Health Research Capacity Development in Regional, Rural and Remote Areas: Realizing the Potential

Regional, rural and remote communities across the world are characterised by unique health profiles and contexts. Good health care must meet the needs and contexts of each community and there is a pressing need for rurally-based research to explore and remedy the distinctive health issues and contexts experienced by rural people. The ability to conduct this research is influenced by the research capability of rurally-based researchers, clinician-researchers and communities and research capacity of health services and systems. Research capacity building, also known as research capacity development, is a field of education that works in conjunction with clinicians, researchers, communities, health and academic organisations to enhance or develop existing skills and structures to move towards independent or collaborative research activity. The goal of this Research Topic is to capture best practice approaches and stimulate future development of research capacity building, research education, evaluation approaches and scholarship in regional, rural and remote areas. Research capacity is defined as structural supports (team, organisational, supra-organisational) which include but extend beyond education in research and research skill development of individuals (research capability). Community-engaged and community-led approaches to research capacity building are encouraged. Only papers which focus on regional, rural or remote areas will be considered. Research capacity building in rural contexts is also concerned with the formation of rural researcher identity: the development of a durable sense of professional self that is oriented towards, and shaped by, place. Researchers who identify as rural, rather than simply working in rural settings, are better positioned to sustain research activity over time, to lead community-engaged inquiry, and to resist the centripetal pull of metropolitan research cultures. Submissions that engage with the theoretical dimensions of rural researcher identity formation including its relationship to professional identity, communities of practice, and place-based ways of knowing are particularly welcomed.Papers submitted to this Research Topic could address the following areas: • Models of rural health research capacity building (must include explicit reference to educational theory underpinning the models) and evaluation frameworks• Rural health research capacity building outputs and short and long-term evidence of program impact, including translation to policy and practiceWe welcome the submission of Original Research, Systematic and Scoping Reviews, Methods including Study Protocols, Reviews and Mini Reviews, Policy and Practice Reviews, Hypothesis and Theory papers, Perspectives, Community Case Studies, Curriculum, Instruction and Pedagogy papers, Data Reports, Policy Briefs, Brief Research Reports, and Opinions. Topic editors: Emma Webster, Shabnam Asghari, David Schmidt Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/79538/health-research-capacity-development-in-regional-rural-and-remote-areas-realizing-the-potential