Cochrane is closing out a year of significant change and challenges with positive news of a major milestone in our transition to a more streamlined and sustainable organization. Following an open and rigorous application process, we are pleased to announce the first set of pilot Cochrane Thematic Groups – each mapping to key areas of global health and social care.

The Cochrane Thematic Groups are:

• Global Ageing
• Health Equity
• Nutrition and Physical Activity
• Person-Centred Care, Public Health and Health Systems
• Sexual and Reproductive Health
• Vascular
• Work and Health and Social Security

"The concept of Thematic Groups was developed at a grass roots level during last year’s community consultation process," explains Cochrane’s Editor in Chief, Karla Soares-Weiser. "The creation and remit of these new groups reflects the clear community consensus that our specialist content and methods experts must have a central role and home within our new production model."

"It’s already evident from the calibre of first round applications we received that this was a fantastic idea. Thematic Groups will open new avenues and opportunities for expanding our existing global networks and cross-disciplinary collaborations. They’ll also enable us to share vital subject expertise and practical know-how with internal and external stakeholders, including guideline developers, government agencies, policy makers and disease associations working on the world’s most pressing issues. We know there’s no shortage of complex global challenges to address – including pandemic recovery and future preparedness, equity, climate change and a raft of other important Sustainable Development Goals we have in our sights."

To contribute to global efforts across these critical areas, Thematic Groups will focus on priority setting and supporting the development and dissemination of high-quality evidence in accessible formats. They will work closely with the ten new multi-disciplinary Evidence Synthesis Units (ESUs) we plan to establish over the next three to five years. Any evidence syntheses developed by the Thematic Groups will be submitted to Cochrane’s Central Editorial Service.

To keep the community up to date with these and other developments, an updated Future Cochrane site will be launched in mid-December. It will include:

• a new series profiling the people, partnerships and priorities of each new Thematic Group
• key information about Cochrane’s new model and organizational structure
• access to this year’s entire webinar series on various aspects of transition plans, projects and processes
• the aims, milestones and estimated timelines for the 10 major projects underway to deliver our new model of production.

 "We know the last few years have seen the Cochrane community grappling with the uncertainty and profound challenges that come with major transitions," Karla says. "The establishment of our first round of Thematic Groups represents a really positive and significant step in Cochrane’s organizational transformation and sets the scene for a new year of further progress and promising possibilities."

• Learn more about the future of evidence synthesis in Cochrane

At the 2022 Annual General Meeting in October, members approved a resolution reappointing Sayer Vincent until the conclusion of a tender process to appoint new auditors. UK charities must be audited by law and the Governing Board followed legal advice in recommending the reappointment of Sayer Vincent until the conclusion of the process.

Following a rigorous tender and interview process,  it can now be reported  that the Governing Board has approved Price Bailey as auditors for a maximum term of five years, subject to members agreeing an annual Annual General Meeting resolution.   

• Watch a recording of the 2022 Annual General Meeting
• Learn more about Cochrane's governance and management, including financial and statutory reporting

Dear Cochrane Members,

Thank you for voting in the re-run Cochrane Council election!

Nai Ming Lai has been elected for a three-year term as an Author representative on the Cochrane Council. Nai Ming is Professor of Paediatrics at the School of Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at Taylor’s University in Malaysia. Trained as a Paediatrician and Neonatologist, Nai Ming has been a Cochrane author since 2004 with 26 reviews at various stages of development with 12 different review groups. He has multiple other roles in Cochrane, including associate editor in Cochrane Neonatal and Cochrane Clinical Answers, editor in Cochrane Malay translation group, peer reviewer and annotator in Cochrane Linked Data Project. He serves as consultant in systematic review for the Malaysian National Institute of Health and mentors researchers from different parts of the world in systematic review development. He will work alongside fellow author representative Vanessa Jordan.

Thank you to all the candidates who stood in these elections. The vote count for the Council election is available upon request by email to elections@cochrane.org.

• Learn more about the Cochrane Council 
• View the membership of the Cochrane Council

 "We are both thrilled and honoured to receive the 2022 Chris Silagy Prize.  We have witnessed this prize being awarded numerous times over the past 18 years and the fact that it is given to recognise extraordinary contributions within Cochrane is a gesture which resonates with us both and is a wonderful reflection on Chris Silagy himself. Unfortunately we never had the opportunity to meet or work with Chris but one of the aspects that makes this award so special is the association our first Co-ordinating Editor, Chris Williams, had with him.  We have enjoyed hearing him share memories of the time they worked together during the very early days of the Cochrane Collaboration when our Group was established.

We have had an extraordinary journey during our years with Cochrane and it is the people who we have met and worked with during this time which has made it so.  Our close Group colleagues – Jo Morrison, Robin Grant, Mike Hart, our past Co-ordinating Editor Chris Williams, Jo Platt and Tracey Harrison as well as all our national and international friends, colleagues and author teams have made the years working with our Group so rewarding both professionally and personally.  

