The writing is on the wall. Living evidence is the way of the future. And whether for systematic reviews or guidelines, we now have the tools, systems and structures to help us attain the goal of having continually updated evidence to inform decision-making.

The latest Cochrane Review on Industry sponsorship and research outcome has attracted much media interest over the past few weeks.

Published last month, the sixth update of the Cochrane Review on Psychosocial interventions for supporting women to stop smoking in pregnancy weighs up the evidence on a critical health and social equity issue. Smoking remains one of the few preventable factors associated with complications in pregnancy, and has serious long-term implications for women and babies.

New Cochrane Library Breastfeeding Special Collection brings together the best in evidence for mums, health professionals and policy makers alike

The annual list of top 5 Cochrane Reviews and podcasts downloaded by Australians in 2016 offers an interesting national snapshot of diverse research areas.

Registrations for Cochrane Australia Learning Week 2017 are now open. Join us for a week of wide-ranging courses offering new perspectives on systematic reviews and evidence production. For full details and online registration, visit our website at learningweek.cochrane.org.au 

Cochrane Australia, the Charles Perkins Centre and Bond University’s Centre for Research in Evidence-Based Practice hosted a workshop for journalists on ‘Uncovering and covering conflicts of interest in health’ last month. An impressive group of senior print and television journalists from ABC, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Canberra Times, News Corp Australia, The Conversation and other organisations attended the half-day course at Sydney University.

Hilary Thomson has been highlighting the need for improved understanding, management and transparency of narrative synthesis methods during a recent six week sojourn through South Korea, Japan and Australia. Workshops at the Seoul Colloquium and meetings in Melbourne proved ideal forums to discuss and debate critical issues and methodological challenges related to narrative synthesis, which to date have received little collective attention.

By Emily Steele on behalf of Cochrane Crowd

It’s hard to be all things to all people, but the Cochrane Consumers and Communication Review Group (CCCRG) has found a way to offer much to many through an innovative priority setting exercise.