Background: Conducting Cochrane reviews can be challenging. These reviews are often carried out by healthcare professionals and experienced researchers because of their complexity and associated workload. University students must complete a research project to obtain an undergraduate or postgraduate degree. Thus, there is a vast potential for collaboration between students and Cochrane. Cochrane is present in universities and hospitals, so one potential partnership may be the realization of end-of-degree research projects and master/PhD theses based on Cochrane activities.
Objectives: (1) To explore how to incorporate Cochrane activities into the undergraduate and postgraduate curricula, (2) to share the experiences of centres in promoting the participation of university students in Cochrane activities and (3) to promote networking among Cochrane trainers.
Description: The workshop is directed at Cochrane trainers, coordinators and undergraduate and postgraduate curricula teachers. The session will highlight new opportunities to link Cochrane activities and university students. The workshop will include two short presentations (10 minutes each) and one interactive session (40 minutes). The group will reconvene for the final 30 minutes to gather feedback about synergies between students and Cochrane. The first presentation (Cochrane Sweden and Cochrane Austria) will focus on experiences with the Cochrane International Mobility scheme (see also https://www.cochrane.org/news/cochrane-international-mobility) and how this could be integrated into the university curriculum. The second presentation will show the experience of different Cochrane Centres (Cochrane Madrid, Iberoamerican Cochrane Centre-Barcelona and Cochrane Complementary Medicine-Switzerland) in integrating Cochrane activities and evidence synthesis methods into the medical degree curriculum. The main section of the workshop will be interactive. Participants will conduct a SWOT analysis to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats related to the previously exposed proposals. Relevance to diversity: The integration of Cochrane activities in the university represents a unique opportunity to involve different stakeholders to support informed decisions in healthcare.