It has been more than a job in many ways and in the true spirit of collaboration always a team effort. This honour comes at a poignant time when significant change lies ahead for our Group as well as many other CRGs so with this in mind we would like to dedicate its wonderful sentiment to all of our Cochrane colleagues.  In particular, our Managing Editor colleagues with whom we have not only shared so much regarding our day-to-day work but have also enjoyed lots of fun times together, ensuring incredibly happy memories for life.

We would also like to acknowledge Chris’ family and supporters for ensuring this important prize continues in his memory.

Thank you, once again, from both of us."

Gail Quinn and Clare Jess, 2022 Chris Silagy Prize winners

We asked Sally Green, Chris Silagy Prize Committee Chair what made Gail and Clare such a worthy winners this year
Clare Jess and Gail Quinn are joint Managing Editors for the Gynaecological, neuro-oncology and Orphan Cancer Cochrane review group. Clare and Gail started as Managing Editors in January 2004, and have been a longstanding fabulous team and the beating heart of the Group. Both Clare and Gail have been involved in Cochrane at an international level, representing and co-chairing the Managing Editors executive group and Cochrane Council between them. Clare joined the Managing Editors exec in Jan 2016, and was Co-convenor from April 2020 to Dec 2021. Gail has been on Council since its inception in 2017. Both Gail and Clare have been champions of Cochrane and their Managing Editor constituency, and have made an extraordinary contribution to Cochrane.

We also asked Sally some questions about the Chris Silagy Prize, which is awarded to an individual who has made an "extraordinary" contribution to the work of Cochrane which would not be recognized outside the scope of this prize. The Chis Silagy Prize is one of several prizes awarded annually at the colloquium.

Can you talk about your relationship with Chris Silagy? In your view, what impact did he have on Cochrane?
Chris was the foundation Director of the (then) Australasian Cochrane Centre. While Chris was on Fellowship in Oxford, Iain Chalmers recognized his potential to lead Cochrane in Australia on his return home, and together they helped to establish the Cochrane Australia in 1994. At this time it was based in Adelaide, with Philippa as Assistant Director. When the Centre moved to Melbourne, Chris recruited Sally and Steve McDonald to help build the presence at Monash. Sally had met Philippa and Chris as the first Australian Cochrane Fellow during a blistering 40-degree week in Adelaide in 1999.

Chris had an enormous and positive impact on the Cochrane Collaboration. He was Chair of the Steering Group from 1996 to 1998, and put together Cochrane’s first strategic plan. He had immeasurable energy (we used to call him the tornado) and a talent for fostering success in others.

Why did Chris feel it was important for this fund to be set up?
Chris had long advocated that Cochrane’s success was due largely to the efforts, altruism and collaborative outlook of many people, often working in under-recognized roles. When he died of lymphoma in 2001, aged 41, Chris requested a fund be established to recognize and reward these individuals, and so the Chris Silagy Prize was established.

Why is this Prize so important to the work of Cochrane?
The inaugural Prize, awarded in Stavanger in 2002, exemplified Chris’s intentions when Jini Hetherington became the first recipient of the Chris Silagy Prize. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. We love the Chris Silagy Prize not only as it remembers our friend Chris, but because it also provides a way of celebrating the special characteristics of the people who have been recipients. There is nothing else like it.

We believe Chris would have been absolutely delighted to see the way Cochrane has developed and grown, and would have joined us in celebrating all of the individuals who have been awarded the Prize over the past 14 years (see here for list).

Even if you didn’t know Chris Silagy, we are sure all would agree that it remains important to celebrate the attributes and efforts of those who contribute to Cochrane in these special ways.

What were the judges looking for?
The selection panel is made up of Prize recipients. The criteria against which nominees are scored are:

• making an extraordinary contribution to Cochrane;
• making a contribution that exceeds the expectations of their employment;
• making a contribution to Cochrane that would not be recognised outside the scope of this Prize;
• identified by their peers as consistently contributing to a spirit of collaboration.

What are prize recipients awarded?
Chris Silagy Prize recipients are awarded $AUD 1000 from a memorial fund held by Monash University. In addition, they receive a certificate, and Cochrane meets expenses associated with them attending the next Colloquium. The Prize is awarded at the Colloquium each year.

For more information on The Chris Silagy Prize see here.

  Every year Cochrane recognizes the outstanding work of Kenneth Warren, a scientist, extremely influential in drawing attention to the 'great neglected diseases' that plague people in developing countries. He prioritized the need for valid summaries of key research studies and to the way electronic media could be used to disseminate results of health research.

Kenneth was an enthusiastic supporter of the pilot work in pregnancy and childbirth that led to the creation of The Cochrane Collaboration, and, with Fred Mosteller, he co-organized the meeting at the New York Academy of Sciences at which the vision for Cochrane was first made public.

The Kenneth Warren Prize is awarded every year by Cochrane to a scientist who publishes a Cochrane Review about a health issue in developing countries. The winning entry judged to be both of high methodological quality and relevant to health problems in low income countries.

