1. Publishable summary Summary description of project context and objectives ARCADE RSDH, Asian Regional Capacity Development for Research on Social Determinants of Health is a collaboration of 12 institutions in Asia and Europe. Karolinska Institute (KI), Sweden, coordinates this project. The partner institutions in the consortium include Huazhong University of Science and Technology (TJMC), China; CBCI Society for Medical Education (SJNAHS), India; Institute of development studies (IDS), United Kingdom; Beijing Normal University (BNU), China, Indian Institute of Health Management Research Society (IIHMR), India; Tampere University (UTA), Finland; Zhejiang University (ZJU), China; Ujjain Charitable Trust Hospital and Research Centre (UCTH), India; Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), Oman, and Hanoi Medical University (HMU), Vietnam. Stellenbosch University (SU), South Africa, also collaborates in the project, providing expertise from their experience with ARCADE RSDH’s sister project, ARCADE HSSR. The project is focused on delivering excellent postgraduate education in Asia on the topic of social determinants of health.’ The project aims to develop research training capacity in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) in Asia, for promoting research on social determinants of health (RSDH). The focus is on doctoral and post doctoral training, institutional strengthening for education, financial and administrative research management, and LMICs-based network building. Innovative approaches and educational technologies are used to achieve this. Novel capacity building approaches will reduce brain drain, be more climate friendly and encourage gender equity with LMICs-based training. Internet mounted downloadable modules in RSDHrelated disciplines will support excellent interdisciplinary courses. Addressing social determinants of health and tackling health inequity are research intensive endeavours. Therefore LMICs need to grow their own capacity to strengthen RSDH through ensuring that interdisciplinary, rigorous and relevant research is conducted. ARCADE RSDH will support evidence informed decision making by producing a stream of well-trained young RSDH scientists, the next generation of health system leaders and researchers in LMICs.

Description of work performed and main results In the first 18 months of the project, the project has made great strides towards building capacity in research in social determinants of health (SDH) in Asia. A needs assessment has been conducted, which has identified a number of areas where courses and modules needed for developing knowledge and skills in SDH are lacking. This needs assessment contributed to developing a curriculum on teaching research on social determinants of health, and allowed for the consortium to decide on the courses to be developed within the programme. Importantly, the ARCADE RDSH partners have agreed upon Creative Commons copyright policy, which will enable open access to ARCADE courses. In addition to the above, the tools to be used for delivering blended courses have been selected. Moodle platforms for e-learning have been developed at the two hub

institutions, Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China (TJMC), and St John’s National Academy of Health Sciences, India (SJNAHS). Four blended courses and three self-study modules have already been uploaded onto the Moodle websites. In addition to the development and implementation of courses and modules, the consortium has also started discussions on how joint training programmes between institutions could strengthen research capacity at institutions involved. As part of this process, three joint research programmes have been developed, which aim to engage postgraduate students and senior researchers from Asia; senior researchers from Europe; and build connections with policymakers in Asian contexts. Some work has been done towards developing a postdoctoral researcher policy, to ensure that attention is given to career progression for postdoctoral researchers. The consortium has started making connections between grants offices in Asia and Europe. Standard operating procedures have been shared and knowledge has been exchanged about managing grants and supporting research staff to obtain grants. Further work will be conducted in this area in the remainder of the grant period. Finally, the ARCADE RSDH consortium has engaged a wide audience for their work, through presentations at conferences, a dedicated website, Moodle sites, social and professional networking sites, pamphlets and even distribution of memory sticks presenting the project and its advantages. At each participating university, colleagues and supervisors have been engaged in and informed about ARCADE and its goals, generating interest and potential for making the ARCADE courses sustainable at partner institutions. During the first phase of the project, we have learned that: 1) More courses on RSDH are needed in Asia, particularly strengthening the basic research skills of PhD students 2) Attention needs to be given to the grants management at partner universities 3) Bandwidth requirement and IT infrastructure needs to be improved in order to provide courses across institutions. 4) ARCADE RSDH has successfully developed and delivered 4 blended courses at hub universities. In addition 3 on-line modules are made available for students for self-study. However, institutional collaborations in these courses need to be enhanced. The consortium has achieved all milestones and deliverables required for the first 18 months and is confident that the milestones and deliverables due in the remainder of the project will be achieved on time.

Expected final results and potential impacts ARCADE RSDH contributes towards making freely accessible, quality education available in RSDH in Asia. The project will impact on several areas of RSDH capacity development in Asia. We expect that through providing relevant, highquality courses at postgraduate level, available at students’ home countries, ARCADE RSDH contributes towards building capacity in addressing social determinants of health where this is most needed. Through utilising innovative blended learning methods, we build capacity and infrastructure at partner

institutions to conduct research, obtain grants and develop excellent courses eventually possibly resulting in worldclass experts and courses sharing expertise in RSDH with worldwide reach. Graduates from ARCADE RSDH projects will have the skills to undertake research to develop and adapt health systems and health innovations with attention to social determinants of health. They will have skills in evaluating innovations and to pilot these innovations and scale them up when successful. In this way we expect ARCADE to contribute to the development of regional RSDH capacity in Asia and country health systems.