The Department of Health has allocated €1.8m to establish a new Evidence Synthesis Hub for Health Security Ireland. The new Hub will strengthen Ireland’s capacity for handling emerging and future health threats. The Evidence Hub, led by Prof. Declan Devane and hosted within Evidence Synthesis Ireland at the University of Galway, coordinates the system, supports methods and quality assurance, and connects the right expertise to the right question. The spokes, the organisations in the Hub’s network, bring specialist knowledge, review capacity and topic expertise, including public agencies, academic teams, public health specialists, health economists, ethicists, behavioural scientists, clinicians, public and patient contributors, and international partners.
Professor Declan Devane, Scientific Lead and Principal Investigator at the ESHSI and Professor of Health Research Methodology at University of Galway, said:
“When a health threat appears, or when the country is planning for one, the people who make decisions about our health need answers quickly. They need to know what the research says, how sure we can be of it and what we still need to find out. The Evidence Synthesis Hub for Health Security finds the best research from around the world, weighs it up and says clearly what it shows. That is what evidence synthesis means. Ireland has many skilled people doing this work in its public agencies, universities and research centres. The Hub wants to bring them together, so that important decisions are based on the best evidence we have.”
More info here.
