Paris, FRANCE – 13th of November 2017
CONFERENCE SCOPE
Action Against Hunger (Action Contre la Faim – ACF) has been working in the field of nutrition security for more than 30 years. Our broad experience has shed light on the importance of implementing a multidisciplinary approach to fight against hunger and undernutrition worldwide.
The international community has tackled undernutrition for decades, targeting directly or not on nutritional outcomes, through a set of interventions often delivered in silos by the nutrition, health, education, care practices, food security, livelihoods, water and sanitation sectors. This is not enough: nowadays, undernutrition remains a major public health issue. Children under the age of five are mostly affected: in 2014, one out of four of these children was chronically malnourished representing 159 million children. Added to this, 50 million children were diagnosed as acutely undernourished, out of which 16 million at the most severe clinical stage . The prevalence of these different forms of undernutrition are generally high in humanitarian settings, characterized by high level of vulnerabilities requiring internal and/or external assistance.
It is urgent to identify interventions that effectively drive stunting and wasting down on the ground, sustainably and at a larger scale. Multi-sectoral interventions, namely nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive interventions, have been identified to have the highest potential. Nevertheless, the body of evidence is limited. The production of evidence on what works/what doesn’t work to fight against undernutrition is still needed. And their uptake by operational stakeholders and policy-makers is crucial, especially in humanitarian settings where evidence is scarcer as research implementation presents a daily challenge.
The Research for Nutrition Conference #R4NUT annual conference, launched in 2016, offers a unique opportunity, for actors engaged in nutrition (field practitioners, academics, donors…), to share scientific results and debate on the way results are implemented, applied and used at the field level.
In addition to the presentation of the latest research results encompassing prevention, treatment and measurement of undernutrition, the conference allows room for debate on the role of field agencies as research actors, the challenges they face in implementing, operationalising research, and transforming the evidence into ready to use knowledge. Specific attention is given to research led into humanitarian settings.
Two themes have been identified as common thread to be addressed over the years. Speakers will be requested to highlight one of these topics in their presentation, besides the results of their study. A panel debate on one of the two themes will conclude the morning and the afternoon sessions.
Topic 1: Operational challenges: The world is increasingly facing severe humanitarian crises, which include both man-made and natural disasters. While offering assistance to people in need in disasters’ settings, aid responsiveness, coverage and effectiveness are crucial. Can we adequately measure these outcomes? How can we improve data collection in emergency settings to support well-designed evaluations? How can we involve human beings in research in emergency settings without compromising ethical considerations? Can we better engage with communities in emergency settings? How can we better link multi-sectoral activities to enhance the quality of the humanitarian response?
Topic 2: Research Uptake: Engaging communities in research: how can we ensure communities’ participation across the research project?
Participatory research makes a strong commitment to consulting and reporting back to participants but it is often the first thing to be forgotten about. How can collaboration between communities and researchers across the research project be fostered? How can engagement between researchers and communities to transform research results into action be improved?
Discussion on these topics will be animated by experts in each area and lessons derived by concrete field examples.
Chairs and panellists to moderate the sessions will be invited.
2016 EDITION HIGHLIGHTS
Watch the videos of the 2016 conference: http://bit.ly/2kDgLnQ
Access the proceedings of the 2016 conference:
Field Exchange, special 12-page section (pp. 56-58) on the Conference in FEX 54.
http://files.ennonline.net/attachments/2592/FEX-54-Web_FEB-2017-SHARE.pdf
Deadline June 26 th, 2017
Action Against Hunger (AAH/ACF) invites the submission of abstracts for the next Research for Nutrition #R4NUT conference to be held in Paris, on November 13th, 2017.
We are seeking submissions that describe scientific results that have the potential to improve operational interventions which aim to tackle undernutrition.
PRESENTATION TYPES
Two types of presentations will take place during the conferences: Oral and Poster presentations. Upon submission, authors must select their preferred type. However the final decision will be taken by the Scientific Committee, taking into account the content and availability of sessions.
Abstract must be submitted according to the template below and sent by email to: srecherche@actioncontrelafaim.org The template will be required at the end of the submission process.
Oral presentations
Authors of oral presentations will have 15 minutes to present their research project in plenary session. A short slot for questions and answers will be scheduled.
Poster presentations
Poster presentations will take place during the breaks. The template for posters (48×72 cms) will be sent once the selection process is completed.
SELECTION PROCESS
Abstracts will be reviewed by an experts’ panel. Abstracts will be selected for either oral or poster presentations based on scientific quality and programmatic value as well as relevancy with the themes mentioned above.
The final decision will be sent by email to the authors before July 26, 2017. If your abstract is accepted, the presenting author must be registered for the Conference before the 31st of August, 2017, to ensure that the abstract will be listed in the final programme.
Authors should submit abstracts by
JUNE 26TH, 2017
to the following address: srecherche@actioncontrelafaim.org
Guidance and further information on how to prepare contributions will be provided after acceptance. Queries can be directed to the following: srecherche@actioncontrelafaim.org.