2022’s winner is Eleanor Ochodo-Opondo, for "Point-of-care tests detecting HIV nucleic acids for diagnosis of HIV-1 or HIV-2 infection in infants and children aged 18 months or less"

How did it feel winning the prize?
It felt great! I am passionate about evidence-based diagnostics and was excited that my systematic review of diagnostic test accuracy was recognised.

How did you first find out about Cochrane, and indeed the Kenneth Warren Prize?
I first found out about Cochrane while doing my PhD at the University of Amsterdam.  I published a Cochrane diagnostic test accuracy review as part of my PhD thesis in collaboration with authors from Cochrane Netherlands.

What’s been the impact of winning the prize to you, and your work?
Looking through past awards, this seems to be the first diagnostic test accuracy review recognised by the Kenneth Warren Prize. Back in the year 2012 during my PhD , I penned an opinion piece  " Systematic reviews of diagnostic test accuracy for evidence-based diagnostic practice in Africa" to encourage the conduct and use of such reviews in Africa. This award validates aspects that I articulated in the opinion piece. In addition, the awarded review involved mentoring a novice review author from Kenya (2nd author of review) which I did. This award recognition inspired her.

Finally, how important is this prize, its heritage, and prestige in promoting Cochrane and evidence based health care?
The Kenneth Warren Prize recognises high quality reviews conducted by nationals of developing countries. This is one way of encouraging the conduct of cochrane reviews and promotion of evidence based health care in developing countries.

  Congratulations to Tiffany Duque, Winner of 2022 Anne Anderson Prize

The Anne Anderson Award recognizes a female member of Cochrane who has made a significant contribution to the enhancement and visibility of women's participation within Cochrane. The Anne Anderson Award is one of several prizes awarded annually.

Who was Anne Anderson?
Anne Anderson was a contributor to the stream of thinking and effort that gave birth to evidence-based health care. A clinically qualified reproductive physiologist, Anne had an active interest in women’s health, co-editing the first edition of Women’s Problems in General Practice with Ann McPherson and contributed to Effectiveness and Satisfaction in Antenatal Care (1982), edited by Murray Enkin and Iain Chalmers. She was discussing with Marc Keirse and Iain Chalmers the possibility of co-editing a companion volume on elective birth, however her premature death from breast cancer in 1983 ended her involvement. Anne Anderson was 46 years old when she died. Iain Chalmers, Murray Enkin and Marc Keirse went on to publish Effective Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth (ECPC) in 1989, dedicating the book in part to Anne. ECPC, through its systematic approach to assessing the research literature, is widely acknowledged to have led to development of Cochrane.

What’s the goal of the Anne Anderson Award?

The goal of the Anne Anderson Award is to recognize and stimulate individuals contributing to the enhancement of women’s visibility and participation in Cochrane’s leadership. In the footsteps of Anne Anderson, many outstanding women continue to contribute and inspire other women to improve health knowledge for the good of their communities.

The Award recipient receives a plaque from Cochrane honouring her contributions. She then designates the cash award of 3,000 USD to assist a woman from a low-resource setting with her Cochrane activities, who should eventually provide a brief written report on how the funds have been used.

"Tiffany Duque has 20+ years of experience in global and US public health, mostly in the areas of research, program design and management, and partnerships. Her technical focus area is global nutrition and she has lived and worked in many countries, including the US, Bhutan, South Africa, Mexico, and Colombia. Since starting with Cochrane in 2020, Tiffany has taken initiative to collaborate with Cochrane colleagues around the world, and also to encourage and motivate women and early career health scientists to get involved in evidence-based healthcare despite challenges they may face. In 2021, Tiffany founded the Cochrane US Mentoring Program which had 9 mentees in it’s first year, and currently has 28 in Year 2 – selected from 370 applicants from 41 countries. Her commitment, inspiration, and dedication to the mentees, 75% of whom are women, prompted her nomination by colleagues for this prestigious award.” Anne Anderson Committe Co-Chair, Bob Dellavalle

The next meeting of the Cochrane Council is on 9 November. The Council aims to ensure that Cochrane Groups have an effective voice in Cochrane’s leadership and strategic decision-making.

If you have an idea or issue you would like the Council to discuss at a forthcoming meeting, you should contact your Council representatives, or email support@cochrane.org.

More information about the Council is available on Cochrane Community.

Cochrane London 2023: Forward together for trusted evidence
4-6 September 2023
Central London, UK

Cochrane is an international non-profit network that provides evidence-based scientific knowledge to improve healthcare for all people worldwide. Cochrane Reviews summarise all available research on a specific health question. They are up-to-date, follow a rigorous scientific methodology, and are free from commercial conflicts of interest. Health professionals, patients, and policy makers trust Cochrane Reviews for their healthcare decision-making. Cochrane works with researchers, health professionals, patients, policy makers, and media representatives from around the world to make Cochrane Reviews relevant and usable.

