Research Strategy, 2005 - 2010
Proposed strategic focus
With the need to emphasise the integrated nature of the MRC's research activities and insight, the question arises as to whether or not there should be any divisions at all in the groupings of the research entities. The fact remains, however, that there are inevitably differences in orientation between social and health scientists.
The MRC emphasises the complementarities of these two perspectives, which broadly place emphasis on the world of health and the world of disease respectively. It is self-evident that the function of any medical endeavour, including medical research, is to strive to retain the population in a state of health. It also recognises that, inevitably, disease will occur, and that in order to prevent, treat or palliate disease, knowledge concerning disease is necessary. If that knowledge is not available, research needs to be done to procure it. In order to monitor and facilitate the flux between states of health and states of disease, systems are necessary; and the requisite research into such systems is as necessary as is research into the states of health and disease.
For these reasons, it is proposed that MRC research priorities should be defined in a way that recognises the complementarities of three quite different, but synergistic, focal areas of medical research. The three designated focal areas (Fig. 1) are:
- Population Health
- Disease and Disease Mechanisms
- Systems, Settings and Policy
Figure 1: MRC research focal areas
This configuration does not imply a new division into three silos, where previously there were six; but rather it stresses that ultimately all research, especially strategically driven research, should impact on all three focal areas.
A vision for each focal area is articulated below. Strategic research priorities from each focal area will need to be defined at a later date, during implementation of the MRC Research Strategy 2005-2010.
- Population Health: Health is related to well-being, be it physical, mental, or social, and is not only an absence of disease. Population health research is thus geared towards providing new health knowledge, translating this and existing knowledge into programmes and actions that will ultimately lead to actual and measurable improvements in population health, and maintaining those who are well in a state of health. The nature of the research will consider the local and national context, the social and cultural context, as well as the individual's context within communities and societies.
- Health Systems, Settings and Policy: The health system is extremely complex, involving multiple levels, and is further complicated by the interplay between public and private sectors as well as traditional medicine. Health systems research, policy analysis and settings-based health promotion research are essential to build the evidence base to assist Government and health care providers in making both long- and medium-term decisions that will improve the health of the nation and the quality of appropriate health services.
- Disease and Disease Mechanisms: The traditional anatomic approach to research on disease and disease mechanisms focused on the predominant organ affected. This approach is increasingly being replaced by both genomic and non-genomic approaches, and combinations of both. The genomic disease group includes inherited disease, infectious diseases and somatic mutations. Non-genomic diseases include disorders of nutrition and those caused by trauma (physical, chemical or emotional).
With regard to intramural research and the interaction with outside agencies and research structures, the greatest overlap between the MRC research strategy and the strategy of the National Department of Health will most likely occur in the Population Health focal area. The Health Systems, Settings and Policy focal area, on the other hand, may constitute the core of many of the MRC's intramural research activities.
Clearly there are areas of overlap between the focal areas, which emphasises the integrated nature of MRC research activities - directed collectively towards the attainment of tangible health and quality of life benefits for populations and individuals.
The most important overlap between all three focal areas is in training and capacity building, which serves to emphasise that one of the key cross-cutting research support functions of the MRC is to nurture a new generation of research scientists in all three focal areas.
The three focal areas will be underpinned by a research management strategy developed as part of the MRC Strategic Plan 2005-2010.
The focal areas will be strengthened through the following:
- Direct support of research and training activities
- Development and support of core technology platforms
- Knowledge and innovation management
- Research translation and health equity.
- Direct support of research and training activities
Research and training in the health sciences will be supported through:
- Research grants in the MRC's areas of research priorities, which should be of substantial value to allow the research to be internationally competitive
- Strategic funding to national programmes and rapid response projects
- Increased numbers of career development awards, post-doctoral fellowships and PhD studentships. These full-time research and training positions, awarded on a competitive basis, will help in attaining the critical mass required for the desired productivity.
- Development and support of core technology platforms
To provide researchers with the necessary technological support, the following measures could be considered, following a full audit and situational analysis:
- Reconfiguration and consolidation of some of the major intramural laboratory-based equipment and expertise into core facilities for MRC-supported research activities
- Reconfiguration and consolidation of intramural facilities in population health and health systems to provide core support in areas such as epidemiology and biostatistics to MRC-support researchers
- Collaboration with DST, CSIR, NRF and BRICS to establish cutting-edge technologies (e.g. structural biology and computational chemistry) that MRC-supported researchers are currently unable to access in South Africa
- Continuing support and strengthening of extramural specialist facilities (e.g. computational biology, genomics and transgenic and knock-out animal facilities) so that they become national core facilities for health researchers in South Africa
- Strengthening and expansion of existing MRC animal facilities for pre-clinical and toxicological studies
- Strengthening and rational use of MRC-supported clinical trials facilities and expertise.
- Knowledge and innovation management
This intramural activity should be expanded and strengthened to serve as a national core facility for all MRC-supported researchers.
- Research translation and health equity
This would provide support in areas such as:
- Pilot-scale production and scale-up of biological products, as well as their commercialisation. This should be done in close collaboration with the CSIR and the BRICS
- Community involvement and benefit arrangements. This could be done mainly through the existing intramural units.
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