COMDIS-HSD partners have come together for an intensive writing workshop aimed at transforming some of our latest research into high-quality draft papers ready for submission and review.

The 6-day workshop, which is taking place in Amsterdam, will guide partners through each stage of writing their research paper.

This will range from developing the introduction, methods, results and discussion sections, through to handling tables, figures, references, online electronic submission, peer review and revision.

In this hands-on week of writing, participants will be individually mentored by experienced researchers from the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) and Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). The Union and MSF work with the World Health Organization to offer this and other courses under the collective title of SORT-IT (structured operational research training initiative).

According to Professor Anthony Harries, lead facilitator of the workshop and Senior Advisor and Director of the Department of Research at The Union, the module is about developing confidence as well as practical skills:

‘Many researchers do a lot of work in the field developing a study protocol, collecting and analysing data, but get blocked when it comes to writing up the results.

‘This week should remove some of the myths surrounding scientific writing. Writing is like any skill, it can be learned and it is much more satisfying and productive when you know how.’

Partners will be working with research data from some of their latest COMDIS-HSD studies, including research that focuses on understanding current antibiotic use among children in China, the media’s response to urban health issues in Nepal and delivering enhanced cardiovascular disease care through rural health facilities in Pakistan.

We will be tweeting throughout the week with progress and top tips. Follow us on @COMDISResearch and use the hashtag #COMDISwrites to get involved.

See all our published research papers here.