Evidence Synthesis Infrastructure Collaborative (ESIC)
The (ESIC) is a ‘community of communities’ committed to a collective impact approach to learning from others – using evidence synthesis – to improve lives. ESIC’s communities range from 45 UN entities and the world’s largest producers of evidence synthesis to key networks of evidence intermediaries (including science advisors and evidence-support units) and 35+ funders (research, philanthropic, government, and international assistance). ESIC builds on the momentum created by the Global Commission on Evidence to Address Societal Challenges to create a step-change improvement in how we use evidence to address societal challenges.
We’re proud to be part of this initiative, contributing to better using evidence to support decision-making and improve lives. Maureen Smith, our citizen strategy and engagement partner, has been appointed to ESIC’s Communities council. She had previously served as a member of the ESIC Governance planning group. The Forum’s Mike Wilson and Kerry Waddell were actively involved in working groups in the lead-up to and at the Cape Town Consensus meeting. Our director, John Lavis, facilitates ESIC’s steering group and Communities council.
Áù¾ÅÊÓƵ Forum’s role in ESIC
ESIC year 1 foundational investments | Áù¾ÅÊÓƵ Forum’s contributions |
Sectoral hubs | Leading a nascent spoke for health emergencies in the health hub and exploring participating in other spokes, including for health-system arrangements |
Regional hubs | Contributing insights as a national and local evidence intermediary |
Open data system | Gearing up to contribute data from Health Systems Evidence, Social Systems Evidence and Áù¾ÅÊÓƵ Forum’s evidence syntheses |
Living inventory of AI-DESTs | Keen to be an early adopter of AI-DESTs as part of Canadian domestic intermediary role |
Monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) infrastructure | Prepared to contribute data that supports learning and improvement cycles |
ESIC preparatory work | Áù¾ÅÊÓƵ Forum’s contributions |
Methods for policy-scale, AI-enabled LESs | Contributing to discussions on developing methods for policy-scale, AI-enabled syntheses |