Professor Anne Gregory leads creation of World Health Organization skills tool
An innovative new tool which can be used to help bring the right mix of skilled people together to best respond to large-scale health emergencies has been spearheaded by University of Huddersfield academic, Emeritus Professor Anne Gregory.
Renowned for her work in creating a Global Capability Framework for the Public Relations sector, Professor Gregory, of Huddersfield Business School, has led this latest project for the World Health Organization (WHO) Europe.
It has involved the creation of a Capability Mapping Framework and software tool to help with risk communication, community engagement and infodemic management (RCCE-IM).
The dynamic tool allows people to map their existing skills and one of its uses will be to help WHO Europe to act even more efficiently when responding to emergencies – allowing the right team to be put together quickly to head out to a disaster zone, for example.
Huddersfield Business School in the Charles Sikes Building on the University of Huddersfield campusDescribed as “a comprehensive framework for professionals, organisations and countries to self-assess and map their skills, knowledge and attitudes”, it provides an inventory of current skills but can also be used to plan future professional development.
Professor Gregory explained how gaining a detailed understanding of the work in RCCE-IM and putting it into a capability framework was challenging, adding that her team, including University of Huddersfield’s Dr Gabriel Sadi, also relied on the expertise of the WHO Europe community.
Speaking of the moment she received the call to lead the WHO work, Professor Gregory said: “It was one of those stand-up moments as this is such important work. These people save lives and the opportunity to get involved in really meaningful work, for me, was such a thrill - I can’t tell you how rewarding it has been. This is an opportunity to make a real difference to people who are in deep distress due to a health emergency.”
Professor Anne Gregory
World-renowned expert in Public Relations
Anne Gregory is an Emeritus Professor of Corporate Communication within Huddersfield Business School, part of the University of Huddersfield’s School of Business, Education and Law. She is known for creating the Global Capability Framework for the Public Relations sector and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations’ AIinPR Panel, co-authoring three of its major research reports on the impact of AI in communication.
Professor Gregory’s capability mapping tool was launched at a WHO forum in Denmark in December alongside a second tool – a RCCE-IM Plan Creator, an online platform that empowers users to create strategic and tactical emergency plans.
WHO Europe had already started to build its RCCE-IM capacity, but the size of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the health systems of almost every country in the region, highlighted the need to strengthen this further.
The forum also heard of the importance of having RCCE-IM at the core of WHO’s response in Europe through multiple recent health crises, including COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, and earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.
The event was attended by government health professionals, donors, partners, civil society organizations and academics from across the European Region.