UK Vaccine Network - One Health Vaccinology Competition

The former Prime Minister established the UK Vaccine Network in June 2015 to ensure that the UK was at the forefront of the global fight against future disease outbreaks. The UK Vaccine Network has identified that many pathogens of epidemic potential are zoonotic (having both human and animal hosts) and therefore a One Health approach is essential to tackle these diseases. The Department of Health and Social Care has collaborated with Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) (a non-departmental public body principally funded through the Science Budget by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, BEIS), to run a research competition to support One Health Approaches to Accelerate Vaccine Development. This call was wholly funded by ODA and therefore the primary purpose of all funded research must be to support the economic development and welfare of countries on the Development Assistance Committee list. Five successful projects were awarded a research grant by BBSRC, wholly funded by the Department of Health and Social Care. Just under £5.5million funding was made available to BBSRC to fund these successful projects under the provisions of the International Development Act 2002. These projects are managed by BBSRC. This funding supports projects seeking to undertake One Health research which will promote antigen discovery, enhance understanding of disease pathogenesis, and accelerate vaccine development for a range of viral and bacterial families that are known to have a significant impact on animal and human health in low and middle income countries. The UK Vaccine Network has identified that vaccine development could be accelerated through ‘One Health’ research and knowledge exchange across the veterinary and medical fields and this is subsequently a desired outcome of this funding. The call aimed to bring veterinary and medical vaccinologists together through these projects to increase understanding and accelerate vaccine development for virus and bacteria that are known to have a significant impact on animal and human health. The ultimate aim of this research is to enable an effective and rapid response during future outbreaks of disease. Populations of the low and middle income countries where outbreaks of the UK Vaccine Network 12 priority pathogens occur.