29 November 2011

Update of Country Research Profiles for PHIRE

All revisions of country profiles since last year have now been included on the site page ‘Country Research Profiles’

This provides material for the second phase of PHIRE (Public Health Innovation and Research in Europe), a project by EUPHA and 6 partners, co-funded by the European Commission’s Directorate for Research and Consumers (DG SANCO) which is describing uptake and impact of tracer projects, introduction of nationall research programmes and encouraging national ministries of health input into the European consultation on public health research in 2012.

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12 October 2011

STEPS Report: Public Health Research – Europe’s Future presented at European Commission meeting

The STEPS report was presented by the Coordinator, Professor Mark McCarthy, at the European Health Policy Forum in Brussels on 12 October 2011. EHPG is organised by the European Commission’s Directorate for Health and Consumers (‘DG SANCO’) and brings together 55 European representative organisations for regular discussion with the European Commission’s officers.

The report was received positively, and the meeting encouraged the STEPS work to be presented in the future to the regular meetings of member state ‘high level’ health advisorsunder the EU Presidency – the next meeting is February 2012.

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5 October 2011

STEPS Report: Public Health Research – Europe’s Future launched at European Health Forum Gastein

The Report was launched by Professor Mark McCarthy, Coordinator for STEPS, at the conference of 600 European health officials, academics and industry representatives which is held annually at Bad Gastein, Austria, 4-6 October 2011 under the patronage of the Ministry of Health for Austria.

STEPS Report: Public Health Research -  Europe’s Future calls for greater collaboration between ministries of health with the European Union in developing health research, and greater engagement of researchers and civil society in setting agendas and priorities.

The European Health Forum Gastein also discussed the development of social innovation to provide the evidence-base for policy and practice.

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9 September

STEPS  reports sent to European Commission

The adminstrative reports for the completed project STEPS have been sent to the European Commission. This provides the Second Period Report (July 2010 – June 2011), Deliverables for the second period, and the final Publishable Summary.

These public materials are also made available on this web page.

STEPS’ 14 partners have worked hard to  achieve the reporting deadlines of the Commission. All technical reports and deliverables were submitted electronically within the required period of 60 days of the end of the project, and final signed hard copies of the financial reports and the electronic submission summary documents have now been sent by mail.

The project achieved all its objectives and deliverables successfully, and spending was 104% of the original estimate.  (This slight overspend was due in part to the costs of the Open Event in Brussels in May.)

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3 June 2011

STEPS proposed for European Health Award 2011

The European Health Forum Gastein, held in October each year in Gastein, Austria, has an annual award for ‘a health policy initiative of European importance’.  STEPS has been proposed through the Bulgarian Public Health Association by Professor Petko Salchev.

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21 May 2011

Letter to the Lancet

STEPS coordinator, Mark McCarthy, has a letter in The Lancet (2101; 377: 17745-1775) entitled ‘Health Research — Europe’s Future’, which calls for greater attention to social dimensions in health research and commends the consultation on the European Commission’s research programme

2-3 May 2011

STEPS Open Events, Brussels

STEPS held a series of meetings in Brussels in May 2011 as the culmination of its activities

* an Open Event presention of STEPS’ response to the European Commission’s Green Paper on Funding for Innovation and Research. The meeting was chaired by Dr Antonyia Parvanova MEP, speaker was Professor Mark McCarthy, Coordinator of STEPS, and panel were Dr Octavi Quintana, European Commission, Dr Carlos Segovia, Carlos II Institute, Spain, and Dr Zuzana Katrienak, PJ Savarik University, Slovakia.  There were 60 attenders and a press release was made.

* STEPS members visited their national Permanent Representations to the EU in Brussels and spoke with the attaches for research.

* STEPS members met individually with national MEPS and nationally with Dr Antonyia Parvanova in the European Parliament.

* STEPS members met with Mr Kevin McCarthy, Public Health Unit, DG Research and Innovation, to discuss developments in European research and innovation policy.

The fifth meeting of the Management Committee was also held.

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28 March 2011

Disseminating STEPS results – country health profiles

STEPS is submitting a paper describing work on mapping EU public health research systems to the prestigious academic journal PLOS Medicine. It is provisionally titled ‘Organisation of health research in European Union countries‘, and the authors are Claudia Conceicao and Mark McCarthy.

The STEPS paper responds to a call for papers in January 2011 by the World Health Organisation and PLoS Medicine  for a special supplement of PLoS titled ‘No Health without Research‘.  The supplement editor is  Tikki Pang, Director for Research Policy and Cooperation at WHO Headquarters in Geneva, who is also responsible for the coming 2012 World Health Report on Research for Health.

28 February 2011

STEPS dissemination Open Event Planned for Brussels 2/3 May 2011

STEPS will hold its final meeting as part of a 2-day Open Event on public health research in Brussels of 2-3 May 2011. The arrangements for Monday 2 May include all the Country Partners visiting their European National Representation offices in Brussesl, meeting national members of the European Parliament, and holding a meeting with staff of the European Commission.  Then on Tuesday 3 May, there will be a meeting form Brussels-based CSOs to discuss public health reseach policy, and an Open Event for Brussels officials to discuss public health research in the light of the Commission’s Green Paper on the Innovation Union.