Cochrane holds an annual conference, known as a Colloquium, that brings together Cochrane researchers, clinical professionals, early career professionals, patients and carers, policymakers, and anyone interested in evidence synthesis and evidence-based healthcare. The events are a mix of keynote speakers, training opportunities, workshops, presentations, and a lively social and networking atmosphere. They are an exciting opportunity for a community of evidence synthesis enthusiasts to share, learn, and connect.  

Cochrane was founded 30 years ago in Oxford and to mark this anniversary the colloquium will be held in the United Kingdom. It will take place at the QEII Centre in Westminster, Central London, hosted by Cochrane UK. The main programme will run from the 4th to the 6th of September, with satellite events and meetings on the 3rd September 2023.

This will be the first time the Cochrane community has come together since 2018 and in recognition of this, it is being designed to celebrate the diverse, global and cohesive nature of the collaboration that is Cochrane. As in previous years there will be stipends to make it possible for students, early career professionals and those from low-and middle-income countries to attend. The Colloquium theme is forward together for trusted evidence. 

Martin Burton, Director of Cochrane UK, said: “After 30 years of producing and advocating for the use of high-quality evidence, Cochrane can look back on many significant achievements.  Now we need to look forward together.”

Catherine Spencer, Cochrane CEO said, “The 2023 Cochrane Colloquium is an event for everyone with an interest in the use of evidence in healthcare decision making. We welcome those engaged in evidence production, co-production, dissemination, implementation and policy making, as well as those making individual healthcare decisions to join us for this exciting event.”

Registration will open in early 2023. Scientific programme will be announced in the coming months.

• Find out more at the Colloquium website
• #CochraneLondon
• Press contact: Katie Abbotts, Cochrane UK

In order to be relevant to the needs of users, Cochrane evidence needs to respond to national, regional, and global health priorities. This page provides a round-up of current priority setting activities submitted by Cochrane Groups - updated throughout the month. See the 'Priority Setting' pages of Cochrane Training for additional information on priority setting; including sample documents, FAQs, and case studies. 

If you would like to add your prioritization project or activities , please  provide the following information to lparsonson@cochrane.org:
Cochrane Group:
URL of Group website:
Twitter Handle:
Title of Priority Setting:
General information: 1-2 sentences explaining what the scope of the priority setting is, any specific methods and/or stakeholders which will be involved.
Target Audience: 1-2 sentences explaining the target audience of your current stage in your priority setting. e.g. general public, health professionals. 
Special requests: Optional; Is there anything (with approximate dates) that the Cochrane Central Executive or other Cochrane Groups/Cochrane members could help with? e.g. Disseminating surveys, linking up with stakeholders etc.
End date: What is the date after which input from other Cochrane Groups would be unhelpful? When should your information be updated and moved to completed?
Further information: e.g. Link to priority setting plan on Group website, link to survey.

Cochrane Eyes and Vision
Twitter Handle: @CochraneEyes
Title of Priority Setting: Identifying priority review questions for Cochrane Eyes and Vision
General information: We are conducting a priority setting exercise to assess systematically the nature and extent of research questions relevant to our scope, and to formally incorporate input from a wider range of stakeholders to set priorities for new and updated reviews.
Target Audience: Users of evidence to make health care decisions related to eyes
Special requests: Please dissemiante this survey, suggested tweet to be found here
End date: June 2022
Further information: https://eyes.cochrane.org/news/cochrane-eyes-and-vision-priority-setting-exercise

Cochrane Gynaecological, Neuro-oncology and Orphan Cancers
Title of Priority Setting: Priority Setting Exercise by the Cochrane Gynaecological, Neuro-oncology and Orphan Cancers Group
General information:  The priority setting exercise aims to identify ten new priority review titles and ten priority reviews for update within the areas of cervical/vulval, endometrial and ovarian cancer. The results of the exercise will shape the output of the Gynaecological, Neuro-oncology and Orphan Cancers (GNOC) Group to ensure it meets the needs of end-users.
Target Audience: The target audience for this exercise is end-users of GNOC Group evidence. Stakeholders involved in prioritisation will include advocacy groups/ charities, patients and carers, medical colleges and societies, researchers, policy makers and guideline developers.
Special requests: The GNOC group aim to share the main survey (stage 2 in the plan) in September 2021. Links to the survey will be posted on the GNOC Group website and social media. Any help in sharing it would be much appreciated.
End date: The estimated end date for the full exercise is December 2021.
Further information: https://gnoc.cochrane.org/ and Priority Setting Plan

Cochrane Emergency and Critical Care
Title of Priority Setting: Prioritization process for the Emergency and Critical Care Review Group
General information: Our prioritization process aims to support the production of high-quality, clinically relevant reviews, with meaningful impact and utility for clinicians, patients, policymakers and guideline developers by identifying priority topics for new reviews and updates. A steering group will engage external stakeholder groups to solicit topic nominations, and our current catalogue of reviews will be assessed. Eligible titles will then be prioritized through an informal ranking process with input from our editorial board and steering group. The resulting list of priority reviews will be disseminated widely.
Target Audience: Clinicians, clinical societies and associations, patients, policymakers and guideline developers.
End date: As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, this process has been put on hold as we are currently prioritizing work on COVID-19 related reviews and initiatives. We still plan to release the results of this exercise in 2021.
Further information: Read more about the prioritization process

