GLOPID-R

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UK Department for International Development, and Wellcome

£4.5 million award for clinical research consortium to tackle the global threat of epidemic infectious diseases.

ISARIC – whose Global Support Centre is hosted by the University of Oxford – is a world-wide, grass-roots consortium of clinical research networks, working together on epidemic infections such as pandemic influenza, Ebola, Lassa fever, and plague.

The mission of ISARIC is to overcome the difficulties associated with conducting research during an outbreak and to deliver the clinical research evidence that is needed to improve patient-care and inform public health responses.

With funding over the next five years from the Wellcome Trust, the UK Department for International Development, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, ISARIC will implement a series of initiatives including collaborative inter-epidemic research studies, pre-positioning of ‘epidemic’ research protocols, responsive research during outbreaks, career development fellowships and training.

Dr Josie Golding, GloPID-R participant and Programme Officer for epidemic preparedness and response at Wellcome, said: ‘In the past 20 years we have seen a number of high-threat diseases emerging with pandemic potential, and we now, more than ever, appreciate the full cost of epidemics. Being prepared can help to mitigate the impact, but being prepared in itself is not enough. Activities need to be approved, implemented and most importantly, practiced, to give us the best chance of managing outbreaks. The new funding for ISARIC will bring together governments, researchers and the public in the areas most at risk to give countries the tools they need to react quickly and effectively when an epidemic inevitably occurs.’

This article has been adapted from the original version.

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The GloPID-R Secretariat is a project which receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101094188.