Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) - first ESRC awards in the Department of Medicine

The NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare Associated Infection (HCAI) and Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is delighted to report that the Unit has been awarded not one but two grants from the ESRC. These are the first awards from this funder received by the Department of Medicine.

The first award ‘Optimising antibiotic use along surgical pathways: addressing antimicrobial resistance and improving clinical outcomes’ was led by Professor Alison Holmes and includes Drs Raheelah Ahmad, Enrique Castro-Sanchez, Gabriel Birgand and Miss Esmita Charani.  The study will collaborate with partners internationally including the University of Cape Town, South Africa, Amrita University, Kerala, India, Butare University Teaching Hospital, Rwanda, as well as King’s, Leicester, Herts and the Royal College of Anaesthetists.  The award is a £2m grant over 4 years which started in May 2017.

The HPRU team also supported a second successful bid led by Professor Sarah Walker at HPRU in HCAI and AMR at Oxford University on ‘Improving the uptake and SusTainability of Effective interventions to promote Prudent antibiotic Use in Primary care (STEP-UP)’. This award is a £2m grant from which approximately £1m will be awarded to Imperial College over 4 years, starting in August 2017. The key Imperial HPRU team members working on this award are Professor Alison Holmes, Drs Ceire Costelloe, Monsey Mcleod and Raheelah Ahmad as well as Drs Julie Robotham and Susan Hopkins at Public Health England. This study is a collaboration between Imperial College, Oxford University, Southampton University and Public Health England.

The projects were funded under theme 4 of the cross-Research Council initiative on AMR: ‘Behaviour within and beyond the healthcare setting’.