Catalogue of Competencies
Domain 1. Global health research principles, concepts, methods and approaches
Competency 1.1. Demonstrate knowledge of and ability to apply and adapt the core theoretical and conceptual principles and frameworks for global health research.
Non-exhaustive examples include: health as a human right, health equity and social justice; evidence-informed decision-making and action; sustainability; determinants of health; global health agendas, including specifically the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); the foundations of primary health care and resilient and responsive health systems; One Health; Planetary Health. |
- Basic level: Know about and comprehend the core theoretical and conceptual principles and frameworks for global health research.
- Skilled level: Appropriately apply under supervision the core theoretical and conceptual principles and frameworks for global health in the planning, design, conduct, evaluation and reporting of research (including responding and adapted to the needs of particular communities or contexts).
- Advanced level: Independently apply and adapt the core global health theoretical and conceptual principles and frameworks for global health in the planning, design, conduct, evaluation and reporting of research (including responding and adapted to the needs of particular communities or contexts), and evaluate and further advance them.
Competency 1.2. Demonstrate knowledge of and ability to take account of the way that social systems, institutions or actors and socio-political contexts interact with global health research.
Explanatory note: Social systems in this catalogue refers to socio-technical or complex adaptive systems, comprising the large and growing number of actors, institutions, organisations, norms, and processes in the field of global health who are interconnected and interact in dynamic and complex ways.[1] Structures are part of systems and include the organising features that bind actors and influence their interactions, which can be material or normative (e.g. rules, principles, norms) and which are closely related to the distribution of power and the creation of positions and hierarchies within the social system[2], (e.g. the global health architecture[3],[4]). [1] Borghi J, et al.: Viewing the global health system as a complex adaptive system – implications for research and practice. F1000Research 2022, Oct 7;11: 1147. doi: 10.12688/f1000research.126201.1. [2] Hamilton E.: Systems Theory. Oxford Bibliographies in International Relations 2018. doi: 10.1093/obo/9780199743292-0243. [3] E.g. Gostin LO, Friedman EA & Finch A: The Global Health Architecture: Governance and International Institutions to Advance Population Health Worldwide. Milbank Q Apr 2023;101(S1): 734-769. doi: 10.1111/1468-0009.12627. [4] Global Health Hub Germany: Catalyst dialogue on global health architecture: Towards a global health architecture that works for all. GIZ GmbH; Bonn Aug 2022. Available: https://www.globalhealthhub.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Output_Catalyst_Dialogue_Global_Health_Architecture_English_20220919.pdf (accessed January 30, 2025). |
- Basic level: Know about and comprehend the way that social systems, structures and
socio-political context interact with global health research, including the key actors, architecture and governance of health systems and global health. - Skilled level: Appropriately apply and respond under supervision to an understanding of the way that social systems, structures and socio-political context interact with global health research, including in the planning, design, conduct, evaluation and reporting of research.
- Advanced level: Independently apply and respond to an understanding of the way that social systems, structures and socio-political context interact with global health research, including in the planning, design, conduct, evaluation and reporting of research, and how transformative research can contribute to solving society problems.
Competency 1.3. Demonstrate knowledge of and comprehension of determinants of health, their interrelations at local, national and global levels and the implications of these for global health research.
Non-exhaustive examples of determinants of health include: societal, economic, political, commercial, ecological or biological such as genetic and physical environmental. |
- Basic level: Know about, comprehend and identify the determinants of health and the implications of their interrelations and “globality” (from local to the global level, as relevant) for scientific activities in the field of global health research.
- Skilled level: Appropriately apply and respond under supervision to understand the impact of global health determinants on public health, health systems and health care, including in the planning, design, conduct, evaluation and reporting of research.
- Advanced level: Independently apply and respond in the planning, design, conduct, evaluation and reporting of research to understand the impact of global health determinants on public health, health systems and health care.
Competency 1.4. Demonstrate knowledge of, the ability to navigate and literacy for published knowledge in the field of global health, to comprehend and evaluate scientific information and scientific evidence, and to make use of these insights for interventions in global health.
| Non-exhaustive examples include: identifying scientific information (e.g. single studies) and scientific evidence (e.g. systematic reviews) from literature and evidence synthesis platforms, using relevant sources in discipline-specific and cross-disciplinary databases or repositories, etc. This also increasingly includes the ability to use and assess the quality of work produced using Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine-learning and linkages to data science. |
| Explanatory note: “Making use of insights” includes using scientific information and evidence to inform the design, implementation and evaluation of effective, efficient, acceptable and feasible interventions in or relevant to global health. E.g. the researcher might be directly involved in interventions, or provide guidance or inputs to those directly involved (e.g. via consultations or as members of expert or advisory boards). |
- Basic level: Know about where to search for and how to identify, comprehend, synthesise and evaluate credible evidence and scientific information generated using common methods and approaches in the field of global health research (i.e. demonstrate global health research literacy).
- Skilled level: Appropriately apply under supervision the principles and approaches to plan (including formulating specific research questions), design, conduct and report a review of global health evidence, including to identify, analyse and critically evaluate literature and scientific information that uses methods and approaches common in the field of global health research. Furthermore, be able to analyse implications and gaps for global health research and make use of these insights to inform the planning, implementation and evaluation of interventions.
- Advanced level: Independently apply, adapt, evaluate and further advance the principles and approaches for reviewing and reporting global health evidence, including to identify, analyse and critically evaluate literature and scientific information that uses different types of methods and approaches common in global health research. Furthermore, be able to analyse implications and gaps for global health research and make use of these insights to inform the planning, implementation and evaluation of interventions.
Competency 1.5. Demonstrate knowledge of and the ability to apply, adapt and integrate methods and approaches from different disciplines in the field of global health research.
Non-exhaustive examples include: laboratory-based basic and applied research; clinical studies; epidemiology, statistics, modelling and other quantitative methods; interviews, group discussions and other qualitative methods; review methods; and implementation and operational research, among others. This also includes the use of AI, machine-learning and linkages to data science, both form a methodological and ethical perspective. |
- Basic level: Know about and comprehend how methods and approaches from different disciplines are applied and adapted in the field of global health research, and the interrelations between different levels of global health research from microbiological to global level.
- Skilled level: Appropriately apply under supervision methods and approaches from different disciplines in the planning, design, conduct, evaluation and reporting of global health research, including recognising interrelations of this research with other levels of global health research.
- Advanced level: Independently apply, adapt, evaluate and further advance methods and approaches from different disciplines in the planning, design, conduct, evaluation and reporting of global health research, including analysing interrelations of this research with other levels of global health research.