We at LASER, like probably all of you, have been working remotely since mid-March. Perhaps for the first time in history, all around the world, we have been responding to protect ourselves from a pandemic at the same time and in mostly the same ways.

Earlier this year, the COVID-19 crisis caused the postponement of LASER R4D Workshops in Hanoi, Vietnam and in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  Indiana University, the lead consortium partner for these events, has been working closely with the LASER team, regional partners, and USAID to re-envision and reschedule these important gatherings. Planning efforts will maintain a careful eye towards ongoing public-health considerations and pandemic responses.

The LASER PULSE Research Translation team is excited to present templates and tools now available to Network Members. These resources are intended to directly support research translation projects by addressing critical areas in knowledge, understanding, and implementation.

Makerere University, a LASER-PULSE consortium member led this assessment which identified barriers and opportunities to research and research translation in sub-Saharan Africa with the goal of identifying priority gaps for capacity building.

On May 20, 2020 Juan Posada-Burbano facilitated a research translation strategy workshop to establish a shared understanding of the knowledge gaps addressed early on in the research project. The discussion at the end of the workshop focused on how to identify practitioner stakeholders, incentivize deep collaboration, and how to disseminate research results and products to encourage wider application.