Environmental and Social Ecology of Human Infectious Diseases Initiative

What is this activity?

Our world is changing at an unprecedented rate resulting in changing patterns of infectious diseases. As identified by the Foresight Detection and Identification of Infectious Diseases Project, we need to respond to the threat from new and emerging disease-causing agents so that we are better able to anticipate, prepare for, and control future outbreaks.

Environmental and Social Ecology of Human Infectious Diseases Initiative (ESEI) will develop new interdisciplinary partnerships and research ideas.

Taking a holistic systems approach, the work will take into account the ways in which the natural and social environments affect the emergence and spread of infectious disease.

What will it do?

The aims of this initiative are to:

• Establish truly interdisciplinary teams of researchers, conducting high quality innovative research, addressing national and international research priorities that will inform policy and practice.
• Foster the development of a new paradigm, transcending discipline boundaries, and to build capability in this important area of research.
• Fund research that is broad and inter-disciplinary in nature, aimed at pathogens that are considered a significant threat to public health now or in the future.
• Establish a balanced portfolio not dominated by any one particular pathogen.

Funding

The initiative is currently funding 12 catalyst grants, which enable researchers to set up interdisciplinary research consortia and develop proposals for full consortium grants to be submitted in March 2011.

Some of the proposals will then be developed into a full consortium activity and grants for these will be awarded in summer 2011.

Expected outcomes

To enable society to respond pro-actively to the threat from novel pathogens and emerging infections by generating new knowledge on the ways in which the natural and social environments affect the emergence and spread of infectious disease.

Who will benefit?

Policy makers

This initiative will generate new knowledge which will be translated to the appropriate policy and practice users.

This exchange of knowledge will provide direct benefit to users such as the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Department of Health, Department for International Development, Environment Agency, Health Protection Agency and the Ministry of Defence.

PROGRAMME FACTS AND FIGURES

Start and end dates: 01/09/2009 to 31/03/2017
Website: http://www.mrc.ac.uk/Fundingopportunities/Calls/ESEI/index.htm