Join Cochrane UK for a free webinar for anyone making health decisions: Thursday 20th October 2022.

All of us have to make health decisions, whether that’s to seek advice about a condition, buying an over-the-counter treatment or health product off the shelf, whether to take up an invitation to screening, or perhaps having to make many decisions relating to a serious illness or long-term condition. 

Brian, Heather, and Sarah have all had some big health decisions to make, though in different circumstances. They will come together with Becky, a doctor and former GP who is used to taking part in discussions about health decisions in her everyday work, to talk about some important elements of making health choices.

We hope that the webinar will equip you with some questions and considerations that you can reflect on and discuss with a healthcare professional – to help you make the best health decision for you. There will be time for questions and answers, too.

Time and date: Thursday 20th October 2022, 7-8pm (BST). Check the time in your time zone.

Please register in advance for the webinar, which will take place on Zoom. After you've registered, you will receive information about how to join the webinar.

Read more about our panel Heather, Brian, Sarah, Becky and our facilitators Rufaro and Emma.

This webinar is being held on World Evidence-Based Healthcare (EBHC) Day, an annual global initiative that raises awareness of the need for better evidence to inform healthcare policy, practice, and decision making in order to improve health outcomes globally. Cochrane is proud to be an official EBHC Day partner.

• Register for this webinar
• Visit the Cochrane UK website
• Visit the World EBHC Day website
• Learn about patient, caregiver, and consumer involvement in Cochrane's work

Location: Flexible location (remote working) – contract type dependent on location.
Specifications: Permanent employment contract if successful applicant based in UK, Germany or Denmark. Consultancy contract in other locations
Salary: £60,000 per annum
Application Closing Date:  2 October 2022

Cochrane is a charity and a global, independent network of health practitioners, researchers, patient advocates and others, responding to the challenge of making vast amounts of research evidence useful for informing decisions about health. They do this by synthesising research findings to produce the best available evidence on what works. Their work has been recognised as the international gold standard for high quality, trusted information.

Cochrane is seeking an ambitious individual who relishes a challenge, loves collaborative working, delivers results and has extensive experience of successfully delivering strategy.  The role will be to lead and manage communications, in particular:

• Developing a clear and robust communications strategy in support of our goals, and ensuring it is delivered to a high standard
• To work across the organization significantly enhancing our internal and external communications.
• Externally identifying opportunities to increase awareness of Cochrane.

Cochrane welcomes applications from a wide range of perspectives, experiences, locations and backgrounds; diversity, equity and inclusion are key to their values.

How to apply

• For further information on the role and how to apply, please click here.  
• The deadline to receive your application is by 2 October 2022. 
• The supporting statement should indicate why you are applying for the post, and how far you meet the requirements, using specific examples. Note that we will assess applications as they are received, and therefore may fill the post before the deadline.
• Read our Recruitment Privacy Statement

Cochrane is a global, independent network of health practitioners, researchers, patient advocates and others, responding to the challenge of making vast amounts of research evidence useful for informing decisions about health. We do this by synthesizing research findings to produce the best available evidence on what can work, what might harm, and where more research is needed. Our work is recognised as the international gold standard for high quality, trusted information.

We have official geographic Cochrane Groups in 50+ countries. These Groups represent Cochrane in that country, promote, and support the use of Cochrane evidence in health policy and practice, and support Cochrane's members and supporters who live there.

Cochrane Iberoamérica has two positions open at the Iberoamerican Cochrane Centre in Barcelona, Spain. 

Researcher/Systematic Reviewer

• Type: Full-time contract 
• Location: On-site at the Iberoamerican Cochrane Centre in Barcelona, Spain
• Knowledge of Spanish is not required
• Salary: 33,000-40,000 € gross per annum 
• Deadline for applications: 16th September 2022
• Full job description and apply 

Project Manager

• Type: Full-time contract 
• Location: On-site at the Iberoamerican Cochrane Centre in Barcelona, Spain
• Knowledge of Spanish is not required
• Salary: 30,000-35,000 € gross per annum 
• Deadline for applications: 16th September 2022
• Full job description and apply

Specifications: Part time or full time (0.6-1 FTE)
Salary range: USD$45,000-$55,000 (pro-rata as relevant)
Closing date for applications: Friday, 30 September, 17:00 EDT

Covidence is a standard author tool for Cochrane authors. Covidence online platform accelerates the production of systematic reviews. It helps systematic reviewers identify relevant research, appraise its quality, extract relevant data and prepare data ready for analysis. Covidence also helps users keep all their data in one place and enables remote teams to collaborate easily.

