A global research priority setting exercise on masculinities and SRHR: key lessons and future directions

Recognising the increasing importance of research priority setting exercises (RPSEs) in role-modelling how responsive research agendas can be collectively generated by policy, practice and research communities, we present our approach to setting research priorities on engaging men and boys in sexual and reproductive health and rights with a diverse group of over 200 global stakeholders across 60 countries.
Description: We followed an adapted approach to the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) methodology for RPSEs. This widely used approach consists of two steps: 1) a research question generation stage and 2) a research question evaluation stage. The initial stage usually involves a steering group, but our adaptation was to make this stage bottom-up and deliberative, by inviting a wider, diverse group of stakeholders to collectively propose and discuss priority research questions. The aim was to enhance the quality of question suggestions by facilitating the recording of nuanced rationales and perspectives. Informed by feminist and decolonising approaches, we sought to foster meaningful participation, especially among stakeholders in lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs) settings by working with a civil society organisation with established networks in LMICs and through multilingual participation opportunities. The evaluation stage followed the established CHNRI method of an online priority setting survey.
Lessons learned: The exercise produced 26 priority research questions emphasising the need for 1) more gender-transformative research; 2) more applied research; 3) improved research methods; and 4) closer attention to
research priorities of LMIC stakeholders.
Next Steps: Through an inclusive, rigorous, and transparent process of engagement with global stakeholders, this exercise forges a collaborative research agenda to steer the next decades of research funding and gender-transformative research on masculinities and SRHR.