The Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at UCT, in collaboration with the Mastercard Foundation, is offering an academic fellowship to help develop the emerging generation of health innovators and researchers.
SPONSORED CONTENT
Young to mid-career researchers and health professionals eager to explore innovative solutions in the healthcare industry will welcome a new opportunity in the sector. An academic fellowship has been announced for academics interested especially in developing solutions for complex and long-standing health problems with an emphasis on community engagement.
The Social Innovation in Health Fellowship has been created as part of the Healthy Futures South Africa initiative. It is being offered at the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Cape Town (UCT) Graduate School of Business in collaboration with the Mastercard Foundation.
“We are looking for researchers eager to address critical health challenges, specifically in the Western Cape’s primary healthcare (PHC) systems,” says Katusha De Villiers, senior project manager at the Bertha Centre.
The Fellowship will explore new ways to make healthcare more inclusive and effective with a focus on sustainability. Researchers from especially underrepresented groups in health innovation and research are encouraged to apply. Applicants should hold a postgraduate degree (master’s or PhD) in a related field (public health, social sciences, health innovation, etc) but honours degree holders with strong relevant experience in health or innovation will be considered.
“This will appeal to those who want to drive impact in communities by contributing to sustainable health systems,” says De Villiers. “Applicants need to be based in South Africa and willing to do research in the Western Cape. We encourage young researchers from diverse disciplines to apply, especially those with an interest in exploring topics such as the role of AI in health, climate change, health systems in transition, and more.”
In addition to the research work, the successful candidate will expand their academic network globally through affiliation with the Social Innovation in Health Initiative and broader collaboration with the Africa Higher Education Health Collaborative, and will also gain access to mentorship, funding and professional development.
The Healthy Futures South Africa (HFSA) is a transformative initiative that seeks to uplift communities by promoting entrepreneurship, social innovation, and research, specifically focusing on women and youth. It supports South Africa’s Primary Health Care and Universal Health Coverage (UHC) efforts while aligning with UCT’s Vision 2030, which aims to unleash human potential for a better future.
“This fellowship offers a unique platform for emerging researchers to address longstanding health challenges through social innovation,” says Dr Solange Rosa, director of the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship. “Our vision is to build a robust health system while supporting the empowerment of communities.”
She says social innovations provide a fresh lens to strengthen health systems and primary healthcare. Through participatory approaches, novel solutions are designed and implemented by innovators, health system actors and other experts to address complex and longstanding health problems. Fellows will be able to engage in self-directed research and projects initiated by the Bertha Centre Health Systems team, focusing on critical themes like AI in health, climate change, and health system transitions.
Other suggested topics include addressing entrenched biases in health systems and exploring social innovation’s role as a health systems lens. Social innovation can be processes, market mechanisms, roles or behavioural practices, or new paradigms and policies. They enable healthcare delivery to be more inclusive, effective and affordable. Social innovation tackles “how” to improve health, by engaging communities in creating and sustaining solutions.
“The concept of social innovation in health is broadly understood but under-researched,” says Dr Rosa. She says a scoping review, published in Infectious Diseases of Poverty showed that very little of the research on the topic currently being produced stems from low- to middle-income countries. There is also a lack of research on how social innovation can be used as a health systems lens to better serve beneficiaries, practitioners and change agents.
The Fellowship provides a relevant stipend for at least one academic year, and applications will close on 1 December 2024.
To apply, and for more information, click https://bit.ly/SIHFellow
