INTERNATIONAL COORDINATION OF RESEARCH ON INFECTIOUS ANIMAL DISEASES

Project Information

ICRAD

Grant agreement ID: 862605

DOI

10.3030/862605

Project closed

EC signature date 20 September 2019

Start date 1 October 2019

End date 30 September 2025

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy

Total cost

€ 24 261 500,00

EU contribution

€ 8 006 295,00

Coordinated by

DANMARKS TEKNISKE UNIVERSITET
Denmark

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ICRAD (INTERNATIONAL COORDINATION OF RESEARCH ON INFECTIOUS ANIMAL DISEASES)

Reporting period: 2019-10-01 to 2021-01-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

International Coordination of Research on infectious Animal Diseases (ICRAD) is an ERA-NET funded under the Horizon 2020 Work Programme. The scope for this ERA-NET has been developed under the SCAR Collaborative Working Group on Animal Health & Welfare Research (CWG AHW), which seeks to build further on 2 previous successful ERA-NETS (EMIDA and ANIHWA).
31 partners from 20 countries seek to support one co-funded call followed by other joint activities including the update of the EU Animal Health Strategic Research Agenda and the initiation of new international partnerships.
Animal diseases cause severe social, economic and environmental damage and in some cases threaten human health as well. Disease threats to the livestock industry have increased in the last decades due to globalization, altering production methods, climate changes and increased contacts between wildlife and livestock. Effective control tools or key knowledge leading to better control is still missing for many important livestock diseases, including for African Swine Fever and animal influenza which pose great challenges in Europe and globally.
Partners in this ERA-NET will address these threats through joint European research within a framework which supports multi-disciplinary research in the fields of (i) fundamental understanding of host/(vector)/pathogen interactions and the epidemiology of disease; (ii) vaccinology and (iii) diagnostics. Research and innovation coordinated through ICRAD will (i) increase preparedness and ability to respond to emerging and endemic livestock threats; (ii) provide improved vaccines and diagnostic tools and strategies; (iii) contribute to the reduction of antibiotic and antiparasitic resistance; and (iv) contribute to animal welfare by better disease prevention.
By reducing the burden of animal disease and its impact on international trade, ICRAD will enhance food safety and sustainable livestock production.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During the first reporting period (01 Oct 2019 - 31 Jan 2021) the following main results were achieved:
1) ICRAD held 2 Governing Board meetings and 2 Network Management meetings. The Kick-Off meeting was held as a physical meeting, but due to the Covid-19 crisis all subsequent meetings have been online events. These meetings have been instrumental in aligning the expectation and purpose of ICRAD within the consortium, as well as defining the tasks and achievements for the consortium partners. Another benefit of these consortium meeting is strenghtening the bonds between the consortium members to ensure the longevity of the network, hopefully extending beyond the current ERA-NET cofund.
2) ICRAD launched and implemented a call for projects, co-funded with the European Commission. A total of 19 successful proposals were selected to be funded via a combination of 67% national and 33% Commission funds (EC-Top-Up). The method of distribution was "Virtual common pot". The selected projects received in total € 19.714.000,00 Mio. in ICRAD funding. There were no major ethical issues found by the Independent Ethical Advisory Board in the selected projects, and the Ethics Board further advised the applicants on how to correctly report and handle any ethical issues remaining or emerging during the project.
3) ICRAD launched a website to aid both external visibility of the project, as well as aid the internal transfer of information. The website was instrumental in informing applicants about the essentials of the call, and guiding applicants to the submission tool to prepare and submit their proposals. The submission tool is a separate all-in-one website/software solution contracted by ICRAD via partner Juelich, which allows applicants to upload and submit their application, and provides access for funders and evaluators who are then able to view the applications and attach their eligibility checks and evaluation results/comments to the applications.
4) ICRAD initiated the work/discussions on the following additional activities:
a) Additional calls without EC co-funding, which will fund more research projects in ICRAD’s strategic area.
b) Assess impact of past and current collaborative research within ICRAD’s strategic area, in order to improve the additional calls.
c) Development of an Implementation Plan (IP) for the SCAR CWG AHW Strategic Research Agenda, in order to improve knowledge of past, present and future research accomplishments and gaps.
d) Assess potential, and reach decision, on other joint activities to be implemented in the additional calls.
e) Review and develop strategic research priorities, in order to focus research topics towards gaps and away from duplication, as well as directing research towards the most relevant topics.
f) Preparing for the future of ICRAD after the ERA-NET Cofund, which entails:
a. Developing additional partnerships.
b. Development of a sustainable platform to support future activities.
c. Monitoring and evaluation of operational processes.

Since the first year of ICRAD has been mainly dedicated to the co-funded call, the additional activities are currently still in the initial stage. This means that there are no main results to report on these tasks yet.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Almost all the contributions and benefits of ICRAD will not be seen until some time into the future.
In its capacity of being a platform for networking, collaboration, development of strategic agendas and research funding, within the field of animal health and welfare, ICRAD is contributing to a higher level of research and increased collaboration across borders. The success of the first call shows that the ICRAD project already has had an impact. How large an impact is yet to be seen, and will not be known until the results of the funded projects are revealed (2024), and some benefits will only be apparent much later.
One success criterion of ICRAD, looking at the ERA-NET specifically, that we already can see is the relatively high number of application received in the co-funded call. The number is not significantly larger than other, preceding, comparable ERA-NETs. However, when we add the Covid-19 pandemic into the preparations and submission period, we see the number as a definite success of the efforts and platform provided by ICRAD, which we intend to build on. The next calls will show if the momentum of our good start will carry on to the next calls.
Another success criterion is the identification and possible collaboration with other international networks. This work is only in the initial phase, but is expected to become an integral part of ICRAD in the coming years. There has already been established contact with SCAR and Discontools, and contact to other networks are planned. It is too early to say which benefits will come of these expected collaborations, but we expect that they will provide significant input to the discussions on the strategic issues throughout the ICRAD interest area(s). In addition, there will be looked into the possibility of collaborative calls, which of course depends on the nature and topic areas of the networks.
In the end, the goal of ICRAD is primarily to develop new and effective diagnostic tools and vaccines, which will decrease the impact of new and emerging, as well as known, diseases, and thereby lessen the impact of these diseases on the health and welfare of animals, and the associated effects on the national economies.

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