There is clear and obvious disparity among research institutions in Southeast Asia in terms of research support capacity. In well-resourced settings such as the UK researchers enjoy a range of professional supports including pre- and post-award grants management, contracts management, financial management and technology transfer and innovation support, as well as support for publication and dissemination of research outcomes including community and policy engagement, science communication and academic publications. This level of research support is typical for a research organisation or university in a high-income country context where research support infrastructures and professional capacity has evolved over time.  In Southeast Asia, the range of research support infrastructure and professional capacity available for researchers varies widely – from very well-resourced institutions that can compete with the UK standard, to institutions that offer little or no support at all, and researchers must themselves manage all grant administration and compliance.    

The MORU – OUCRU Discovery Research Academy (MODRA) is a collaborative initiative by the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU) and the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU). It aims to empower early to mid-career post-doctoral researchers from South Asia to conduct impactful research in global health and infectious diseases and to assist their career development within the region.   

We will interview the MODRA researchers to find out what research support facilities they are aware of and have access to in their organisations. We will aim to interview as many MODRA participants as possible in person, and will conduct online interviews using zoom for the remainder.  

Alongside this, we will ask MODRA researchers to identify research support staff at their organisations, and arrange online interviews with these research support staff to understand the barriers and enablers for them to providing support services for researchers in their organisations.  

From these interviews, we will map the research support infrastructure that exists among the MODRA cohort, to identify strengths and weaknesses across the region, and potential opportunities for collaboration in addressing these.