About ENRECA

ENRECA (Enhancement of Research Capacity) is a non-profit independent think tank engaging in research capacity strengthening, advocacy and research communication in global health related issues. ENRECA's mission is to analyse and promote the understanding of major global health issues and provide a forum for different constituencies to meet and exchange ideas. We are also passsionately engaged in communicating research results to users of research.

Interdisciplinary and innovative forum

ENRECA gathers global health experts from Danish universities, research institutions and the civil society. Drawing upon their independent research, ENRECA aims to promote debate on global health and contribute with analysis, new ideas, and future challenges to decision-makers. By bringing together researchers from different disciplines, ENRECA creates an interdisciplinary and innovative forum, which generates new knowledge and ability to identify upcoming disease patterns and future health challenges. ENRECA has a proven track record of bringing new global health challenges to the public agenda and of generating cutting-edge research.

ENRECA's commitment to reaching out to different constituencies outside of academia also creates a forum for researchers, students, practitioners and policymakers to meet and share information. Effective communication through different actors is needed to enhance evidence-based policymaking and practice.

Specialising in research communication

Dissemination of research findings is core to ENRECA's activities. Electronic newsletters, policy briefs, workshops, thematic meetings and conferences are some of the most commonly used channels to help researchers to communicate their research findings to actors beyond the research community. An important part of this work is to help researchers to prepare understandable and interesting summaries of their research to non-specialised audiences.

Trusted partner in recearch capacity strengthening

The ENRECA think tank is hosted by the University of Copenhagen at the Faculty of Health Sciences and is governed by an independent board, which is chaired by Prof Ib Bygbjerg and co-chaired by Prof Morten Sodemann. It is a continuation of the work of the Danish Research Network for International Health (Enreca Health), which dates back to 1984 when the first ‘Coordination Office' was established.

For the past three decades, the Network has been a trusted partner in research capacity strengthening activities in low-income countries as well as a forum for knowledge sharing and cooperation in Denmark. It has routinely been used as a source of information, for example, by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs / Danida. The Network has succeeded in influencing the Danish research agenda and attracting interest among students and the wider public to the issues related to global health.

Spotlighting emerging health challenges

By gathering expertise across disciplines, ENRECA generates high potential to spotlight the emerging health challenges. Many of the hot topics of today's global health debate were already discussed by the Network a decade ago. For example, the growing burden of chronic diseases in developing countries was already raised by the Network in 2001; the changing burden of disease in 2000; malaria control in Africa in 2000 and functioning health care systems in 1998. This has contributed to ensuring that Danish research in global health is of high quality and provides evidence-based policy advice.