Interested candidates are invited to apply with the online form at https://forms.office.com/e/PYhBPTf4SY, which takes approximately 3 minutes to complete. The deadline for submissions is 31 May 2026
1. Background
The Asia Pacific Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (APO) advances health policy and systems research (HPSR) and networks in the Asia Pacific region by generating, managing and brokering knowledge. Hosted by the WHO, APO is a collaborative initiative that partners with governments, multilateral agencies, academia and policy institutes to produce and share evidence that informs policy decisions and strengthens health systems across the South-East Asia and Western Pacific regions.
Working with consortia of over 50 leading health policy and systems research institutions, APO fosters shared thematic priorities and promotes cross-country learning and capacity development in support of using data for evidence-informed policy and decision-making.
Under its Medium-Term Strategy (2024–2030), APO will focus on the following thematic areas:
Primary Health Care (PHC) and Universal Health Coverage (UHC) - Models of sustainable financing, commissioning, delivering, and harmonizing people-centered services including PHC to achieve UHC.
Human Resources for Health (HRH) - Approaches to achieve and maintain fit-for-purpose health workforce now and into the future.
Digital Health - Use of digital health technologies and data to enhance health system outcomes.
Health Equity - Tackling inequities in health due to gender and social inequities, being uncounted or unreached.
Health System Resilience to Climate Change and Pandemics - Health system resilience and adaptability to external and evolving pressures such as climate change and pandemics.
Health Systems Reviews of countries - Synthesis and regular updating of comprehensive country health system reviews to provide a systematic assessment and generate valuable insights to inform policymaking.
APO delivers this work through policy briefs, comparative country analyses, policy dialogues, webinars and Health Systems in Transition (HiT) reviews, among other publications and engagements.
2. The Internal Review Panel
The Internal Review Panel (IRP) provides independent technical oversight to the APO Board and Secretariat. It supports the strategic direction of APO’s research agenda, ensures the quality and policy relevance of the research products and contributes to APO’s engagement with the wider research community.
The IRP consists of a team of up to six (6) members, of whom at least three (3) must be substantially based in the Asia Pacific region.
All members serve in their individual capacity.
APO is currently looking for experts in all six thematic areas but in particular people with expertise in climate change and in digital health technologies.
3. Roles and Responsibilities
The IRP’s roles and responsibilities are:
Review the quality of work produced as part of the implementation of APO’s work plan and recommend for publication according to international standards;
Provide regular or ad-hoc feedback to the APO Board and Secretariat on the overall quality and policy relevance of the APO’s work, and where appropriate, make recommendations on how to improve the quality of APO’s products; and
Provide advice to the APO Board and Secretariat on the identification of areas for future work, including topics for policy briefs and policy dialogue events.
The IRP’s working arrangement are:
IRP membership is part-time and pro bono.
IRP members are expected to participate in at least one in-person APO and two online APO Board Meetings, and attend occasional virtual meetings as required.
IRP members will be asked to peer review APO publications.
All work is conducted in English.
4. Selection Criteria
The IRP members must have the ability to provide independent, objective and constructive technical advice. As such it is desirable for candidates to:
Hold a doctoral degree or equivalent
Have at least ten (10) years of demonstrable experience in health policy and systems research
Have expertise in one or more thematic area mentioned above
Hold a track record of peer-reviewed publications and policy or academic publications on health policy and systems research in Asia Pacific region
5. Terms and Conditions
Selected IRP members must serve for at least one (1) full term of three (3) years, with a maximum of two (2) consecutive terms.
To avoid conflicts of interest, IRP members must:
Serve in their individual capacity;
not serve concurrently on the APO Board;
and must not be employed by institutions with current APO research contracts. This does not, however, preclude IRP members from cooperating with such institutions in general or on non-APO products.
If in the future, an IRP member’s institution will be awarded a research contract, they will be recused from discussions on the topic.
Any potential conflict of interest must be disclosed by the IRP member in a transparent and timely manner to the APO Board. Where a conflict arises during tenure, the member will recuse themselves from the relevant activity and related decisions.
6. Application Process
Interested candidates are invited to apply using the online form at https://forms.office.com/e/PYhBPTf4SY, which takes approximately 3 minutes to complete. The deadline for submissions is 31 May 2026.
Applications are reviewed by the APO Secretariat and Board. Shortlisted candidates will be asked to submit a full curriculum vitae. Finalists will be contacted by July 2026.
For inquiries, please write to apobservatory@who.int with the subject line "Inquiry — IRP Membership."