UKRI Transdisciplinary Research to Tackle Antimicrobial Resistance

Funding to undertake ambitious transdisciplinary research to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in animals, humans, and plants for a duration of up to five years.

This flagship UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) fund is an opportunity to better understand, detect, and disrupt the emergence of AMR in animals, humans, and plants using One Health and Planetary Health approaches. It aims to reduce, replace, optimise, improve access to and innovate the use of antimicrobials by supporting transdisciplinary research that will improve understanding of and provide new opportunities to prevent and combat AMR.

The fund is part of Tackling Infections, one of five strategic themes included in the UKRI Strategy 2022 to 2027: Transforming Tomorrow Together. The opportunity follows phase one of the UKRI AMR flagship programme which funded eight transdisciplinary networks. Receipt of phase one funding is not a requirement to apply for this funding opportunity.

Phase two aligns with the AMR National Action Plan (NAP) and the Quadripartite One Health Action Plan in containing, controlling and mitigating silent pandemic of AMR by supporting focused, larger scale transdisciplinary research projects. The funded research will provide key insights and deliver informed interventions to address antimicrobial resistance.

The opportunity will support transdisciplinary AMR projects across a broad range of areas. Team and research projects will bring new perspectives crossing Councils’ remits to understand and provide solutions to tackle AMR. Work undertaken both within and beyond the UK is permitted and international partners are encouraged.

Funded projects are expected to become national or international focal points for AMR research and innovation. They should build transdisciplinary and integrative research capability through the co-creation of applications that bring different disciplines and stakeholders together and attract new expertise to the field. They will produce outputs that have positive and tangible impacts towards tackling AMR. As a group of funded projects, they will work collectively to share learning and expertise where appropriate.

Resistance by all microbes is within the scope of this funding opportunity, including:

• Bacteria.
• Viruses.
• Fungi and oomycetes.
• Protozoa and helminth.

Resistance within and between all reservoirs of AMR are within the scope of this funding opportunity, including:

• Humans.
• Animals (includes aquaculture, companion, farmed and wild).
• Plants (including trees).
• Natural environments including, for example, soil, water, waterways.
• Human-made environments, such as health and care facilities, veterinary facilities, farm buildings, abattoirs, glasshouses and vertical farms, sewage systems and waste streams.
• The food chain.

Applications that are not pathogen, disease, or host specific – for example, developing new modelling approaches, pathway design, analytics and data requirements – are also in scope. Such projects should be well characterised and demonstrate applicability beyond the study system. Applications may also explore the role of culture, human behaviour, history, linguistics and communication, and other humanities and social sciences in understanding, detecting and disrupting AMR.