Covidence is seeking a North America Community Manager. To excel as a Community Manager, you will have excellent interpersonal skills, strong written and verbal communication skills, and be highly organised with proven ability to appropriately prioritise tasks and deliver on time in a busy environment. You will have demonstrated capacity to work independently and with others in a globally distributed team. And importantly, you’ll have proven ability working with online technologies and social media.

• Learn more about this position and apply
• Visit the Covidence website

Location: Liverpool, UK
Contract type: Permanent / Full Time
Closing date: Monday 17 October

The Role:
This leadership role is for a highly experienced scientist in evidence synthesis who will lead the further development of evidence synthesis, as part of the Global Health Trials and Synthesis Unit, and across the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and its partners.

The Department of Clinical Sciences is a global leader in evidence synthesis providing an excellent platform for translational research from concept through discovery and clinical trials to evidence synthesis, teaching, policy change and eventual health impact. 

Why join the department of clinical Sciences in this leadership post?
The post arises with the retirement of the Director of the Evidence Synthesis in Global Health Centre. It provides a great opportunity for an academic with experience in the area to develop and shape their own portfolio of methods, reviews and collaborative links with researchers and policy personnel. There is an existing infrastructure, with high quality and experienced grant managers, search specialists, a statistician, and post-master staff, and has funds and programmes of work running to April 2024. 

The Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group enabled pivotal reviews that led the evidence-base underpinning impregnated mosquito nets, artemisinin-based combination treatments, and a change in the formulation or oral rehydration salt solution. The work has been conducted as part of global collaboration within Cochrane and our own emerging evidence ecosystem. 

• Learn more and apply

Around 2.4 billion people globally are estimated to live with a health condition that could benefit from rehabilitation. Yet despite this high need, many people around the world are currently unable to access appropriate services.

Recognising this challenge, Cochrane has joined the World Rehabilitation Alliance (WRA), a World Health Organization (WHO) global network of stakeholders which aims to support the implementation of the Rehabilitation 2030 initiative by jointly advocating.

Cochrane Rehabilitation will lead our involvement in the WRA, given the team’s longstanding work in this topic area, and will contribute primarily to the research workstream.

Dr Carlotte Kiekens, Co-Director of Cochrane Rehabilitation, says:

“In order to strengthen and upscale rehabilitation in health systems worldwide, it is of utmost importance that rehabilitation interventions are based on evidence. The best available evidence on rehabilitation must be available and accessible in appropriate formats to all who need it.”

Cochrane Rehabilitation has collaborated with WHO to support the development of a robust evidence base to assist health policymakers for several years. They do this by providing synthesis and helping identify evidence gaps where high-quality research is needed. You can read more about their joint work in this interview with Cochrane Rehabilitation Director Professor Stefano Negrini.

The WRA will formally launch during a virtual event on Tuesday 13 September. The event, which is free to attend and open to all, will introduce the WRA and why it has been established, and highlight some of the activities planned.

• Find out more about the event and register

Cochrane’s first open access journal, Cochrane Evidence Synthesis and Methods, has opened for submissions! Working in conjunction with our publisher, Wiley, this journal strengthens Cochrane’s ability to meet our stakeholders’ needs and publish different types of evidence synthesis beyond systematic reviews. It will also include methods research evaluating how evidence syntheses is planned, produced and disseminated, and research articles on critical areas for evidence synthesis, such as, priority setting, consumer involvement, and research integrity.  

