New Executive Committee chair, Jolene Skordis, presents her vision for EGHRIN

Following the election of the new Executive Committee in the 2024 EGHRIN General Assembly, the newly elected members of the Committee elected in their first meeting UCL’s Jolene Skordis as its new chair, replacing ISGlobal’s Toni Plasència.

Prof. Jolene Skordis is an Economist specialising in the economics of health and development.  Prof Skordis works within randomised trials of complex public health interventions in Sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia.  Her work has expanded evidence for cost-effectiveness, affordability and sustainability of complex public health interventions.  Together with colleagues and communities, she has developed new survey tools to measure poverty, capability and gender empowerment, health worker satisfaction and health worker motivation.  This work has led to a new understanding of how money is shared within households and how younger women are disadvantaged; a new theory linking social networks to health behaviour and outcomes in South East Asia; a new measure of human capabilities which could be used to measure the broader impact of public health interventions, and expanded our understanding of the way in which health workers respond to financial and non-financial incentives.

She is Deputy Director of UCL’s Institute for Global Health and Director of UCL’s Centre for Global Health Economics.  Prof Skordis has published in high impact journals and her work has directly influenced government policy. She works with a wide range of organisations including the World Bank, WHO, national governments and international NGOs.

In this short interview, Prof. Jolene Skordis presents her vision for EGHRIN:

1. What is your vision for EGHRIN going forward?

EGHRIN is maturing as a network, which makes this an exciting time to take on the role of Executive Committee Chair.  We have the opportunity to build on the excellent foundations laid by Prof Antoni Plasencia, and the other founders of EGHRIN.

EGHRIN is the sum of its member institutions, and I would like to see us delivering greater value to those whom we represent and serve.  This will be particularly important given the shifting political landscape in Europe and elsewhere - and a research environment in which funding is currently stagnating or contracting, while global health challenges grow. 

I would like us to broaden our membership base across Europe and to deepen our relationship with other networks, including LERU.  In the coming months, it will also be important to see EGHRIN’s Strategic Advisory Board established and functioning, giving voice to the wider global health community.

Finally, I would like us to explore ways to foster closer collaboration on research and research-led education between our members.  EGHRIN is a network of the leading Global Health Research Institutes in Europe, and I am excited by the opportunities we have to improve public health globally, together.

Of course, it will not be my own vision that plots EGHRIN’s course going forward.  It will be the collective vision of our members that will decide our path.

2. Which priorities do you plan to take on as the new EGHRIN Chairperson?

I would like to ensure that we continue to build on our progress as a network, while creating new opportunities for members to collaborate.  We should continue to initiate and host high impact events to spotlight pressing global health issues and provide our members with a platform.  In addition, I would like to explore the appetite for staff and graduate student mobility initiatives, to provide more opportunities to think and work together.  Finally, the convening power and influence of a ‘network of networks’ remains to be fully explored – perhaps this is our moment?

3. Where do you see opportunities in the coming years for EGHRIN to foster global health research in Europe?

The Institutions and academics in EGHRIN’s network have an almost unparallel experience of the current and pending priorities in global health.  We have seen the challenge of infectious diseases briefly surpassed by a non-communicable disease burden, only to re-emerge in the form of a global pandemic.  The populations of our globe’s most populous countries are ageing, and our climate is changing.  In this context of almost unprecedented challenge, some of our funders and colleagues are beginning to ask ‘what is Global Health’?

EGHRIN has the opportunity to firmly position Global Health Research as a vital transdisciplinary response to the world’s most pressing problems.  We can, and we must, remind funders and decision makers to support us in building evidence for action.   We need equitable and sustainable global health systems, for this generation and the generations to follow.