Strengthening Infectious Disease Research Through Smarter Trial Design

This project titled "A strategies for the efficient design of cluster randomised trials to evaluate novel interventions for infectious disease control"  aims to improve how community-level interventions for infectious diseases are designed and evaluated, while strengthening the quality, reliability, and impact of health research. 

Funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) under its Better Methods, Better Research (BMBR) programme,Impelemented between three institutions - NIHR, University of Birmingham and Imperial College London - the project seeks to develop and evaluate several methodological strategies that can reduce the resource requirements in evaluating new and uncertain community-level interventions in infectious disease control.

Driving Innovation Through Collaboration
At the core of the project is strengthening collaboration and stakeholder engagement, with the Ifakara Health Institute spearheading these efforts. This will help enhance the relevance, acceptability, and uptake of interventions, ultimately strengthening impact. Key activities will include identifying challenges and opportunities in vector-control trial design, validating and refining improved methodological approaches, and leveraging lay summaries and implementation briefs to support inclusive discussions.

Through a series of structured workshops, researchers, policymakers, and community stakeholders will come together to identify challenges in vector-control trial design and refine improved methodological approaches. These discussions will be supported by accessible tools such as lay summaries and implementation briefs to ensure inclusive participation.

The project also applies participatory modelling—an approach that actively involves stakeholders in co-designing and validating research methods. This ensures that the resulting strategies are not only scientifically robust but also relevant, acceptable, and practical in real-world settings.

From Research to Real-World Impact
Beyond developing new methods, the initiative emphasizes translating research into action. Findings will be turned into clear policy recommendations and shared through an open-source, web-based platform to support wider adoption. This approach is expected to increase accessibility to advanced modelling tools and promote their uptake across Africa.

Ultimately, the project aims to foster long-term collaboration, strengthen research capacity, and enhance the impact of infectious disease interventions—contributing to more effective and sustainable public health solutions.