Cochrane Airways
Title of Priority Setting: Cochrane Airways priority-setting project
General information: A survey and rolling literature surveillance program to gather stakeholder questions. A priority-setting group has been established to develop systematic review questions from the stakeholder questions and select the highest priority review topics. They have completed a Delphi-type process to rank and produce a list of their top 12 uncertainties. These will be worked up into topics for Cochrane Reviews.
Target Audience: The group seeks to prioritise questions/uncertainties submitted in a survey by people living with, or their carers, a respiratory condition such as asthma, COPD, bronchiectasis, sleep apnea, interstitial lung disease or pulmonary hypertension. The group of stakeholders includes patients, carers healthcare professionals and researchers to join our priority-setting advisory group.
Further information: Priority setting plan and report

Cochrane Acute Respiratory Infections
General information: We define priority setting as making informed decisions about review topics to ensure that concepts identified through consultation with health professionals, consumer representatives, and other stakeholders, are met. The purpose of the project was to identify priority topics of interest to our stakeholders for review. We undertook a Delphi survey with stakeholders, research gaps analysis (to determine interventions and health conditions for which there are RCTs not systematically reviewed by Cochrane), and analysed clinicians' searches for ARI-related topics on the Trip database.
Target Audience: Stakeholders included clinicians, representatives of healthcare consumer organisation, academics, and Cochrane members
End date: We completed the planned priority-setting project components. We now plan to undertake further activities in the future as resources permit.
Further information: See our reports and publications relating to the ARI review priority-setting project at our website

Cochrane Hypertension
Title of Priority Setting: Cochrane Hypertension Priority Setting Project
General information: In Phase 1, we mapped existing Cochrane Hypertension review titles to the top ten priorities identified by the Hypertension Canada Priority Setting Partnership Group (HCPSPG), which used the James Lind Alliance priority setting process. Phase 2, a bilingual (English/Spanish) social media engagement campaign (#AskCochraneHTN) to solicit additional priorities from patients and other stakeholders via an online questionnaire is currently underway.
Target Audience: The priority-setting exercises are designed to confirm that we are focussing our efforts on reviews which have been cited by our stakeholders (patients, carers, clinicians, and researchers) as being of the highest importance and that we are compliant with Cochrane requirements for priority-setting.
End Date: TBD
Further information: Our priority setting plan is available in English and Spanish.

Cochrane First Aid
Twitter Handle: @Cochrane_FA
Title of Priority Setting: Prioritization of new topics for first aid-related Cochrane reviews
General information: With our prioritization exercise process, we aimed to generate a list of five priority topics for new Cochrane reviews, that are of interest to our stakeholders (including lay first aid providers and first aid guideline developers).
Target Audience:  Lay first aid providers and first aid guideline developers
End date: The exercise is completed. Results are published on the website.
Further information: https://firstaid.cochrane.org/news/prioritization-new-topics-first-aid-related-cochrane-reviews and https://firstaid.cochrane.org/news/priority-exercise-%E2%80%93-input-lmic

Cochrane Bone, Joint and Muscle Trauma Group
General information: We want to find out what people do to reduce their risk of exercise-related injuries and what evidence they would find helpful on injury prevention, to identify priority topics for future systematic reviews. Information will be gathered from two online surveys aimed at (1) sports participants and (2) people providing sports/physical activity support. The results of both surveys will go forward to inform and provide core material for the third stage where we will approach people including subject experts, Cochrane stakeholders and researchers to take part in a Delphi procedure.
Target Audience: We are now at the first stage in our project and are asking people aged over 16 who participate in sports or physical activity to complete an online survey.
End date: Provisionally, the end of the project is 31st March 2021.
Further information: See the webpage for more information and the survey

Cochrane PaPaS
Twitter Handle: @CochranePaPaS
Title of Priority Setting: Adult palliative care
General information: This prioritisation survey aims to identify the most important questions in adult palliative care. The responses will guide our decision making over the next five years as we update existing Cochrane Reviews and identify further questions.
Target Audience: We want to focus our research on questions that are meaningful and important to our stakeholders. The survey is open to everyone with experience and an interest in this area, such as patients and carers; clinicians and health professionals; researchers; charities, groups and organizations; policy makers and guideline developers.
Special requests: Please share with your contacts. Suggested tweets and email templates are available in this dissemination package.
End date: 1 March 2021
Further information:  https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/HN6YR5K News item on website

