Page 30 - The lraternational Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand.indd

The International Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand
Volume XV-2023

Introduction

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is an international donor in South

East Asia. ADB is committed to achieving sustainable economic growth and extreme
poverty eradication through public and private sector operations, advisory services,
and knowledge support (ADB, 2017; ADB, 2023).

In alignment with Health Sector Strategy of ADB (ADB, 2017), Lao PDR is
advancing towards attaining Universal Health Coverage by 2025. Quality of Health

Care and medical education are essential components of the Universal Health
Coverage. For these reasons, ADB has been supporting the strengthening of health

professional education in Lao and other Asian countries.

The University of Health Science (UHS) is the premier medical university in Lao

PDR. Since 2022, and as part of a regional technical assistance project (TA-9397-REG),
ADB has been supporting the set up and implementation of a Competitive Research
Fund (CRF) at UHS. This 2022- 2024 technical assistance project aims to strengthen

UHS’ research capacity, and is now funding 44 health research projects among

faculty and students. This article describes the characteristics of the awarded
research projects, and shares lessons on the set up and execution of CRFs in
developing countries. The implementation of the CRF and its associated capacity

building activities (mentoring and workshops) has required close collaboration

from ADB as a funder and provider of technical assistance, Mahidol University as a
research consultant, and UHS as a stakeholder.

Material and Methods

Competitive Research Fund (CRF)

The CRF aims to support up to 50 small and middle-scale research projects
in medicine and health care delivery. Each awarded team has received a research

grant of $5,000 when headed by a junior researcher and $10,000, when headed by
a mid-career researcher. The grant amount is based on the quality of research,

commensurate with the proposed costs. To build research capacity, grand funding
has been complemented with knowledge sharing via workshops and coaching

from senior researchers. Workshop sessions focus on research topics that ranged
from manuscript preparation to the dissemination of research outputs. Senior researchers,

A Research Support Model for Research Capacity Building on
22 Health Science: A Case Study in Lao PDR