Public health is defined as “the art and science of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts of society” (Acheson 1988; WHO). The public health approach is to promote better health and wellbeing in society as a whole, preventing illness through working across sectors. Challenges to public health include, but are not limited to, economic crises, inequalities, ageing populations, increasing levels of infectious and noncommunicable diseases and mental health problems, migration and urbanisation, and environmental damage and climate change. To this end, research is key to finding solutions to public health crises.
The COVID-19 pandemic naturally focused the attention of governments and state agencies on research addressing the medical and technical aspects of the pandemic. Aiming to complement these efforts with a more holistic and long-term strategy, the MSCA DOROTHY COFUND will train, and launch the careers of, future experts able to tackle public health crises not only as medical problems but also as multi-faceted societal challenges, which require solid understanding of how best to effect behavioural, social and system-level change in response to public health crises. An international, intersectoral and interdisciplinary perspective is needed to resolve such crises. For example, concerted research efforts are needed to effectively mitigate the rapid spread of infections and to minimise direct and indirect impacts on individuals and communities, through effective health communication and community engagement. In addition to the challenges posed by the spread of infectious diseases, environmentally driven public health crises are increasingly a concern in our societies, for example respiratory illness caused by particulates in the air we breathe, or issues related to water pollution. DOROTHY fellows will conduct research into some of the most pressing societal challenges of our times.
DOROTHY COFUND aims to:
• Support researchers from a variety of disciplines to conduct and manage research projects that have strong relevance to public health crises.
• Create a critical mass of well-networked experts, from all disciplinary areas, who will be fully able to engage with the Irish and EU innovation ecosystem, through the set-up of an innovative multidisciplinary research and training platform. These individuals will be trained to tackle future public health crises in ways that will lead to positive societal impact.
• Support fellows’ career development, through an innovative multidisciplinary research and training platform, supervision and mentoring, and prepare them for future career opportunities, tackling future public health crises.
• Promote the dissemination and communication of impactful research beyond traditional academic channels, targeting policymakers and the population at large, with the objective of contributing to resourceful and resilient societies.
• Pioneer an innovative multidisciplinary approach to the way the complex and broad-ranging phenomena underlying public health crises are understood and tackled, with solutions emerging from cooperation between disciplines, sectors and research areas.