Cochrane Urology
Title of Priority Setting: Priority setting process for Cochrane Urology
Focus: benign conditions of the prostate
General information: For this short prioritisation exercise, we will consult with our editorial base and external stakeholders on which topics we need to update or address with new reviews. This first stage will include a survey to our editors and a second stage will involve a survey to a wide range of stakeholders.
Target Audience: People suffering from benign conditions of the prostate, partners, carers, clinicians, policymakers, guideline developers and professional and consumer organisations, among others.
Special Request: Help disseminate survey by social media or targeted emails. We also welcome you to suggest key stakeholders that we should contact.
Suggested tweet: The @CochraneUrology Group has launched a prioritisation survey to identify the most important questions related to benign conditions of the prostate. Submit your responses here by 30 April:  https://buff.ly/3vQ44ae #LUTS #BPE #BPH #UrologyPriorities
Suggested tweet: If you are an individual who has been affected by a #prostatic disease, a carer, health professional, guideline developer, researcher, policymaker or part of an advocacy group, @CochraneUrology would like to hear what review topics are important to you! https://buff.ly/3vQ44ae
End date: April 2021
Further information: Our full plan can be found on our website (https://urology.cochrane.org/news/cochrane-urology-review-group-priority-setting). We will disseminate the survey to external stakeholders once we finalise the first stage.

Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth
Title of Priority Setting: Stakeholder prioritisation 2020
General information: For this short prioritisation exercise, we have compiled a shortlist of 29 existing Cochrane Reviews (published between 2002 and 2020) that have been cited in NICE guidelines in the last two years. We would like to identify the most important reviews for updating within the next two years. 
Further information: Priority setting survey can be accessed here. 

Cochrane Neuromuscular Update
Title of Priority Setting: Neuromuscular priority setting
General information: This new priority setting exercise will identify 20 to 30 reviews to be the main focus of our work over the next three years. The process will help us to identify priorities for updating published reviews and completing ongoing reviews, as well as identifying any gaps where new reviews are needed.
Target Audience: Having surveyed our Editorial Board and the Neuromuscular Academic Advisory Group of the Association of British Neurologists, we are now in consultation with consumer stakeholder groups
End date: We aim to publish the implementation plan for our priority reviews shortly.
Further information: Priority setting plan on the Cochrane Neuromuscular Group website

Cochrane Incontinence
Title of Priority Setting: Priority setting for faecal incontinence 
General information: We carried out a priority-setting exercise to identify the top priority areas for research into faecal incontinence. Using robust methodology, we assessed research gaps by identifying existing systematic reviews and upcoming clinical trials. We asked stakeholders to complete a survey to give their expertise and tell us which areas they consider to be a priority. The results from these three streams were collated, and an evidence gap map was developed. We used the evidence map to facilitate knowledge transfer during an online workshop attended by carefully selected participants. The workshop was designed to refine and rank the priority areas and explore what was important to patients in more detail.  The results have been written into a report and can be found on the Cochrane website which is linked below. Over the next 12 months and beyond, the Cochrane Incontinence group will prioritise and develop review questions on faecal incontinence according to the findings of this exercise.  
Target Audience: Adults with experience in managing and/or living with faecal incontinence, clinicians, societies, advocacy groups, policymakers and guideline developers.
End date: This project is complete
Further information: Read more about the prioritisation work on the Cochrane Incontinence website.

Abdomen and Endocrine Network in collaboration with the Public Health and Health Systems Network and the Nutrition Field
Title of Priority Setting: Obesity Gap Analysis and Prioritisation (OGAP) Project
General information: Our aim is to identify the ‘top ten’ research priorities in the field of obesity that are the most important for stakeholders. Our specific objectives are to identify gaps in the Cochrane Library by comparing existing titles to research needs identified in clinical guidelines, and to consult with stakeholders to prioritise these gaps.

UPDATE! The OGAP Project is now complete and results will be published shortly. For further information, please contact rrichardson@cochrane.org. In the meantime, we would like to thank all the expert stakeholders who contributed to the prioritisation exercise:

Alejandro Gonzalez, Amanda Adegboye, Anel Schoonees, Annalijn Conklin, Anne Martin, Bernd Richter, Boyd Swinburn, Brittani Beavis, Catherine Marshall, Cindy Farquhar, Cintia Curioni, Claudio Maffeis, David Broom, Elaine Rush, Elizabeth Sturgiss, Emily Belarmino, Giuliana Valerio, Jeffrey Hamdorf, Kate Berridge, Laura Anderson, Louise Baur, Maria-Inti Metzendorf, Maureen Dobbins, Michael Jensen, Paula  Brauer, Peter von Philipsborn, Sarika Paul, Shane Nugent, Simon Bacon, Soana Muimuiheata, Sue Curry, Susan de Jersey, Zeinab Hosseini and three further experts who chose to contribute anonymously.