Cochrane has over 100,000 members and contributors across an established global network who publish their systematic reviews in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. This new journal opens up opportunities for these members, and researchers new to Cochrane, to publish research outputs that go beyond Cochrane systematic reviews, which reflects the interests, talents and expertise of this global network and beyond. The journal aims to further develop the evidence base for how we produce and publish evidence synthesis, share best practice, case studies and commentaries.  

Michael Brown, Editor, Cochrane Evidence Synthesis and Methods (responsible for the content and development of the journal), and Professor at Michigan State University, USA, explains, “The agility involved means we can collaborate more closely with guideline developers, decision makers and funders through publication of evidence syntheses directly relevant to their specific interests. We hope the community is as excited as we are to be able to publish this range of research relevant to evidence synthesis in a journal with Cochrane’s philosophy for transparency, integrity, and independence.”

Karla Soares-Weiser, Editor-in-Chief, Cochrane, adds, “This is an exciting milestone for Cochrane as Cochrane Evidence Synthesis and Methods allows us to publish a wider range of evidence products that meets a more diverse range of stakeholder needs. It will enable Cochrane to better respond to important global health and social care needs and influence health decisions that go beyond the remit of systematic reviewing alone.”

Ella Flemyng, Editorial Product Lead, Cochrane, explains why this new journal is important for the field, “Cochrane Evidence Synthesis and Methods welcomes innovative ideas and is not afraid to trial new ways of publishing. This includes showcasing practices that support research integrity, embedding consumer involvement within the journal, piloting how to better visualise research, and improving peer review - as a few examples.”

For more information visit:

• Cochrane Evidence Synthesis and Methods
• How to submit your research 
• Learn more about our streamlined publishing process  
• Learn how to publish open access with Wiley 
• Contact cesm.office@wiley.com  

While medical research is the best source of information on which to guide treatment of health issues, fraudulent studies are an issue. Such research can skew the evidence base and even lead to harm, as well as damage trust in the scientific process.

Our Senior Research Integrity Editor, Lisa Bero, has recently written about this phenomenon in The Conversation US. In the article, she describes how systematic reviewers can be part of the solution and help to find such problematic studies. She also discusses research which she, Stephanie Boughton of the Cochrane Research Integrity team, and others have carried out about this.

Lisa explains: 

“Cochrane is actively involved in research and advocacy to promote independence, transparency, and integrity in healthcare research. While most research follows rigorous standards, studies with fake or fatally flawed findings are sometimes published. Cochrane and other systematic reviewers are in a unique position to be able to find and draw attention to these types of studies.”

• Read 'Fake research can be harmful to your health – a new study offers a tool for rooting it out'

What is Cochrane doing about this issue?

Cochrane has a policy in place that helps our reviewers spot problematic studies and decide what research to include and what to exclude in new reviews. When problems with medical research are so serious that the studies have to be withdrawn from publication, Cochrane also encourages our reviewers to go and back and mark where these studies have been included in reviews and, where necessary, update, amend or even withdrawn the review.

• Cochrane's policy on managing potentially problematic studies
• Learn more about Cochrane's Research Integrity work

A new Cochrane Library editorial has published titled 'Low sodium salt substitutes: a tool for sodium reduction and cardiovascular health.'

The World Health Organization has a target of reducing global population salt intake by 30% by 2025.  This has made Cochrane’s new systematic review on the efficacy and safety of low sodium salt substitutes (LSSS) timely.  The Cochrane systematic review and meta-analysis examines the evidence regarding the use of LSSS on cardiovascular health in adults and children and included blood pressure as a primary outcome.  

Rachael McLean, from the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, University of Otago, New Zealand, discusses the latest Cochrane evidence and how it can support policymakers in their efforts to reduce sodium intake and how applicable the evidence may be in different settings and populations. 

Rachael McLean explains:

“In some countries, more than 50% of the salt intake comes from salt used in the home. Cochrane’s review of the evidence on low sodium salt substitutes is valuable for policy makers looking to make substantial impacts for cardiovascular health and in directing researchers where further studies are urgently needed.”

• Read the Cochrane Library Editorial