Building a Cross-National Inter-University Research Consortium (IUR): Multi-disciplinary initiative integrates physical, mental, and social welfare services for people with psychiatric comorbidity

To support and host an international network meeting in South Africa 2023 with the aim to support the construction and maturation of an international research collaboration and mentoring network (supports early career investigators, plans research that promotes integrated care systems for people with complex co-morbidities and needs to take addressing social determinants of health).

The goal is to catalyze faster implementation of research results in clinical practice.

The IUR Consortium advances UN 2030 Global Goal #3 ie, to promote good health and well-being for all, including highly vulnerable youth and adult women and men with multiple comorbidities.

This project supports meeting-related costs for nine senior investigators and their early career mentees from the University of Denver (USA), University of KwaZulu Natal (South Africa), Lund and Umeå universities. The applications also request support for a skilled meeting supervisor.

The nine senior researchers and the facilitator have already initiated IUR development and have support for a first personal meeting in Lund (September 2022) to operationalize IUR´s vision.

The proposed 2023 network meeting in South Africa has four objectives: 1) strengthen planned research opportunities at the four universities for junior researchers; 2) complete the research plan for each junior researcher; 3) identify additional funding opportunities in the three countries involved to expand the IUR; and 4) complete grant applications.