Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SIRCAH 2 (Support for the International Research Consortium on Animal Health)
Reporting period: 2022-10-01 to 2024-03-31
Animal diseases cause serious social, economic and environmental damage, impact on animal welfare and can directly threaten human health. These diseases are transboundary, so an increasing number of the major threats to the livestock industry are global and they need global solutions. This can only be achieved through a coordinated research effort. To address these challenges, an international network of R&D programme owners, managers and international organisations from around 50 countries agreed to share information, improve collaboration on research activities, work towards common research agendas and coordinated research funding on the major animal diseases affecting livestock production and/or human health. The desired deliverables include candidate vaccines, diagnostics, therapeutics and other animal health products, procedures and key scientific information and tools to support risk analysis and disease control. This network operates as STAR-IDAZ International Research Consortium (IRC) and has been supported by previous SIRCAH, Secretariat for the International Research Consortium on Animal Health (Horizon 2020, 2016-2022). The IRC has continued to be supported by the EU-funded secretariat (SIRCAH2) since October 2022, as well as a Scientific Committee of 16 experts which has been in-place since 2016.
SIRCAH2 provides organisational and communication support to the Committees and members and facilitate the development of research roadmaps for priority diseases/issues. SIRCAH2 supports gap analysis activities to develop these roadmaps to identify and prioritise research and knowledge gaps. Current and planned research is mapped to identify which gaps are being address and which are underfunded. The roadmaps form the basis of funding recommendations made to the IRC to encourage programme alignment and a focused effort on priority research gaps. This accelerates research on animal health, reinforces international research cooperation and provides veterinary innovations to support continuous development of fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food systems from primary production to consumption.
SIRCAH2 provides organisational and communication support to the Committees and members and facilitate the development of research roadmaps for priority diseases/issues. SIRCAH2 supports gap analysis activities to develop these roadmaps to identify and prioritise research and knowledge gaps. Current and planned research is mapped to identify which gaps are being address and which are underfunded. The roadmaps form the basis of funding recommendations made to the IRC to encourage programme alignment and a focused effort on priority research gaps. This accelerates research on animal health, reinforces international research cooperation and provides veterinary innovations to support continuous development of fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food systems from primary production to consumption.
When SIRCAH2 was launched in October 2022, the STAR-IDAZ IRC had 28 partners from 19 countries. The membership of the IRC has increased to 34 partners with six new partners joining since the start of SIRCAH2. The more partners in the IRC, the more research funding can be coordinated and focused, and the more information on research activities can be accessed. This will mean the IRC can have a larger, more focused and so more effective impact.
Enhanced research coordination has been supported through the organisation of 2 Executive Committee meetings, 3 Scientific Committee meetings, 7 Regional Networks meetings and working group activities on 11 priority topics.
In order to focus funding and efforts to the identified research priorities, research roadmaps are being developed for each priority disease or issue. Starting with the desired outcome, which is often a target product profile (TPP), these roadmaps lay out the research questions that need to be addressed working back from translational research gaps to the more basic science knowledge gaps. The roadmaps are based on ‘Leads’ which consider the i) Research Questions (“What is the problem we are trying to solve?”), ii) Challenges (“What are the scientific and technological challenges or knowledge gaps that need to be address?”), iii) Solution Routes (“What approaches could and should be taken to address the Research Questions?”), iv) Dependencies (“What needs to be done before we can solve this?”) and v) State of the Art, which includes the existing knowledge including the successes and failures.
These roadmaps are made available on a publicly accessible IT platform, where ongoing and planned research projects are linked to the Challenges associated with each Lead. Working collaboratively with the Scientific Committee and STAR-IDAZ Working Groups of experts, SIRCAH2 have developed or updated, validated and published roadmaps for bovine tuberculosis, African Swine Fever, Foot-and-Mouth Disease, and Avian Influenza. Roadmaps for Corona viruses, vector transmission control and One Health are under development. SIRCAH2 supported a review publication on Veterinary Mycoplasmas followed by two workshops focused on Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP), as well as a workshop on “Platform Technologies for Veterinary Vaccines Against Bacterial Diseases". SIRCAH2 is also working towards establishing a new Working Group on aquatic diseases, following the recommendations of the Scientific and Executive Committees.
Enhanced research coordination has been supported through the organisation of 2 Executive Committee meetings, 3 Scientific Committee meetings, 7 Regional Networks meetings and working group activities on 11 priority topics.
In order to focus funding and efforts to the identified research priorities, research roadmaps are being developed for each priority disease or issue. Starting with the desired outcome, which is often a target product profile (TPP), these roadmaps lay out the research questions that need to be addressed working back from translational research gaps to the more basic science knowledge gaps. The roadmaps are based on ‘Leads’ which consider the i) Research Questions (“What is the problem we are trying to solve?”), ii) Challenges (“What are the scientific and technological challenges or knowledge gaps that need to be address?”), iii) Solution Routes (“What approaches could and should be taken to address the Research Questions?”), iv) Dependencies (“What needs to be done before we can solve this?”) and v) State of the Art, which includes the existing knowledge including the successes and failures.
These roadmaps are made available on a publicly accessible IT platform, where ongoing and planned research projects are linked to the Challenges associated with each Lead. Working collaboratively with the Scientific Committee and STAR-IDAZ Working Groups of experts, SIRCAH2 have developed or updated, validated and published roadmaps for bovine tuberculosis, African Swine Fever, Foot-and-Mouth Disease, and Avian Influenza. Roadmaps for Corona viruses, vector transmission control and One Health are under development. SIRCAH2 supported a review publication on Veterinary Mycoplasmas followed by two workshops focused on Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP), as well as a workshop on “Platform Technologies for Veterinary Vaccines Against Bacterial Diseases". SIRCAH2 is also working towards establishing a new Working Group on aquatic diseases, following the recommendations of the Scientific and Executive Committees.
The research roadmaps provide a way of visualising complex problems, while clearly showing the knowledge gaps that need addressing and highlighting which projects must be developed to create practical solutions. Previous, ongoing and planned research projects are linked to the relevant research roadmaps, which allows SIRCAH2 to prioritise research gaps to be addressed and make recommendations to the IRC Executive Committee of funding bodies on where resources are most needed and influential. STAR-IDAZ IRC is working towards more comprehensive research roadmaps for priority topics available on the website. This will serve as an invaluable tool for directing research efforts and funding by the IRC Executive Committee, other funding organisations and the research community. Improving the focus of research on the priority topics should speed up the development of control strategies, resulting in improved animal health and welfare while improving returns on research investment. Additionally, it is intended that this platform will continue to be available, utilised and updated beyond the life of the project.