International Development Research Centre (IDRC)

Pandemic preparedness and response is a strategic priority of our Global Health programming. As part of IDRC’s Strategy 2030, we will be launching several research initiatives and projects over the next ten years that will help ensure that vulnerable populations in countries at greatest risk are better protected from local epidemics and pandemic threats through better-prepared health systems.

One of the key initiatives that we have launched so far is the Collaborative One Health Research Initiative on Epidemics (COHRIE). The goal of this CA$16 million initiative is to support implementation research that applies a One Health approach to identify, implement and assess potential innovations in policies, programs or practices that can support countries in better preventing, preparing for and responding to emerging infectious epidemics.

To address the gendered impacts of COVID-19, IDRC, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) have launched Women RISE (Women’s health and economic empowerment for a COVID-19 Recovery that is Inclusive, Sustainable and Equitable), a CA$22 million research initiative. Women RISE will support global action-oriented, gender-transformative research on how women’s health and their work, whether paid or unpaid, intersect and interact in the preparation for, response to and recovery from COVID-19. Under the initiative, researchers from low- and middle- income countries and Canada will collaborate to inform solutions and strategies to improve women’s health and socioeconomic well-being throughout the recovery from COVID-19.

• Studying Up Machine Learning Data: Why Talk About Bias When We Mean Power? Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
• Innover pour le bien commun : la mise à l’échelle de l’impact
  Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal, IDRC
• A Comprehensive Overview of Education during Three COVID-19 Pandemic Periods: Impact on Engineering Students in Sri Lanka
• COVID-19 and Beyond: How Lessons and Evidence from Implementation Research Can Benefit Health Systems’ Response and Preparedness for COVID-19 and Future Epidemics
• Family Medicine and Community Health

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, ASRT developed a rapid response plan to identify and fund relevant, high-priority research projects.  ASRT has already funded several studies on COVID-19, including socioeconomic and post-COVID research.

This program also supports:

• the applications of rapid manufacturing tools: 3D printing and CNC machines
• the design of simple, low-cost, easy-to-use ventilators
• for healthcare workers, the development of antimicrobial textiles using nanotechnology
• the development of diagnostic kits and innovative diagnostic methods to detect COVID-19

The program is open to all Egyptians, including Egyptians abroad working in coordination with research groups and scholars at home.

• ASRT is committed to supporting collaborative research in Africa and the Mediterranean area. Our specialized award program recognizes scientific excellence in Africa by awarding annual prizes to eminent African researchers.
• ASRT acts as the main technical branch of the Egyptian Knowledge Bank which is the world’s largest digital library and online repository. The Bank provides massive scientific resources exclusively to Egyptians while promoting open science and research integrity.
• ASRT is a main publisher in the region and coordinates a large number of journals and local periodicals including the Egyptian Journal of Microbiology, Egyptian Journal of Chemistry, Middle East Journal of Therapeutic Nutrition and Complementary Medicine, Egyptian Journal of Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering, and the Egyptian Journal of Radiation Sciences and Applications.

• Responding rapidly to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, ASRT published a strategic study entitled ‘COVID and Post-COVID Priorities and Preparedness of Science, Technology and Innovation in Egypt’. One of the main recommendations of this study was the need to establish an Egyptian Reference Genome to continue advancing knowledge in personalized and precision medicine. Sound knowledge of the Egyptian genome and related diseases is essential to direct effective preventive, diagnostic and counselling services for prevalent genetic diseases in Egypt.

  Following a competitive call from ASRT for the ‘Egypt Genome project’, a consortium, headed by the Egypt Center for Research and Regenerative Medicine (ECRRM), was awarded the grant. The national project for Egyptian reference genome was launched in 2021 with the support of ASRT and total Egyptian governmental funding of $62 million for the first 5 year phase.

  The aim of the project is to establish a benchmark genome centre, create a map of the Egyptian human genome, and thereby discover and accurately determine the genetic characteristics of various diseases. The project’s scope covers three categories: the population genome, the genome of ancient Egyptians, and diseased genome.

  By advancing the practice of medical genetics and genomics across the country through this large-scale project, ASRT is shifting the approach from ‘one-size-fits-all’ to more personalized healthcare.

ASRT has participated in several co-funded programs including EuroNanoMed and EraPerMED and key initiatives such as Africa-PerMed. ASRT is a member of JPIAMR and the new ERA4HEALTH.