Blog

The creation of an external advisory board

Wed. 13. Jun 2018 13:51

To create the best possible External Advisory Board (EAB) for the ImpleMentAll project, all of the consortium members were included in the decision process. We did this by carrying out a stakeholder survey where all partners in ImpleMentAll were asked to participate and give their input.

Mette Maria Skjøth, leader of WP6, says; “the EAB has been established based on a thorough stakeholder analysis including a survey among the project members to ensure the right selection of stakeholders. The stakeholders in the EAB represent a wide range of different skills and expertise in areas such as patient groups, psychiatry, implementation, management, and policy. Including all of these areas has the purpose of infusing the project with knowledge from many angles.”

We wanted to ensure that the EAB represents experts from all relevant fields and from a wide range of backgrounds, therefore we applied a systematic approach. The systematic gathering and analysis of information involved all consortium members to ensure that the entire range of stakeholder groups would be represented in the EAB. Based on the stakeholder mapping and analysis, we created a stakeholder database. The main categories of stakeholder groups (e.g. researchers, eHealth experts, implementation experts) were defined and the corresponding representatives were recruited to take part in the ImpleMentAll EAB.

“The purpose of having an external advisory board in ImpleMentAll is to seek external advice on relevant issues in the project, to engage with experienced stakeholders, and to disseminate results,” says Mette Maria Skjøth, while emphasising that the purpose of the EAB is to give regular external advice on relevant issues.

The EAB will: 

• Provide independent, expert advice to ensure that the project will develop in accordance to the appropriate legal, ethical and social issues, and general philosophy and direction of the project.
• Advise on corrective measures in the content of the work.
• Advise on the dissemination and exploitation of the project’s results.

“I am delighted to be an advisor to the IMA project. Implementing digital healthcare solutions requires focussed attention to maximise the benefits for patients, whilst also allowing room for flexibility and innovation. The IMA project will provide vital evidence and guidance to health systems in how to move from pilot projects to implementation at scale,” says Bruce Witear about being a member of the EAB. 

The first meeting with the External Advisory Board (EAB) was held on October 31^st. It was an overwhelming success with interesting discussions and a lot of engagement from the members of the board. A presentation of the EAB members can be found here.

The second meeting with the EAB took place on March 20th and covered topics such as the midterm workshop, the scientific content of the project, and general discussions. Like the first meeting it was quite successful, which is why we are very excited for the upcoming meeting with the EAB. It will be held on 9 October 2018 in connection with the project’s 5^th consortium meeting and the midterm workshop in Odense.

If you have any questions for or about the EAB, or if you are a member and want to share your experience, please comment below!