On 3 December 2025, the IDE Group convened for a dynamic, full-day Strategy Development Meeting at the Amaryllis Hotel. The session brought together group members for thoughtful reflection, robust discussion and forward-looking planning, to review the current IDE Group strategy and realign it with the group’s evolving priorities and Malawi Liverpool Wellcome (MLW)’s new research strategy.

Chaired by Rodrick Sambakunsi, the meeting provided a valuable platform for collective sense-making and strategic renewal at a time when the MLW research landscape continues to evolve.

The day began with arrival and registration at 8:00 am, followed by an engaging icebreaker session led by Rodrick, designed to help members reconnect and learn more about one another. Dr Donnie Mategula officially opened the meeting with warm welcome remarks, setting a collaborative and productive tone for the day ahead.

Recognising the need to remain responsive to institutional priorities and operational realities, the IDE Group used the meeting to reflect on progress to date, identify gaps, and define clear strategic priorities for the coming period. The overarching objective was to ensure strong alignment with MLW’s institutional vision while strengthening the group’s scientific focus and impact.

Dr Latif presented an overview of the current IDE Group strategy, highlighting key areas of progress alongside opportunities for improvement. He emphasised the importance of building a strong, supportive group culture; one that actively promotes career development, sustains a robust research pipeline, and delivers measurable scientific impact.

As a research group reporting through the Theme Lead to the Director, the IDE Group’s performance is assessed on scientific outputs, including grants, publications, papers and overall research impact. This framing provided a clear context for the strategic discussions that followed.

Participants were divided into three discussion groups, each tasked with addressing core strategic questions; defining the group’s overarching aim and scientific priorities; identifying proposed thematic areas and assessing current capacity; and mapping key partnerships and collaborations required to strengthen the group’s work.

Each group engaged in structured 20 to 30-minute discussions, followed by short presentations. After each round, Rodrick facilitated consolidation sessions to draw together shared ideas, emerging priorities and cross-cutting themes. Following a lunch break, the team reconvened to complete discussions on remaining topics.

The afternoon focused on synthesising insights, reviewing key points from earlier sessions and agreeing on practical, actionable next steps.

Infectious Disease EPI Group members present at Amaryllis strategy writing retreat that took place on 3rd Dec 2025

A dedicated session led by Dr James Chirambo explored “life after the PhD.” Participants were encouraged to view PhD and postdoctoral training as foundations for diverse career pathways, including research leadership, teaching, policy engagement, industry, programme management and other professional and leadership roles within and beyond academia. The session highlighted the importance of strategic career planning, continuous skills development and openness to non-traditional career trajectories.

Before closing, the group agreed next steps, including refining the strategy document, assigning leads to specific action points and setting timelines for follow-up. The day concluded with closing remarks and informal networking.

The Strategy Development Meeting marked an important milestone in strengthening the IDE Group’s strategic direction and collective commitment to excellence. The insights generated will directly inform the refinement of the updated group strategy, ensuring it remains relevant, impactful and firmly aligned with MLW’s broader research vision as the group looks confidently to the future