Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal, is an Institute of Eminence, as designated by the Government of India, and is ranked as the fourth best university in the country, by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), Ministry of Education, Govt. of India. MAHE understands the importance of research and development, evidence synthesis and evidence-informed practice and has always promoted and supported the different research centres and researchers in the institution. Many of the faculty, staff and researchers are already involved in generating Cochrane evidence. Additionally, the Centre for Evidence-informed Decision-making [former South-Asian satellite of Cochrane Public Health group, known as the Public Health Evidence South Asia (PHESA)], is operational in the university since 2012. The Centre for Evidence-informed Decision-making, based at Prasanna School of Public Health (PSPH), MAHE, has been working with Cochrane for more than a decade in various activities such as capacity building, evidence synthesis, methodology development, dissemination of evidence for the community and policy makers, and networking with the various centres for Evidence Synthesis across the globe. The centre is equipped with infrastructure and experienced staff in the area of systematic reviews and has published at least 25 Cochrane systematic reviews and 60 systematic reviews in the last decade. More than 50 national and international workshops, including certificate courses in Evidence Synthesis, have been completed by the centre, and it has assisted researchers by providing training, consultancies and internships. The Cochrane Affiliate Centre at MAHE, is currently placed at Prasanna School of Public Health, MAHE. The activities of the centre are coordinated by the Centre for Evidence-informed Decision-making (CEIDeM), PSPH, MAHE and are led by Prof. Dr. Cherian Varghese, Director, MAHE Cochrane Affiliate Centre. The new centre continues to carry out the above-mentioned activities and plans to promote Cochrane authors and other researchers from within the scientific community of MAHE, to streamline their research/evidence synthesis activities. With this background and support from MAHE, the centre aims to focus further on the area of Evidence Synthesis with the following priorities:

Capacity building:  By organising and conducting regular certificate courses and workshops on evidence synthesis, with a focus on Cochrane review methods.

Evidence generation: Conducting high-quality Cochrane systematic reviews in a range of trans-disciplinary topics, needed by various stakeholders, and encouraging clinicians and professionals to become authors for Cochrane reviews.

Evidence dissemination/outreach: Conducting workshops for disseminating the generated evidence, writing blogs and write-ups for local evidence dissemination, and evidence dissemination via social media platforms.

Evidence advocacy: Involving stakeholders at different levels by organising stakeholder engagement workshops and meetings. Creating a network of evidence synthesis hubs across the South-Indian states.