New and improved TDR Global Discovery Platform makes finding experts and collaborators easier

7 December 2020
News release
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TDR has recently launched its new and improved TDR Global Discovery Platform, which allows TDR Global members and others to more easily identify and contact potential research collaborators. The Platform is also available to scientists and institutions currently unaffiliated with TDR.

TDR Global, a community of scientists and experts who have been working with TDR on research on infectious diseases of poverty, aims to encourage mentoring of young scientists and foster research collaborations. TDR has acted on feedback received from TDR Global members to improve the functionality of the Discovery Platform. (See box below for an example of how the platform could be used.)

The updated platform allows users to find and make direct contact with mentors, research experts or collaborators by searching by name, keywords or disciplines. A number of interactive filters allow search results to be refined – for example, by WHO region, by availability to collaborate, or by nationality. Pre-defined tags also allow finding experts by using fields of research.

How might the new Platform be used to discover someone to collaborate with?

Image shows two people looking at two laptops

TDR Global, a community of scientists and experts who have been working with TDR on research on infectious diseases of poverty, aims to encourage mentoring of young scientists and foster research collaborations. TDR has acted on feedback received from TDR Global members to improve the functionality of the Discovery Platform. (See box below for an example of how the platform could be used.)

The updated platform allows users to find and make direct contact with mentors, research experts or collaborators by searching by name, keywords or disciplines. A number of interactive filters allow search results to be refined – for example, by WHO Region, by availability to collaborate, or by nationality. Pre-defined tags also allow finding experts by using fields of research.

How might the new Platform be used to discover someone to collaborate with?

Image shows the Welcome screen for TDR Global

Imagine that a scientist is looking for a public health professional to collaborate with on a COVID-19 vaccine-related project. The new Discovery Platform makes the process of searching for, and communicating with, such individuals within the TDR Global community so much easier.

  1. The scientist goes to the Platform’s homepage: https://profiles.tdr-global.net/.
  2. She uses the default free text search box to search for the term “COVID 19 vaccine”; this will come up with search results where the term has been used anywhere in a TDR Global member’s profile or publications.
  3. If she prefers a certain regional or country focus she has the option (using the left-hand menu bar) to refine her search by “WHO Region” or “Country of Nationality”. (Clicking the “only” option makes it easy to select this option only). For example, she could choose the “WHO South-East Asia Region” only.
  4. She can further refine her search using tags to identify experts tagged as “Public Health and Health Services”.
  5. If she is looking for someone to collaborate with, she can narrow down the search to experts who have marked themselves as available for “Collaborative projects”.
  6. She can then click on any profile that appears in the results to read more information about that person.
  7. Depending on the completeness of the profile, she can not only contact that person directly, but can also find out more about the person’s background, work (e.g. current academic position and affiliation) and publication history. If the person has had a grant they listed, that information is also available.

The Platform can be used in a similar way to search for mentors.

Profile of Mohammad Sharif Hossain that appeared as a search result following the search example given above:

image shows the profile of Mohammad Sharif Hossain, it is pointing to Publications and Contact details

Have you registered?

If you have worked with TDR (as a current or former TDR grantee, trainee, expert advisor, staff or committee member) and would like to become part of the TDR Global community but are not yet registered, please email TDR, providing details of your work (grant, position, etc.), at: tdrglobal@who.int.

Is your TDR profile up to date?

To make best use of the platform, make sure you have included your latest:

  • Research interests
  • Academic appointments
  • Non-academic employment
  • Publications

You can review your profile page by logging in here: TDR Global Login

TDR Global is committed to encouraging mentoring of young scientists and fostering research collaborations. For more about the TDR Global community, including a video explaining what it is: https://www.who.int/tdr/partnerships/tdr-global/en/

For queries or assistance, please contact the TDR Global helpdesk by email: tdrglobal@who.int