Thank you to those who voted in the recent Governing Board election. Over 600 people cast their votes.  

We’re delighted to announce that the following candidates have been elected:

CHI, Yuan

GREEN, Sally (re-elected for a second term)

PARDO PARDO, Jordi (re-elected for a second term)

PERSAD, Emma

PIECHOTTA, Vanessa

Three elected candidates are 30 years old or younger and all were elected outright. The full vote count is available on the results page.

The Board is responsible for overseeing the development and implementation of Cochrane’s strategic direction. Learn more about the Governing Board on the Cochrane Community website.

For any questions, please contact Cochrane Support.

Dear Cochrane friends and colleagues,

We hope you are doing well, as this year begins to close, and that this message finds you and your loved ones safe and well.

Organizational and editorial updates

Cochrane Sustainable Healthcare joins forces with the BMJ to explore new ways to make health systems healthier. We’re very happy to share this new podcast series, which looks at initiatives to wind back the medical excess that is causing harm to people and the planet.

Cochrane Connects Recordings. We were so pleased to gather with the Cochrane Community on Tuesday, November 16, 2021. The Community heard updates on Cochrane's approach to Open Access, celebrated the 2021 Prize and Awards winners, and learned about the activities of the Cochrane Climate-Health Working Group. Recordings from the event are now available, and you can also view a summary of event statistics and evaluation survey responses. 

Cochrane seeks a Director of Development. As part of the Central Executive Team (CET) Restructure, we are now looking to recruit our first Director of Development, whose role will be to work with the global community to grow our fundraising income substantially in the coming years. As a member of the executive leadership team, they will lead the Development Directorate and establish a fundraising operation that works collaboratively to deliver significant global income growth. Learn more about this role, and please do share with your networks.

With our best wishes,

Karla Soares-Weiser
Editor in Chief, Cochrane Library

Judith Brodie
Interim CEO

On Tuesday, November 16, 2021, the Cochrane Community gathered together to hear updates on Cochrane's approach to Open Access, celebrate the 2021 Prize and Awards winners, and hear from representatives of the Cochrane Climate-Health Working Group. 

Recordings from the event are available below. Statistics of attendance at the event and a summary of the event evaluation survey responses can be found here.  

Welcome, Introduction, and Open Access

2021 Prizes and Awards

Cochrane Climate Health Working Group

This was the first in a series of free, online events open to everyone in Cochrane. Members will have the opportunity to meet colleagues, hear about and celebrate achievements from Cochrane Groups and take part in active discussions to help shape Cochrane's organizational priorities for 2021/2.

These 90 minute online events are planned throughout 2022 – the next event is planned for 15 February 2022. 

You can suggest future event topics by emailing: meetings@cochrane.org 

Cochrane has invested significant amounts of time and money into improving the author experience. We have also been raising methodological expectations, which makes it increasingly challenging to be an author of a Cochrane review. In 2019 an author survey focusing on author experience in three key areas was sent out: editorial experience; learning experience, and technology experience. Whilst there are other elements that are part of the experience of being a Cochrane author, we felt these were the most important factors for the organisation to explore. View the results from the 2019 Author Experience Survey. 

In 2021 we contacted authors who had published a Cochrane review in the last 2 years, so that we capture the views of authors since our last survey. View the 2021 Author Experience Survey results. Overall, the 2021 survey presents a positive picture for author satisfaction in Cochrane with many authors considering themselves highly satisfied or satisfied with the experience, and also considering the experience better than that of working with other journals. This is useful for us to know, but there is also a rich source of feedback that has accompanied the quantitative results and we will be working our way through that to understand how we can do better in future.

If you have any questions about this survey or wish to know more about any particular point, please contact Chris Champion, Head of People Services: cchampion@cochrane.org 

• 2019 Author Experience Survey
• 2021 Author Experience Survey

Congratulations to Jackie Ho, Winner of 2021 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 severally 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.

"Jackie Ho, as a founder of Cochrane Malaysia and a leader who has involved women at all level of the Malaysian network, is an inspiration to all women in Cochrane.  I have seen Jackie’s encouragement and support in action throughout the Australasian network and at Cochrane meetings around the world.  Jackie epitomizes the Anne Anderson Award through her long-term contributions to the enhancement and visibility of women’s participation within Cochrane.” Anne Anderson Committe Co-Chair, Lisa Bero

The Cochrane Live event has been postponed until spring 2022. Please contact Cochrane Sweden for more information. 

