Children at Mulanda Primary School

UKRI GCRF Hub

Interdisciplinary Approach

I think there’s growing success for sure in terms of putting interdisciplinary people together and really letting things happen based on interactions that haven’t happened before.

Alfred G. Gilman, 1994 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine

We urgently need to harness the power of the collective to respond to the toughest global challenges – from climate change to global food insecurity to mass migration. To do so, the UK government launched 12 Global Interdisciplinary Research Hubs to bring a coordinated global response to formidable development challenges at scale.

The 12 Hubs unite multi-institutional, interdisciplinary teams to develop innovative and sustainable solutions that improve the lives of many of the world’s hardest-to-reach people. Together they present a huge opportunity to make the world healthier, safer and more prosperous.

The ‘UKRI GCRF Action against Stunting Hub’ is an interdisciplinary team comprising researchers from 17 partner institutions. Running from March 2019 – September 2024, our mission is to transform current research on child undernutrition or stunting from individual components of the problem to the ‘whole child’.

We aim to understand the biological, social, environmental, and behavioural context of stunting.

By undertaking a range of child-focused interventions to prevent, improve and even reverse some critical features of stunting, we will positively impact the lives of millions of children, ensuring that they have the best possible start in life to fulfil their potential.

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