SDH-Net’s aim is to build, strengthen and link research capacities for health and its social determinants (SDH) in African and Latin American low- and middle income countries (LMIC) in close collaboration with European partners. The focus on SDH will allow for an in-depth and broad capacity-building approach, including managerial and technical excellence, ethical issues, and research strategies. Lessons learnt will be checked against best practices and success factors in other Latin American, African and global settings, leading to lessons learnt on how to build SDH-related research capacity with strong relevance to the respective context.A sound mapping exercise of (i) social determinants of health (SDH) and research activity in the field; (ii) national and global stakeholders in the research environment, and (iii) existing research capacities in the participating countries will be carried out building the basis for developing and piloting innovative research capacity building tools with a particular focus on research management, ethics and methodology relevant to comprehensively address social determinants of health. Finally, links between research and policy will be forged and lessons will be drawn to support the development of sustainable and attractive research structures and expertise.SDH-Net will be carried out by a strong consortium, based on clusters of existing networks of best in its kind public health institutions from Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and South Africa, Tanzania, and Kenya. The team is complemented by three distinguished European institutions: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; COHRED, and University of Geneva. SDH-Net is coordinated by GIZ with long term experience in health research and capacity building in LMIC, and IESE Business School, excellent in management capacity building.SDH-Net will have an important impact by developing a concept for research capacity building on individual, institutional and system level, contributing to research system strengthening and to the creation of research landscapes that enable and stimulate locally relevant, interdisciplinary research. It will lead to enhanced capacities for conducting and managing research on SDH and links between research, policy and practice will be forged by developing tools and mechanisms facilitating sustained collaboration. Furthermore, SDH-Net will lay foundations and provide tools for further research capacity building and research system strengthening in the future.