The endorsement of interdisciplinarity and mobility in Ireland is echoed elsewhere. Amongst its most salient recommendations for PhD projects is that students will benefit from experience and training in institutions other than their primary institution. Kirwin (2008) has reviewed doctoral programmes, recommending that the maximum valued added will be gained by programmes that are inter-disciplinary, inter-institutional and international. The Irish Universities Quality Board’s National Guidelines on Good Practice in the Organisation of PhD Programmes in Irish Universities (2005) makes a range of recommendations that have shaped the programme. The Indigo programme emerges from ongoing debates around aid effectiveness, academic collaboration between European universities and institutions in low- and middle-income countries and, more specifically, the widely recognised need for health system research strengthening in Africa. Irish health and social science research has played an increasing role within the European research area (MacLachlan & Caball, 2004) and with the Indigo programme it is now poised to assume a greater role in global health research. The Indigo programme builds on recognised best practice in Ireland and contributes to realising the 2000 Lisbon Strategy’s call for a doubling in the number of PhD graduates, an aspiration endorsed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) 2006 review of the third level sector in Ireland. By working collaboratively with universities in Africa, Indigo seeks to enable them to become regional centres of excellence in interdisciplinary health research, producing research leaders who will develop the evidence base for health systems capable of developing and implementing effective treatment strategies and technologies. While the approach is global, the main focus is currently on sub-Saharan Africa. The programme's distinctive contribution is to strengthen genuine interdisciplinary capacity, rather than to pursue solutions along multiple, albeit sometimes interlocking, disciplinary pathways. Indigo aims to produce doctoral-level graduates who have the ability to address global health problems using a systems framework, utilising interdisciplinary research to provide an evidence base that indicates practice and policy-relevant action to improve the effectiveness of public health services, particularly in Africa. By developing the interface between biological science, social sciences and public health, the programme seeks to create more effective and efficient platforms for service delivery, in the context of a region challenged by HIV/AIDS and a range of many other serious health problems. This article looks at the International Doctorate in Global Health (Indigo), an innovative programme launched in 2009 and coordinated by the Centre for Global Health at Trinity College, Dublin, with partners from Africa, Europe and North America.
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