Cent Eur J Public Health 2007, 15(2):58-65 | DOI: 10.21101/cejph.a3418

Promoting Public Health: Benefits and Challenges of a Europeanwide Research Consortium on Student Health

Walid El Ansari¹, Annette E. Maxwell², Rafael T. Mikolajczyk³, Christiane Stock⁴, Vihra Naydenova³, Alexander Krämer³

¹ Faculty of Sport, Health & Social Care, University of Gloucestershire, Gloucester, United Kingdom

² Division of Cancer Prevention & Control Research, School of Public Health/Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

³ Department of Public Health Medicine, School of Public Health, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany

⁴ Unit for Health Promotion Research, University of Southern Denmark, Esbjerg, Denmark

Aims: The purpose of this paper is to highlight some of the benefits and challenges when undertaking research across several countries comprising diverse ethnic, lingual and historically different communities.

Methods: Literature review and experiences of the researchers who participated in the Students' Health Inquiry, as regards the benefits and the challenges that can emerge when conducting collaborative research. The Delphi technique was employed to reach consensus on and prioritise the emerging challenges and suggested solutions.

Results: Challenges of research consortia include the preparatory work before the study, the ownership of the data and dissemination of results, as well as methodological, financial, operational, and structural challenges. These are described, each challenge is further broken down in its subcomponents, examples are given, and potential solutions are suggested.

Conclusions: If challenges can be prevented or solved, the benefits of research consortia include greater generalisability of findings, and more comprehensive understanding of the issues than would be possible with a single-site study. There is also an increased probability to bring about policy changes and programmatic adjustments. Cross-national research consortia can contribute to reduction in the inequality of resources and research opportunities in the collaborating countries. Research consortia deserve the attention of funding agencies. They are capable of bringing about synergies that result from working collaboratively together of large multi-disciplinary team of investigators who share their strengths, disciplines and expertise in order to bear on the same research issue in multiple countries and diverse populations.

Keywords: student health, research consortia, public health

Received: January 4, 2007; Revised: February 12, 2007; Accepted: February 12, 2007; Published: June 1, 2007  Show citation