An internationalisation grant has been awarded to PenCHORD – PenCLAHRC’s operational research group – to establish a research collaboration between the University of Exeter Medical School and Charusat University in India.
Charusat University is situated in the Gujarat state of India and specialises in science, technology and management courses. The university works closely with the newly-established Charusat Hospital, situated next to the university campus, to develop staff skills and resources.
This collaboration aims to combine both universities’ specialisms in healthcare and operational research, by using modelling to support service delivery at Charusat Hospital.
Martin Pitt, Director of PenCHORD, established links with Charusat University when he visited senior academics there in November 2016.
Associate Professor Pitt said:
“This international collaboration with an Indian university and hospital is a real opportunity to explore the potentials for operational research to improve health care delivery where such tools are desperately needed. Our aim is to provide applications which can both directly benefit service delivery but also, crucially, to build local skills and capacities amongst the professionals at Charusat.”
The collaboration will apply operational modelling to optimise the patient admission process at Charusat Hospital, which has recently started admitting patients for hospitalisation. Through the process of building computer models and implementing their findings, staff from Exeter and Charusat universities will exchange their knowledge of research and development techniques and the unique challenges of health delivery in India.
During a series of exchange visits over the coming year, the collaboration will identify shared research interests and develop a long-term plan for training and student exchanges. The aim is to develop a productive and on-going relationship between the two universities that can flourish in future years.