Cochrane Rehabilitation
Title of Priority Setting: Cochrane Rehabilitation Prioritisation Exercise
General information: In collaboration with 41 national Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine societies and 100 health professionals (9 different professions) coming from 39 countries, Cochrane Rehabilitation Prioritisation Exercise aims to identify the current research gaps in rehabilitation-relevant Cochrane Systematic Reviews production and to define the priorities for research among these gaps. The project included five Delphi Rounds: the first three aimed to modify and approve the Cochrane Rehabilitation Ebook Index, which was the external reference framework the project started from, while the last two aimed to identify research priorities according to the existing Cochrane evidence.
Target Audience: clinicians, researchers, rehabilitation stakeholders
End date: The exercise is completed and the results will be published soon.
Further information: https://rehabilitation.cochrane.org/special-projects/prioritization

Cochrane Haematology
Title of Priority Setting: Priority Setting Exercise for Cochrane Haematology Reviews
General information: Our aim is to identify a list of 5 new priority Cochrane review titles and 10 priority Cochrane review titles that need updating in the area of Haematology. Stage one of the priority setting exercise involved forming a list of potential priority topics, including reviews to be updated and new review titles. In stage two of the project these priority update and new review topics were collated into two lists to be circulated to a broader community of external stakeholders in a survey. Respondents prompted to rank your top topics for review updates and new reviews from the lists provided.
Further information: Priority setting plan and dissemination flyer

Epilepsy and Movement Disorders
URL of Group website: epilepsy.cochrane.org   mdg.cochrane.org
Twitter Handle: @CochraneEpileps   @CochraneMDG
Title of Priority Setting: Cochrane Epilepsy Group and Cochrane Movement Disorders prioritisation exercise undertaken as part of the following programme grant, ‘Clinically effective treatments for central nervous system disorders in the NHS, with a focus on epilepsy and Movement Disorders’.
General information: The Liverpool Reviews and Implementation Group (LRiG) developed, on behalf of the Cochrane Epilepsy Group and the Cochrane Movement Disorders Group, a set of online priority setting and topic refinement questionnaires, with invitations sent to 8,000 Epilepsy Action and 4,500 Parkinson’s UK research network members. LRiG co-ordinated social media promotion of the surveys via stakeholders including the core Cochrane network.  The surveys gathered views of over 1,000 respondents (largely UK-based) and provided both clear quantitative priorities and rich descriptive reasons for choosing priority topics.
Target Audience: Patients, healthcare professionals, carers
Further information: Final write up of the exercise and dissemination plan is in progress. 

Cochrane Multiple Sclerosis and Rare Diseases of the CNS
URL of Group website: https://msrdcns.cochrane.org/
Title of Priority Setting: International Survey on Research Priorities for Cochrane Systematic Reviews on Multiple Sclerosis
General information: This is a wide-ranging consultation process aiming to choose new topics for our Cochrane Reviews, and to make sure they would be as useful as possible to the people who need to use, or might be affected by our research: people with MS and their carers, health professionals, researchers and the wider community.
Target Audience: We asked people with MS and their carers, health professionals, researchers and the wider community to share their priorities
End date: The entire process completed in 2021.
Further information: Link to information page on priority setting 

Cochrane Anaesthesia
Title of Priority Setting: Prioritization process for the Anaesthesia Review Group (CARG)
General information: Our prioritization process aims to support the production of high-quality, clinically relevant reviews, with meaningful impact and utility for clinicians, patients, policy makers and guideline developers by identifying priority topics for new reviews and updates. A steering group will engage external stakeholder groups to solicit topic nominations which will then be prioritized through a modified Delphi exercise. The resulting list of priority reviews will be disseminated widely and interim results are expected by August 2020.
Target Audience: Clinicians, clinical societies and associations, patients, policy makers and guideline developers.
Further information: Read more about the prioritization process.
End date: Autumn 2020. Results now available. Work on priority reviews will commence in early 2021.

Cochrane Breast Cancer
Title of Priority Setting: Prioritising breast cancer topics
General Information: In one form or another, we all seem to innately prioritise tasks based on resources (i.e. time, finances, etc.). One of Cochrane’s goals is to prioritise review topics based on a formal prioritisation process, with the aim being that the most relevant and useful reviews are available to its readers. This year, the Cochrane Breast Cancer Group plans to prioritise the breast cancer review topics that will be developed or updated in the Cochrane Library.
Target Audience: Individuals, medical colleges or societies, advocacy groups, and other key breast cancer organisations. 
End Date: 30 November 2019.

Cochrane Cystic Fibrosis and Genetic Disorders
Title of Priority Setting: James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership in CF
General information: We carried out a James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership in CF and together with people living and working with CF identified the top ten priorities for research into CF. These research questions generated new review titles on our priority titles list. A final survey to test applicability and acceptability of the more defined research questions has recently launched.
Target Audience: We included people with CF, parents of children with CF, other family and healthcare professionals both on our steering group and in our surveys. The aim was to feedback what we found to the CF community and to work with stakeholders and funders to promote further research in the areas that are clinically relevant to the CF community. The results of this process influenced our Cochrane priority titles list to ensure that future reviews are those of most importance.
End date: September/October 2019 with publications and dissemination back to the CF community to follow.
Further information: Read more about the prioritization setting work.

