The DESTINY project will leverage artificial intelligence to create new digital tools aimed at improving research synthesis for policymakers.
Campbell is internationally recognized for producing evidence syntheses in the social sciences and hosts the Climate Solutions Coordinating Group as part of its open-access journal. Building on this expertise, Campbell will collaborate with Cochrane to co-lead several working groups within the consortium. This initiative is supported by a £10.2 million grant from the Wellcome Trust.
This large-scale project will develop novel AI-driven tools to make evidence synthesis faster, more cost-effective, more practical, and continually updated. These tools will automate and streamline tasks such as detecting relevant individual studies, extracting and synthesising their findings, and identifying overarching insights. The project will showcase the transformational power of these tools for delivering rigorous, living evidence to inform effective, health-centred climate action. To ensure the tools are fit for purpose and globally applicable, the work is organised in communities of practice involving decision-makers across scales and regions.
Despite advancements in technology, one resource remains central: human judgement. “No matter how agile AI can make research synthesis, the end product – namely scientific policy advice – must not be based on a black box,” emphasises MCC postdoc Max Callaghan, who is leading one of the project’s six work packages. “DESTINY will develop AI-driven evidence synthesis tools responsibly, ensuring humans remain in control to safeguard methodological standards.”
DESTINY will launch in early 2025. The consortium partners include University College London, The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the ACRES Center for Rapid Evidence Synthesis, Future Evidence Foundation, the African Synthesis Centre for Climate Change, Environment and Development, Effective Basic Services (eBase) Africa, the Campbell Collaboration, and Cochrane. “Having a diverse community of partners will ensure equity and inclusion in global evidence infrastructures,” says Patrick Okwen, Co-Investigator from eBase Africa.
The project is led by researchers from the Berlin-based Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC). It takes place within the broader context of a £54.2 million investment in evidence-gathering infrastructure, funded by Wellcome and the UK government.
For more information, visit: https://destiny-evidence.github.io/website/