Cochrane & Cochrane Australia welcome new global funding for evidence synthesis

This month the United Nations Summit of the Future saw two major funding bodies announce $100 million of new funding for evidence synthesis: $88 million from Wellcome and £12 million from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Global health leaders gather for the United Nations Summit of the Future, September 2024

This represent a significant new investment in evidence synthesis to help tackle global inequity and address the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Cochrane’s Editor in Chief, Dr Karla Soares-Weiser was at the summit and welcomed the announcement, saying:

“It is invigorating to see major global funders recognising the importance of evidence synthesis in addressing the challenges facing the world today and in the future. This significant investment has the potential to catalyze a step change in evidence synthesis, making it more timely, relevant and equitable. Cochrane has a proud history of advancing evidence synthesis, and we stand ready to support this vital global effort. I am especially excited at the potential to reduce global inequities in both producing and accessing high-quality evidence.”

Both funding calls aim to build infrastructure to support rapid evidence synthesis projects so that policymakers have access to the latest evidence on a given topic.

The Wellcome announcement focuses on ‘living evidence synthesis’, where systematic reviews are continually updated so they always reflect the latest evidence. Wellcome’s announcement included an acknowledgement that ‘the Cochrane Collaboration, which produces gold-standard evidence syntheses in medicine, increasingly backs living evidence models’.

Living evidence in action

Professor Tari Turner

Cochrane is a pioneer of living systematic reviews, having published the world’s first living systematic reviews in 2017. Cochrane Australia’s own Professor Tari Turner Lessons is Academic Director of the Australian Living Evidence Collaboration (ALEC), and published a groundbreaking paper Feasibility and acceptability of living systematic reviews in 2019. Together with the ALEC team, she consistently advocates for and demonstrates the use of living evidence in clinical guidelines.

“It’s fantastic to see this global commitment to living evidence and recognition of Cochrane's leadership in this area,” says Tari. “The new funding is fantastic news for both evidence synthesis professionals and decision-makers who need up-to-date evidence. Living reviews come with many opportunities and challenges which we identified in our pilot programmes, and it’s great to see them getting the attention they deserve.”

For more information visit the Australian Living Evidence Collaboration website.