The Wellcome Trust has issued preliminary notifications to five new sectoral evidence-synthesis hubs (or sectoral hubs for short), a Global South lead on the open evidence-synthesis data system (or ODS for short), and a science-advice mechanism supporting the UN system. An award to support two new regional evidence-intermediary hubs (or regional hubs for short) has also been finalized and is due to begin in early October.

The five new sectoral hubs focus on:

1. economic growth, with the CHANGES team led by Gabriela Benatti, Instituto Veredas, Brazil
2. food systems, with the HARvEST team led by Aditi Mukherji, International Livestock Research Institute, Kenya
3. humanitarian assistance, with the SIRAJ team led by Fadi El-Jardali, American University of Beirut, Lebanon
4. peace and effective institutions, with the EQUIP team led by Suchi Kapoor Malhotra, Global Development Network | Campbell South Asia, India
5. social protection, with the R4E team led by Ashrita Saran, Global Development Network, India.

These five new teams complement the four teams supported through a UKRI grant to METIUS and the team supported through a Wellcome grant to the DESTINY consortium. All 10 teams will soon move through a formal process to be designated as sectoral hubs, and this includes a commitment to acting as a convenor to 'crowd in' as many additional contributors as possible, with the goal of achieving full coverage of capabilities and priority questions and minimizing research waste.

The two new regional hubs focus on:

1. Africa, with the Pan-African Collective for Evidence (PACE), on behalf of the Africa Evidence Network, acting as the secretariat
2. Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), with the Hub de Evidencias de Latinoamérica y el Caribe (Hub LAC) acting as the secretariat.

PACE, on behalf of the Global South Tech Alliance, will also take on responsibility as the Global South lead on the ODS. Finally, the UN Secretary-General Scientific Advisory Board will focus on using ESIC as an ‘evidence pipeline’ for its science-advice mechanism and, through it members, in similar mechanisms across the UN system.

We will soon provide additional information and contact details for all of these new infrastructure elements.