Boosting China’s research collaboration

The expansion of China’s economy has prompted the country’s emergence as a major player in the field of foreign aid, including in health. “China has dispatched Chinese medical teams since 1963,” says 2015 IDRC Research Award recipient Rong Li, “but there has been little public health assistance.”

“China’s cooperation to date has also largely ignored the role of research collaboration,” he says. Li focused on what China’s foreign cooperation program should look like in the years ahead and what changes are needed to support new directions. “In building a research cooperation strategy, China could take advantage of the interest and experience of agencies like IDRC, that have established research support programs,” he says.

Of his experience at IDRC, Li says “The award gave me the opportunity to conduct the policy review at the national level with fieldwork back in China. I accumulated skills on qualitative research. It was my first time formally working abroad,” he says. “It will definitely benefit my future career.”