FNU Pro-Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation Professor Roland de Marco.
The Fiji National University’s (FNU) College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences (CMNHS) has organised an important symposium that will discuss the impact and lessons learnt from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The Pacific Islands Health Research Symposium (PIHRS) is the annual flagship event of the College’s Fiji Institute for Pacific Health Research (FIPHR), which brings together health experts researching health issues and challenges prevalent in the region. This year marks the 10th-anniversary of the symposium.
To reflect the gravity of the COVID-19 pandemic globally and how it has affected people, their health and particularly health systems; the theme for the two-day virtual symposium is ‘Health Security in the Pacific: Lessons from the Pandemic Experience.’
FNU Pro-Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation, Professor Roland De Marco in his welcome address highlighted that being the national university of Fiji bequeaths the institution with great responsibility to play a critical role in informing the direction of development for this country, whatever the field may be.
He said this responsibility obligates FNU to conduct innovative, cost-efficient and impactful research which prescribe the best solutions peculiar to the dynamics of resource-scarce, physically and economically fragile and ever-changing cultural settings of Fiji and the Pacific Islands.
“The COVID-19 pandemic restrictions have introduced additional challenges to conducting useful research. Therefore, qualitative, quantitative or a mixture of research methodologies must be innovative and creative while satisfying scientific rigour and simultaneously ethical to all – especially for study participants and researchers amongst others.”
The senior academic stated that research at FNU must not only answer critical questions for Fiji and the Pacific Islands but must also provide several sustainable options and pathways so that the countries of the region can make informed choices to benefit current and future generations.
Professor De Marco also alluded that the research responsibilities of FNU necessitate it to reach out and build meaningful research networks to support the institution in its quest to provide innovative solutions.
“We must look for and establish partnerships that will support local Masters and PhD awards and publication opportunities within them and facilitate lasting engagements that enable a genuine exchange of research skills and norms.”
“Those collaborations must nurture and empower local researchers to conduct their own innovative research while allowing them to mentor and build-up other local researchers after them.”
The PVC added it was critically important that FNU engaged in local, regional and international research partnerships with governments, technical agencies, philanthropists, academic institutions, the private sector and non-government entities so that topical issues are researched and solutions arrived at using scientific rigour.