Events

Following the popularity of last year's AMR Speed Collaborating event, we ran the event again with two new topics. The premise of this event is that members will be split into small interdisciplinary breakout groups and tasked with developing a seed corn AMR project in response to a specific challenge  - in just 10 minutes.

This year, setting the two challenges, we were delighted to welcome Dr Jonathan Tyrrell from the University of Bristol and Dr Chris Jones, a microbiology registrar in the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital and a clinical researcher with the University of Exeter.

Coinciding with World Antimicrobial Awareness Week is Researching Resistance, a commission to celebrate AMR research and researchers at the University of Exeter. Featuring fifteen researchers at different career stages and from across a range of subject disciplines, including mathematics, theology/philosophy, geography, mycology and microbiology, this commission by artist Simon Ryder uses the technique of point clouds to present portraits of the research and researchers.

 The challenges of interdisciplinary research grant applications

Interdisciplinary research grant applications are notoriously challenging. For all that UKRI is a single organisation, it comprises a range of funding bodies (eg AHRC, ESRC, BBSRC), all with their own perspective. On some international calls, there can be as many as thirty funding bodies involved. 

In this event, we explored some of the challenges and frustrations, and heard from those who have navigated these calls successfully:

• Professor Ed Watkins
• Dr Andy Jones
• Dr Chloe Onoufriou
• Philippa Sams

GW4 Crucible Seed Funding Projects 2020: Interdisciplinary Approaches to AMR

GW4 comprises the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Exeter and Cardiff, and antimicrobial resistance is a major research strand on which the four universities are collaborating. Each year, GW4 Crucible brings together 30 competitively-selected future research leaders and, through a seed funding opportunity, supports a small number of projects. In 2020, the theme was "Interdisciplinary Approaches to AMR" and, of the five projects selected, four were led by a member of the University of Exeter with several other Exeter ECRs collaborating within those research groups. 

Through short presentations, we heard from some of those involved:

• Dr Ray Chan: Building a communicative pathway to reduce AMR: a study of cattle farmers' perceptions of on-farm E.coli infections in the UK
• Dr Matt Lloyd Jones: Exploring antibiotic use practices in livestock production through a novel, game-based approach
• Dr Tobias Bergmiller: Developing experimental and theoretical models to study antimicrobial resistance and resilience in polymicrobial biofilms

Chaired by Dr Andrew Jones, another of the Exeter ECRs involved in the GW4 Crucible 2020.

The full list of the GW4 Crucible cohort for 2020 is available here. Information on all five seed projects that were funded in 2020, and the researchers involved in each one, can be found here.

Clare Chandler, Professor of Medical Anthropology at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, was in conversation with Rich Smith, Professor of Health Economics and Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor of the College of Medicine and Health. 

Biography of guest speaker: Clare is a professor in Medical Anthropology and also director of the Antimicrobial Resistance Centre at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. This Centre works to inspire innovation through interdisciplinary engagement and Clare’s own work is characterised by her strong commitment to strengthening the quality, diversity and community of social research in global health. You can read more about Clare, the Anthropology of Antimicrobial Resistance Research Group which she leads and the LSHTM Antimicrobial Resistance Centre.

Members of the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology presented their work and facilitated interdisciplinary discussions with colleagues on opportunities for collaboration

• Dr Carolina Coelho - Mycology
• Dr Michiel Vos - Microbiology

Members were split into small interdisciplinary breakout groups and tasked with developing a seed corn AMR research project in response to a specific call announcement - in just 10 minutes!  Afterwards each group presented a very brief (30sec) summary of their idea, followed by a discussion amongst the whole audience. 

The two topics were:

1. Understanding environmental AMR risk, introduced by Professor Steve Hinchliffe (Human Geography)
2. Addressing the problem of drug-resistant fungi, introduced by Professor Elaine Bignell (MRC Centre for Medical Mycology)

These challenges of AMR will require teams of collaborators to solve them. We took the approach that, whatever your interest in antimicrobial resistance or your level of expertise, you would have something to contribute and all were extremely welcome to join this event.

Short panel presentations will be followed by Q&A

• Elizabeth Beech MBE – Regional Antimicrobial Stewardship Lead, South-West Region, NHS England and NHS Improvement
• Dr David Verner-Jeffreys – Bacteriology Team Lead, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas)
• Dr Alwyn Hart – Air, Land and Water Research, Environment Agency

• Chair: Professor Will Gaze, Professor of Microbiology, College of Medicine & Health

• Dr Angela Cassidy - Social Sciences
• Dr Liliane Mukaremera - Mycology
• Simon Ryder - Creative Fellow

A panel discussion considering research - and research gaps - in AMR in food systems

• Associate Professor Dan Bebber - Biosciences
• Professor Will Gaze - Microbiology
• Professor Steve Hinchliffe - Human Geography
• Professor Harry G West - Anthropology
• Chair: Professor Rich Smith, Health Economics and PVC, College of Medicine and Health

• Dr Jehangir Cama - Mathematics
• Dr Rebecca Helm - Law
• Dr Anne Leonard - Microbiology