Bristol AMR Research Strand Funding Call 2019

Applications closed in spring 2019 for Bristol AMR Research Strand-funded interdisciplinary pump-priming projects, project development, translation of existing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) research and public engagement activities in the area of AMR from across the University of Bristol's six faculties. The Bristol AMR Research Strand is funded by the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute's (EBI) Wellcome Trust ISSF.

The funding call was aimed at fostering new collaborations, to support potentially transformative research and to assist University of Bristol researchers in developing future projects and grant applications in AMR. Projects that bring new researchers into the AMR field, particularly from the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law, were prioritised.  

The successful applicants were:  

Dr Catherine Kelly (PI), School of Law, University of Bristol; Dr Robert Burrell, School of Law, University of Sheffield and Melbourne Law School; Dr A.M Viens, Faculty of Health, York University, Toronto and Dr Patricia Neville, Bristol Dental School, University of Bristol

Wicked Prizes? Incentivising Innovation in AMR through Alternatives to the Patent System
This project will provide an in-depth and critical analysis of the design and operation of Longitude 2014, including how this initiative was received by the scientific community. This will enable the development of a theoretical framework to analyse from a legal and regulatory perspective the ways in which innovation incentives beyond the patent system ought to be designed, rolled out and implemented. It will also create a platform for a larger project that will further the understanding of the challenges antimicrobial resistance poses for innovation policy. 

Prof Helen Lambert (PI) and Dr AbouAli Vedadhir, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol 

Socio-cultural and Political Studies of AMR: A Scoping Review
The aim of this scoping review was to address some central questions in regard to AMR, namely what evidence or studies are available on AMR that can be characterised as addressing 'socio-cultural' or 'political' dimensions? What conceptual and theoretical elements constitute this body of knowledge and what research gaps can be identified? 

The review was completed in Summer 2019, and resulted in a paper published in Systematic Reviews: "Social Science research contributions to Antimicrobial Resistance: Protocol for a scoping review". 

Prof Ulrika Maude, Department of English, University of Bristol 

Prof Maude will receive funding to buy out some teaching time to enable her to undertake research and write a monograph to translate scientific ideas about microbes and antimicrobial resistance to the wider public. The monograph will analyse the science, history and wider cultural significance - literary, art historical, and cinematic - of the discovery of microbes, penicillin and the contemporary threat of AMR and its ramifications. An exhibition on microbes, vaccination and AMR is planned too.      

Dr Matthew Booker (PI), Bristol Medical School and Dr Massimo Antognozzi, School of Physics, University of Bristol 

Development of a Sub-Cellular Fluctuation (SCFI) Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Device for use in Community Healthcare Settings
This project builds on an initial pump-priming project funded by EPSRC BristolBridge and subsequent funding (via the EBI, the Longitude Prize and many others) to develop a rapid antimicrobial susceptibility test to inform antibiotic prescribing. This new work will scope the parameters for the constraints for end-users, particularly GPs and other community health workers working in primary care and urgent care. A Knowledge Mobilisation approach will be taken to co-produce a stakeholder informed plan to outline the challenges of designing, prototyping and economically evaluating a novel SCFI antimicrobial resistance device to help combat AMR in community healthcare settings. The project's industry partner is Vitamica Ltd - a University of Bristol spin out company formed after the development of the SCFI technology.       

Prof Keith Syrett (PI), Centre for Health, Law and Society, School of Law, Prof Helen Lambert (PI), Bristol Medical School and Dr Christie Cabral, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol 

Regulating Resistance: Developing Outcomes from a Collaborative Social Science-Led Network
The aim of this work is to establish a social science-led, interdisciplinary research collaboration working in several national settings in order to generate research outputs and to secure funding for further comparative research on the regulation and governance of AMR.  

 

Other funded projects 

Prof Helen Lambert, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol 

Bristol AMR are providing £10K of institutional support for Prof Helen Lambert’s (Bristol Medical School) project, ‘'Implications of COVID-19 for AMR and antimicrobial stewardship in China and other LMIC settings'. Helen and her team, including colleagues from Imperial College London, have been awarded ~$99k by the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC) to work on this project in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The funds will enable her team to investigate the impact of coronavirus on antimicrobial resistance as there have been indications that antibiotics were used indiscriminately to treat coronavirus patients, especially during the start of the pandemic.

Prof Andrew Dowsey, Bristol Veterinary School, University of Bristol  

We are also providing £10K of institutional support for Prof Andrew Dowsey’s project ‘Severn Pathology: Opening up a goldmine for antimicrobial resistance health research and beyond’, which is part of a wider data linkage project that will link healthcare data from across Southwest England. The aim of Dowsey’s project is to improve antimicrobial prescribing decisions by analysing linked data to optimise antibiotic choice for patients based on their individual history and clinical characteristics. This will not only improve patient outcomes but will also help safeguard antibiotic use and prescribing.