Cochrane wants to welcome people, no matter who they are or where they live. The more varied perspectives we have, the better we can provide evidence to help inform health and healthcare decisions.
 
We have contributors, supporters and members from all over the world, but we know very little about our community and what is important to you. This is an opportunity to learn from our community and hear your ideas about how Cochrane can become a more diverse and inclusive organisation.
 
We’ve launched a survey and are also running small online meetings. You can take part by:

1. completing the short survey here now.  It only takes a few minutes. You don’t need to give your name. Please complete by 30 November, 2021.
2. AND letting us know if you are interested in attending a small group meeting to talk about your experiences of diversity and inclusion in Cochrane. If you are interested sign up here to stay informed.

    

We want to hear from you whether you are involved a lot in Cochrane or not much at all.  Your feedback will help to create a Diversity and Inclusion Strategy in 2022.
 
Chris Champion, Head of People Services, says “Cochrane is a worldwide organisation that aspires to be diverse and inclusive. We want everyone to be able to participate in Cochrane, regardless of who they are and where they come from. This matters to Cochrane, because if we are more inclusive, we will be able to provide better and more relevant evidence to our users who are at the heart of our vision.”
 
If you want to know more about this work then please contact Chris Champion, cchampion@cochrane.org

Cochrane is delighted to announce the launch of Cochrane Evidence Essentials modules in Russian

Cochrane Evidence Essentials is an introduction to evidence-based medicine (EBM), clinical trials and Cochrane evidence. It was originally designed for healthcare consumers (patients, care givers, family members), policy makers, and members of the healthcare team. In its original language – English – Cochrane Evidence Essentials proved to be especially valuable to the growing English-speaking community of patients, carers, and family members who work alongside researchers to co-create Cochrane evidence.

Professor Liliya Eugenevna Ziganshina, Director of Cochrane Russia, commented on the launch of the modules in Russian language:

“At Cochrane Russia we are delighted and privileged to contribute to the translation of Cochrane Evidence Essentials. This was exciting work, involving language, methodology, and clinical expertise. Producing Cochrane Evidence Essentials in Russian was initially begun by a resident in surgery from the Far East of Russia, Rouslan Zhasybaev, of the Far East State Medical University. Rouslan translated some of the major concepts into Russian in a form of Powerpoint presentation, and came to Cochrane Russia for advice with many concepts. This proved to be neither simple nor straightforward for understanding and translation! With Russian Translations Manager, Ekaterina V. Yudina, we delved into the project and it became not only a fascinating experience, but, importantly, an empowering exercise for all of those involved! It became one of the key components of Cochrane Russia Knowledge Translation.

We believe that Cochrane Evidence Essentials in Russian will become a wonderful and unique educational resource for all residents, PhD students, and researchers interested in evidence based medicine (EBM). Cochrane Evidence Essentials in Russian will give them a fascinating learning opportunity and equip them with essential set of skills and knowledge base for evidence-based research in health for clinical, research, teaching, and personal development.

This becomes even more important in the current Russian EBM environment, with growing recognition and respect for Cochrane and increased uptake of Cochrane review Plain language summaries, translated into Russian.

We hope that the Russian version of Cochrane Evidence Essentials will contribute to better training in EBM in Russia, promoting improved understanding and use of Cochrane Reviews in clinical decision-making, training, and research all over Russia and beyond.”

Cochrane Evidence Essentials includes four free online learning modules, presented in the form of a story. The learning is interactive, with things to read, watch, and listen to; quizzes; and ways to check your learning. There are links to further resources for those who wish to continue learning about a particular topic.

The modules have been co-produced by healthcare consumers and researchers, with the support of Cochrane’s Central Executive Team.

• The online modules in Russian can be accessed with a free Cochrane account at https://training.cochrane.org/ru/essentials

Dear Cochrane Members,

Thank you for voting in the recent Cochrane Council elections!

Agustín Ciapponi has been re-elected for an additional three-year term as an Author representative on the Cochrane Council. Agustín is an author on over 20 Cochrane Reviews and is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He will continue his 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.

Best wishes,

Cochrane Governance & Strategy Unit