Call for Early Career Scholars and Researchers to Rapporteur for the Prince Mahidol Award Conference (PMAC) 2022

Overview

In the field of global health, the Prince Mahidol Award Conference (PMAC) has for many years distinguished itself in terms of its convening power, thematic relevance, and policy engagement thrust. For health policy and systems researchers, particularly those in the region, this meeting offers a unique opportunity to understand and locate themselves in global debates, regional perspectives, and to move beyond research in the health space. PMAC also has a Youth Program that creates opportunities for young Thai health professionals to engage in the meeting.

Health Systems Global (HSG), a professional association of health policy and systems researchers, is looking to support greater participation and engagement of early career scholars in the Southeast Asia (SEAR) and Western Pacific Regions (WPR) to provide support to PMAC proceedings. HSG believes there could be mutual benefit in early career scholars being able to observe and rapporteur at PMAC 2022 to increase their knowledge and exposure, while also adding value to the secretariat’s work.

HSG welcomes applications from early career professionals/researchers in the sphere of health policy and systems research interested in acting as rapporteurs for PMAC conference sessions from the 24th Jan 2022 – 29th Jan 2022. The outcome of this engagement will be greater orientation of these scholars to the conference and its thematic areas for 2022 (as well as the Youth Program); the chance for greater external visibility of PMAC from an early career perspective, and coordination/collaboration for meaningful contributions to PMAC 2023.

Compensation

Under the joint guidance of the PMAC secretariat as well as the HSG Board members for the Southeast Asia and Western Pacific Regions, HSG proposes to support travel/attendance costs of up to five early career scholars within the region to be assigned rapporteuring roles by the PMAC secretariat.

Rapporteur Responsibilities (indicative)

Rapporteurs will have the following tasks:

1. Attendance in all briefings pertaining to roles and responsibilities as well as adherence to rapporteuring guidelines and expected outputs provided by the PMAC secretariat
2. Capturing, summarising, and submitting notes, discussions, and key takeaways from assigned sessions with overnight turnaround.
3. Contributing to drafting/writing the conference proceedings/reports as applicable. The language of reports would be English.
4. Participation in networking opportunities/activities offered in conjunction with the PMAC Young Scholars program
5. Co-authoring a summary blogpost (jointly authored by all rapporteurs) – to be published in an international journal. The summary blogpost is tentatively expected to be written by the second week of February 2022.
6. Additional outputs as deemed useful by the PMAC secretariat

Time requirement

All selected rapporteurs for the conference are expected to be available during the entirety of the side and main sessions of the conference (cca 4-7 hours / every day from 24th Jan 2022 – 29th Jan 2022 excluding orientation/briefings) and proactively involved in relevant daily meetings and pre- and post-session events.

Eligibility

Rapporteurs are expected to:

• Be early career public health professionals (i.e. with postgraduate training in health, medicine, and/or allied sciences)
• Be proficient in English
• Have less than five years of experience after their most recent degree
• Have experience with rapporteuring in international conferences, events and workshops
• Have experience proof-reading scientific and academic reports and publications
• Have an interest in health reform and expertise relevant to the PMAC 2022 theme
• Have an ability to work with others, commit to participating in all nine sessions of PMAC 2022 and submit all conference related deliverables on time

Application Process

Please submit your application by filling the form and attaching the following documents:

• CV/resume along with a short bio
• A letter of intent detailing:
  • Your motivation for applying as a rapporteur
  • Relevant experience and/or knowledge on the topic(s) of the conference
  • Conferences/events where you have acted as a rapporteur (if applicable)
  • A brief about how your engagement with PMAC 2022 will add value to your research/ongoing work.

Early career researchers and scholars of all genders, ethnicities, and relevant backgrounds across SEAR and WPR are welcome. This call supports wide inclusion both at a professional and personal level.

Application Deadline: 7^th January 2022, 23:59 UTC

Applicants to be notified of their selection latest by the second week of Jan 2022

Queries

For more information, questions and/or clarifications, please contact:

Dr. Devaki Nambiar, Program Head – Health Systems and Equity at the George Institute for Global Health, India and HSG SEAR Board member [email protected]

Dr. Katherine Ann Reyes, Board President, Alliance for Improving Health Outcomes, Inc., and the HSG WPR Board member [email protected]