday 3rd April; 09:00 – 13:00 CET at the Cochrane Annual Governance Meeting in Krakow. Deadline for applications is 25th February 16:00 GMT.
  
  If you have suggestions or comments about any of Cochrane’s Knowledge Translation work, please contact support@cochrane.org.

We are delighted to announce that sponsored registration for one person from each Cochrane Group to attend the 26^th Annual Cochrane Colloquium in Santiago, Chile (22-25 October 2019) is now open.

This opportunity is open to any Cochrane member within a Cochrane Group, be that a Cochrane Review Group, geographic Group of Field.  Sponsored Group registrants will be required to pay for their own travel and accommodation but they receive free registration to the Colloquium main scientific programme.

The submission deadline for the Cochrane Colloquium Santiago is 12 noon (UTC) Friday 12 July 2019. To claim your sponsored Group registration, please complete an online form (login required) on behalf of the person who is to receive the sponsored registration for your Group.

If your Group does not apply for a sponsored registration, your allocation will be diverted to stipends made available to a number of consumers and colleagues from low-and middle-income countries.If you experience any problems in registering yourself or a colleague for the sponsored place, please e-mail sponsoredgroup@cochrane.org.

Please note: Incorporated geographic groups, who together make up the functions of one Centre or Associate Centre, are entitled to one sponsored registration overall (i.e. one per Centre or Associate Centre).

At its recent meeting in London, at the end of January 2019, the Governing Board (Cochrane’s ‘Trustees’) voted unanimously to re-appoint Rae Lamb and Catherine Marshall as Trustees.

Elected and Appointed Board Members:
Members of the Board are a mix of elected members (who must be Cochrane Members) and appointed members who aim to bring an external perspective to the Board. Appointed members can be anyone with the relevant skills and experience and will normally not be Cochrane Members.

Re-appointment of Rae and Catherine:
As a result of proceedings during the closed session of the Board on 13th September 2018, four Board Members chose to resign; they were all elected members. This situation required immediate changes to the composition of the Board to maintain the required balance between elected and appointed members specified in Cochrane’s Articles of Association – there need to be more elected than appointed members. As a result, Rae and Catherine volunteered to step down from the Board.

In December 2018, following an election, four new members were elected to the Board from Cochrane’s membership: Xavier Bonfil, Sally Green, Karsten Juhl Jørgensen and Jordi Pardo Pardo. This gave the Board the opportunity to appoint members again, whose skills and experience bring diversity and different perspectives needed for effective governance in such a large, global organization as Cochrane.

In January 2019, the Board members discussed the skills it now needs and voted unanimously to re-appoint Rae and Catherine for a new three-year term on that basis. They are also seeking to appoint a new member from a low- or middle-income country, and/ or from a geographical region that is different from that of the current Trustees. The appointment process for that position is now open.

Rae Lamb:

Rae was appointed the Cochrane Board in 2017. She has been a member of the Board’s Governance Committee and has led much of the work on a new dispute resolution procedure, which will be completed soon.

Rae recently relinquished her post as the Aged Care & Aged Care Complaints Commissioner, Australia, a national agency with 157 FTE public service staff around Australia with an annual operating budget of more than AUS $18m. She has more than 13 years’ experience exercising statutory decision-making powers in both the New Zealand and Australian aged care and health and disability sectors and is a recognised leader in the development and implementation of effective complaints policies and adjudication processes. She is also a recognised media expert, with more than 27 years’ frontline media experience and winning recognition and awards for her work during that time. She helped organize and moderate two plenary panel sessions at the 2018 Cochrane Colloquium in Edinburgh.

Catherine Marshall:

Catherine was one of the first two appointed members of the Cochrane Governing Board in 2016. She was also a member of the Governance Committee, and Finance Audit and Investment Committee, and was elected as Treasurer in September 2018.

Catherine is currently an Independent Guideline Adviser and Health Sector consultant based in New Zealand. She was the inaugural Chief Executive of the New Zealand Guidelines Group, where one of her key responsibilities was the management and oversight of the organization’s finances. She was Vice-Chair of the Guidelines International Network (G-I-N) Founding Committee and Vice-Chair of the G-I-N Board of Trustees. Catherine has provided consultancy advice and training on guideline implementation in New Zealand (NZ), Australia, Malaysia, Brazil, Singapore, and Canada, as well as for G-I-N and Cochrane. She is also a member of the NZ Stronger Consumer Voices Alliance. She helped organize and participate in the consumer programs for the 2018 Cochrane Colloquium in Edinburgh.

The Board is delighted to welcome back Rae and Catherine.

Questions and comments to the Board are invited at support@cochrane.org