The Open Event will be led by the European Public Health Association (EUPHA), working in collaboration with the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA), which has its office in Brussels and will assist in organising the Event.

10-11 November 2010

Amsterdam, the Netherlands:  Conference of European Public Health Association

STEPS coordinated two sessions on public health research at the EUPHA 2010 conference. Presentations were made by partners and links with European Commission officers, national research authorities and public health researchers.

9 November 2010

STEPS Country Profiles go live

Profiles of the country public health systems for the 27 EU countries are published today on the STEPS web page at <Country Profiles>.  The profiles, developed during 2010 by Claudia Conceicao from internet sources and country respondents provides updates earlier work in SPHERE and provides systematic descriptions of use for comparisons and searches in health research commissioning.

21-22 September 2010

Menorca, Spain: Conference of European Agency for Health and Consumers

STEPS was presented at a consultation on the future of the DG Sanco Public Health Programme. organised by the European Agency for Health and Consumers.  There was discussion on preparing for the future programme of the European Union in the period 2014-2020 (or possibly 2023). Civil society organisations (the ‘third sector’) can contribute as small and medium enterprises (SMEs), balancing the interests of for-profit enterprises.

3-4 July 2010

London: London School of Economics

STEPS was discussed at an international meeting on Globalisation and Health held at the London School of Economics, UK. The paper, ‘Brussels’ global health research agenda: is the balance right?’ reflects on the European Commission’s current priorities for research, which have a strong emphasis on support for the commercial R&D and less on population health through support for the public sector. The paper has been submitted for publication in the open access journal ‘Globalisation and Health‘.

11 June 2010

Brussels: European Union Committee of the Regions.

STEPS attended the opening meeting of the the European Union Committee of the Regions’ Technical Platform on Health, with the subject of the Structural Funds and health. The European Commission’s Directorate for Health has been mapping the use of the Structural Funds for health in direct and indirect spending, and STEPS described the opportunities for health research from the Funds as well.

19 May 2010

Paper from Yaoundé conference on health research in Africa published

The open access journal Health Policy and Systems Research has published the paper “Developing the agenda for European Union collaboration on non-communicable diseases research in Sub-Saharan Africa” with authors Mark McCarthy, Dermot Maher, Adama Ly and Agbor Ndip.

17 May 2010

Brussels: European Commission Directorate for Research

STEPS is informed that the project continuation proposal ‘STEPSforward‘, to include current members of STEPS and further partners, and submitted to the European Commission under the 2010 Science in Society call for Mutual Mobilisation and Learning in January, was not successful in the evaluation. It scored just under the acceptable level for funding. Reasons given in the evaluation report included that the proposal did not address the approach of ‘Science in Society’ with sufficient clarity, give sufficient detail of actions to be taken, nor sufficient detail in the dissemination proposals.

4-5 May 2010

STEPS partners meet in Malta

STEPS’ 2nd meeting of national leading civil society organisations (General Assembly) and the third Management Committee were held in in the Victoria Hotel, sliema, Malta on 4-5 May 2010. It was successfully hosted by SOS Malta, one of the partners in STEPS and a leading NGO working on health for disadvantaged people in Malta and internationally.

STEPS partners reported that national workshops had been held in all twelve new member states during March – April 2010, and discussed preparations for the STEPS meeting be held during the European Public Health Association annual scientific conference in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, November 2010.

2 April 2010

Dissemination for STEPS at Brussels  conference on health care in Romania

STEPS was invited to a day conference at the Raddison Hotel, Brussels, on health care in Romania, organised by the media firm Taurus, to report on public-health research.

8-9 April 2010

STEPS presents at international conference on health services research

STEPS  presented a poster by Mark McCarthy and Floris Barnhoorna at the International Conference on Health Services Research at The Hague, the Netherlands. The conference was funded by the European Seventh Framework Research Programme’s programme for health research.  Links will be made with the HSR conference follow-up meeting at the EUPHA annual Scientific Conference in Amsterdam, November 2010.

9 January 2010

New proposal submitted to the Science in Society programme

STEPS has submitted a proposal for the continuation of the project, STEPSForward, under the 2010 call from the European Commission Science in Society programme of the Directorate for Research. The proposal engages the STEPS workshop partners withincluding EUPHA, EPHA and the Young Gastein Researchers network.

24 November 2010

STEPS partners meet for first General Assembly

STEPS held the first General Assembly and Second Management Committee were held at the new Andels Hotel in Łodz, Poland, in the pre-conference period before the annual scientific meeting of the European Public Health Association. Twelve new partners from EU new member states were welcomed into STEPS, being the chosen leads for the national STEPS workshops. The meeting participants confirmed the readiness of civil society organisations – citizen health organisations and national public health associations – to prepare, hold and report on public health research in each country, and welcomed the opportunity for national debate on public health research.

4-5 November 2009