International Partnerships
SBOHVM has an extensive network of international partners, enabling a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach to tackling global One Health challenges. Ideally placed as a School to bring together researchers, veterinarians and educationalists, our strategic partnerships with other universities, research institutes and charities encompass research projects, staff and student exchanges and collaborative training programs.
Fighting Rabies in the Global South
The School’s extensive network of international partners in the global south continues to be one of our most important research assets. Our world-leading work on rabies virus elimination programme (mainly Wellcome- and MRCfunded) relies on a large network of established and new partners across numerous countries in sub-Saharan Africa (e.g. Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar), Southeast Asia (e.g. Philippines), and Central and South America (e.g. Peru, Costa Rica). This has facilitated a series of new initiatives and funded collaborations around genomic surveillance, the rollout of human rabies vaccines, the feasibility of using transmissible vaccines to combat wildlife rabies, and national strategy endorsement by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) for scaling up of mass dog vaccination.
Controlling vector-borne disease across Africa
A major hub of activity involves vector-borne diseases, with recent grant success (Gates Foundation, Wellcome, MRC, and European Union totalling ~£6M) related to malaria vector surveillance and control. These awards relied heavily on our long-standing strategic international partnerships, such as with the Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania.
Our network of partners in this area continues to grow, including the Manhica Health Research Institute, Mozambique, Noguchi Memorial Institute of Medical Research, Ghana, University of Sciences, Techniques, and Technologies, Bamako, Mali, Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Sante and the Université Joseph Ki Zerbo II, Burkina Faso.
Ongoing work on trypanosomiasis includes newly funded projects and applications with the Tanzania Veterinary Laboratory Agency, Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, Malawi and the TrypanoGEN network.
Work on vector-borne viruses, including Rift Valley Fever virus includes new vaccine trials and funding proposals with the Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute, Tanzania, and the MRC Unit, Gambia, and a new five-year project on Congo-Crimean Haemorrhagic Fever has begun involving Makerere University, Uganda, and the International Livestock Research Institute, Kenya. Mature projects focusing on schistosomiasis, included MRC, EPSRC, UNAID, ERC starting grants and ERC consolidator grants in Uganda (Virus Research Institute and Ministry of Health), with new projects and proposals to expand into Côte d’Ivoire (Centre Suisse des Recherches Scientifique).
PROMOTING CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE ECOSYSTEMS IN TANZANIA
Our ongoing work in Tanzania on livestock diseases and wildlife conservation builds on long-standing collaborations in East Africa, especially Tanzania. This includes Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA), Tanzanian Wildlife Research Institute, Greater Serengeti-Mara Conservation Society, Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS-Africa), Sokoine University of Agriculture and Global Animal Health with new partnerships being built over the past year (Mweka Wildlife College, Tanzania and Pwani University, Kenya. In collaboration with colleagues in Stirling and Sydney, scoping research is ongoing to support sustainable aquaculture in the Lake Victoria area of Tanzania, funded through a GCID small grant and an Ignition grant. This builds on a GCRF networking grant, with further grant applications in progress. In addition to the Ifakara Health Institute, the Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute is a major Tanzanian partner, supporting a wide range of projects across 11 Principal Investigators in the School.
Improving Aquaculture in Southeast Asia
The School also has a strong network of partners in Australia and Thailand, with a research focus on aquaculture and anti-microbial resistance (AMR). A collaboration with the University of Sydney focuses on understanding the dynamics of AMR transfer in aquaculture systems have also resulted in collaborative funding (FHF and the Norwegian Seafood Innovation Fund) to study disease in aquatic animals, specifically salmon in submerged cages. In collaboration with industry partners (e.g. EsoxBio) and awards from the University of Sydney and Innovate UK, networking projects are underway to influence policy around the detection of notifiable pathogens from environmental samples in European and Australasian aquaculture.
Recent grants have been submitted with collaborators in Thailand (at Chulalongkorn University, Kasetsart University and the Chulabhorn Research Institute) for two separate UKRI calls; one on Sustainable and Resilient Aquaculture Systems in Southeast Asia, and the other one exploring the contributions of aquaculture to antimicrobial resistance in the environment (UKRI SE Asia Collaboration on Infectious Diseases). In addition, research into the genomics of Mycobacterial infections in Thai patients is ongoing with colleagues at the Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University promoting global education in veterinary medicine and animal welfare.
A team of researchers from SBOHVM, along with collaborators in Thailand and the University of Stirling, have been awarded a ~£1M grant from the UKRI Southeast Asia Collaboration on Infectious Diseases call. This project sets out to create a One Health framework to assess the risks of antimicrobial resistance in aquatic ecosystems in North-East Thailand and inform mitigation strategies. The grant aligns with two areas of strategic importance for our School: antimicrobial resistance and aquatic biology and ecosystems.
Education and International Exchange Programmes in Africa and India
As well as the strong research focus, delivering equality of opportunity in education lies at the heart of our School. Through the School’s involvement with the Wellcome-funded Afrique One over many years, the School has helped to appoint approximately 60 PhD and MSc students and post-docs across numerous African institutions and delivered training in quantitative methods.
More recently, a new collaboration with the Shrimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur (SRMD), a global charity working through 206 centres on six continents, will help to promote animal welfare across India through veterinary education. The School is working with SRMD on staff and student exchange programs and exploring the possibility of developing an International Scholarship in Veterinary Medicine programme, which could eventually be offered across other developing countries.