Cochrane Ear, Nose and Throat
Title of Priority Setting: Priority setting exercises for balance problems and otitis media with effusion (glue ear)
General information: Building on the success of recent prioritisation projects for chronic rhinosinusitis and chronic otitis media, we are carrying out two new scoping exercises for otitis media with effusion (glue ear), and ENT aspects of balance disorders (including Mèniere’s disorder and benign paroxysmal positional vertigo). Over the next two months, we will set up a small prioritisation group for each topic and undertake a short exercise to identify the most important issues for every aspect of the research questions, including populations, interventions and outcomes.
Target Audience: health care professionals, clinical societies and associations, individuals with experience of balance problems or glue ear and their families.
End date: January 2020.
Further information: Scoping - balance disorders and otitis media with effusion (OME, 'glue ear')

Cochrane Oral Health
Title of Priority Setting: Cochrane Oral Health Priority Setting Project
General information: Cochrane Oral Health is looking for important questions to answer in taking care of the mouth, teeth and gums. We are looking at systematic reviews that we've already published over the past 20 years to see which should be updated, and we are also looking at new questions that may need to be answered.
Target Audience: The next phase in our priority setting process will target specific stakeholders, who are invited by the group to take part. These will include guideline developers, clinicians, researchers and consumer representatives.
End date: February 2020
Further information: All the information about our process (including our priority setting plan and reports on various phases) can be found here on our website. We are also sending out periodic priority setting bulletins, you can sign up to receive them here and catch up with previous issues here.

Cochrane PaPaS
Title of Priority Setting: PaPaS priority setting project 2019
General information: Our review group has a broad scope and we produce reviews on acute and chronic pain, headache and migraine, and palliative and supportive care. We are embarking on a prioritisation exercise to evaluate the scope, coverage, and potential gaps in our portfolio to meet the objectives of the new MOSS Network Strategic Plan and the ongoing aims of Cochrane’s Strategy to 2020. We are following the mandatory standards detailed in the Knowledge Translation guidance.
Target Audience: Once we have identified our priority topics, we will circulate surveys with relevant stakeholders (e.g. organisations, charities, patient groups, and any other relevant individuals or groups) to gather their feedback on the conditions, interventions and populations we need to focus on over the next five years.
End date: Jan 2020
Further information: Find out more about our prioritisation plans for 2019 and beyond.

Cochrane Public Health
Title of Priority Setting: Cochrane Public Health (CPH) Review Prioritisation Process
General information: Our aim of the review prioritisation process is to determine the priorities of Cochrane Public Health (CPH) in order to: direct potential resource expenditure to existing incomplete reviews, updates and planned reviews; decide whether inactive incomplete reviews should be retained; and develop new priority topics. By engaging potential stakeholders in this process, we endeavour to produce reviews that are highly relevant to policy and practice.
Target Audience: All CPH stakeholders, including funders of reviews, guideline developers and stakeholders who translate review findings to inform and impact policy and practice.
End Date: February 2020
Further information: Information regarding the CPH review prioritisation process can be found on the CPH website here: https://ph.cochrane.org/resourcesinfo/topic-prioritisation-process

Cochrane Skin
Title of Priority Setting: Cochrane Skin Prioritisation of Systematic Reviews 2020
General information: We aim to review our existing portfolio, consider gaps and add new review questions.
Target Audience: Clinicians, clinical societies and associations, patients, policy makers and guideline developers. 
Suggested Tweet: Dermatology community! Please help decide the priority topics for Cochrane Skin reviews! Carers, patients,
End date: January 2020
Further information: More info https://skin.cochrane.org/prioritisation

If you would like to add your prioritization project, please  provide the following information to lparsonson@cochrane.org:

Cochrane Group:
URL of Group website:
Twitter Handle:
Title of Priority Setting:
General information: 1-2 sentences explaining what the scope of the priority setting is, any specific methods and/or stakeholders which will be involved.
Target Audience: 1-2 sentences explaining the target audience of your current stage in your priority setting. e.g. general public, health professionals. 
Special requests: Optional; Is there anything (with approximate dates) that the Cochrane Central Executive or other Cochrane Groups/Cochrane members could help with? e.g. Disseminating surveys, linking up with stakeholders etc.
End date: What is the date after which input from other Cochrane Groups would be unhelpful? When should your information be updated and moved to completed?
Further information: e.g. Link to priority setting plan on Group website, link to survey.

Dear Cochrane Authors,

We regret to inform you that the recent election for an author representative on the Council in September 2022 was invalid.

When we undertake elections for author representatives for the Cochrane Council, we contact all Cochrane Members who are review authors to ask who would like to stand for election. Once we have a list of individuals who wish to stand for election, we contact our author members again to ask them to vote.

Unfortunately, for the September 2022 elections, we have identified an error in our process which means that a large number of authors were not informed of the opportunity to vote. As a result, we have to consider the outcome of this author election invalid. We are very sorry that this error has occurred, and we have investigated what happened to ensure this won’t happen again. We can confirm that the error only happened when notifying author members of their opportunity to vote, and so the call for people to stand remains valid. As a result of this, we will run the election again and author members will have three weeks to vote on the candidates following the notification to all author members.

If you have any queries, please email support@cochrane.org

Please visit elections.cochrane.org to vote.