1000 Challenge FAQs
What is the 1000 Challenge?
The 1000 Challenge is a global initiative aiming to enable 1000 nurses, midwives, community health workers, and other allied health professionals in low-resource settings to lead research studies that gather evidence to address priority issues in their communities. It is a powerful opportunity for these health care professionals for leadership and career development delivered through workplace learning whilst generating vital evidence to improve health outcomes in their patients.
Why should I take part in the 1000 Challenge?
By taking part, and taking on the challenge of running your own study, you will gain new knowledge and skills. The aim is that through undertaking this research you gain stronger visibility in your workplace and strengthen your career development potential. In process of building the team, getting approval for this study from your management and in taking the study through this process is a great leadership development exercise. Then, if your research generates evidence that can change outcomes for your patients, you will be guided in taking these findings out and communicating them, through recommendations. You will be taught and supported in undertaking mechanisms to work with the right people, such as policy makers and health-care management decision makers to take up your evidence. All these are further opportunities to grow your skills, career and gain leadership experience, all through the process of taking part in this challenge.
Your study will also be visible through The Global Health Network and through the role as a WHO collaborating centre we will be working to further share your study and findings so others can learn from you and utlise the evidence your study generates.
All the studies undertaken within the 1000 challenge will be visible and so the world can see your work.
There will also be prizes, to be announced later, on various categories of studies and their impact. Prizes will include attending international conferences and access to further career development opportunities
Do I need to be a member of The Global Health Network or Nursing Now Challenge?
On registering for the scheme you will be enrolled as a member of The Global Health Network, as this is where the 1000 challenge system is held. You will also be offered the opportunity to join Nursing Now.
How do I get permission and support for this study in my workplace?
Institutional support for research is a common barrier to research. Many care settings do not have experience or even awareness of the value that bringing in research could deliver to patient care. Therefore, the 1000 challenge will help your team approach your management team and set out why this research will be valuable and worthwhile for your patient and your organisation. This facility enables teams to undertake high quality studies, but it does not provide funding. Teams might already have funds as these studies could be part of a wider programme or collaboration. However, more typically the only costs associated with the study is the cost of the team’s time. As these studies should be highly relevant and practical studies, that address a problem or gap then they should be of value to the organisations. The impact should be worth far beyond investment for the employer of their team’s time because of the benefit this research will bring to the patients and also in terms of career development through this workplace-based training and the experience of being directly supported in undertaking a study.
There is a template for helping set out a letter to request support for undertaking this research in your workplace. Further support and guidance can also be sought.
I’m a student, can I take part in the 1000 Challenge?
All studies need to be undertaken in a healthcare setting and so students can take part if they are part of a team within a specific healthcare setting.
We are developing a student element to the 1000 challenge for students who are not part of a work-placed based team. Here a set of Introduction to Research certificated courses will be provided and the students asked to complete this training. Once successfully through this the students can ask to be taken on by another team to learn from their study and the scheme will attempt to match them to an existing team who would be willing for another member and willing pair of hands who can help with an element of their study, which could even be online.
I am not based in an LMIC, can I still take part?
The research studies for the 1000 are intended to be in low-resource setting where there is little or no previous work experience. If you are based in a setting where this is not the case, you can still take part if the study is in an LMIC, or low-resource / experienced research environment and the other members of the team are working in situ in this setting
Does my study need ethics approval?
This comes down to whether your research can be considered as an audit or if it is a clinical study, and also what you intend to do with the data. A study becomes research when the intent is to collect data for publication and sharing widely. This should be your intent and this should be encouraged. If it is considered just an audit then this is where data is collected for internal process management.
You should not be put off. If in doubt you should contact your ethics committee and ask for their help. They should have a process for minimal risk, pragmatic studies undertaken without funding by local investigators, and this should be offered at minimal or no cost. The process of gaining approval will be a good experience and training for you and worthwhile as it gives your study credibility. It is essential if you want to publish.
Within the study builder tool help and guidance is given to help you decide and then guide you through this step.
Is there a price to join the 1000 Challenge and use the Study Builder tool?
No, the 1000 Challenge and the tool are completely free to use.
Study Builder FAQs
How do I get started?
The Quick Start Guide will take you through each step of setting up an account, your personal profile and starting a study pathway where you can invite team members or continue as an individual researcher.
How do I create a study team?
The Quick Start Guide describes how you can invite team members to join your study once they have their own account within the tool.
What is a Study Pathway?
A Study Pathway is a serious of questions, within steps of the research process, that help you build your study. Help and resources are available to support each step of the way.
Can I complete a Research Pathway on my own?
Yes, you can compete a study pathway on your own or with a team.
How do I join a group?
You need to contact the team leader of your team (the person who created the Study) to invite you. The invite will appear in the settings of your account within the tool and you can accept it. More information here.
Who can see my responses?
Personal comments during the course of the study pathway will only be viewable by team members. Information entered at each step will be viewable by The Global Health Network community in the spirit of knowledge sharing and research uptake. There will be an opportunity to publish an abstract of your study with its own Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for easy citation by other researchers.
What do you do with my data?
Personal comments during the course of the study pathway will only be viewable by team members. Information entered at each step will be viewable by The Global Health Network community. The information that you supply will be treated in accordance with the University of Oxford's Data Protection policy. The data collected will be stored securely and will be only accessed by The Global Health Network. For more information please visit The Global Health Network Privacy Policy page.