LSTM’s approach to partnerships and collaboration

Equitable partnerships

Effective partnerships are integral to LSTM fulfilling its mission and delivering impactful research. We strive to ensure these partnerships are equitable, recognising the historical and inherent power imbalances that disadvantage partners in low resource settings. Our approach emphasises mutual respect, shared decision-making and transparent governance structures, ensuring that partner institutions have equitable ownership of research agendas, data and outputs.

LSTM is adopting a number of approaches to ensure equity is embedded into all our research partnerships:

Principles of equitable partnership

LSTM researchers collaborated with transboundary partners to co-develop seven principles that are fundamental to enabling equitable partnerships. Our research teams are encouraged to use these when developing their collaborations, with more detailed guidance to facilitate this being produced.

Consensus statement on equitable authorship

LSTM researchers co-authored a consensus statement on measures to promote equitable authorship in research publications. LSTM has endorsed this statement, which recommends journals require a ‘reflexivity statement’ demonstrating how equitable partnership has been promoted throughout the research process.

Evidence-informed Capacity Strengthening

LSTM’s Centre for Capacity Research specialises in the science of research capacity strengthening, conducting research on the process and methods of effective and sustainable capacity strengthening to enable international research institutions to play a central role in addressing global health challenges. The group works with LSTM teams and globally to design, implement and evaluate capacity strengthening programmes and increase partners’ capacity to conduct and manage high quality research.

Development of research management capacity

Developing institutional capacity to negotiate and manage research projects is key to addressing power imbalances for institutions in the global south. In a two-year Wellcome Trust funded project, LSTM is working with four key partners to identify and address capacity gaps in research management and share good practice, with the aim of strengthening institutions’ ability to respond to national and international research priorities and manage large multinational grants.