Cambridge Alliance to Protect Bangladesh from Long-term Environmental Hazards (CAPABLE)
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Cambridge
Department Name: Public Health and Primary Care
Abstract
In recent decades, Bangladesh has been in the midst of a rapid transition: disease burden has shifted markedly from a profile dominated by infectious diseases, under-nutrition and conditions of childbirth to one increasingly characterised by chronic disease ("non-communicable diseases") such as heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, lung diseases, and cancer. Estimates suggest that at least 60% of adult deaths in Bangladesh today are due to such chronic diseases.
As well as producing profound disabilities and cutting short millions of lives each year, the rise of chronic disease in Bangladesh has created major societal problems, limiting economic advancement, reducing human welfare, and skewing scarce resources toward costly treatments and away from social progress. This situation is unsustainable, especially as Bangladesh's population ages and continues to grow.
The causes of chronic disease in Bangladesh include distinctive social, environmental, and behavioural factors. For example, Bangladesh has one of the world's worst environmental and lifestyle risk profiles, characterised by:
Severe water and air pollution: According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), arsenic-contaminated water in Bangladesh, which affects ~100M people, is "the largest mass poisoning of a human population in history". A 2016 WHO report on ambient air pollution judged Bangladesh to be the fourth worst polluted country worldwide.
Nutritional disorders: Deficiencies of elements (such as iron) required for normal growth and development are widespread. An evolving and complex background of persisting undernutrition and emerging obesity also increase disease risks.
Risk behaviours: "Western" lifestyles (eg, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity) are increasing, and may amplify adverse effects of traditional risk behaviours, augmenting disease risk.
These social, environmental, and behavioural risk factors tend to cluster in households, share antecedents and causes, amplify each other's effects, and depend on one another in complex (and non-obvious) ways. Importantly, they can also exert importantly different effects in differing contexts such as across rural, urban, and slum settings. Hence, approaches that could tackle such chronic disease risk factors in combination rather than in isolation are likely to be more powerful, as well as approaches that can take account of the context in which they occur.
Yet, Bangladesh's research infrastructure is not configured to evaluate the country's multiple risks and multiple settings, perhaps preventing the emergence of evidence that could suggest "joined up" solutions. Our proposal aims to address this grand challenge.
We will mobilise a multidisciplinary team of about 25 leading investigators from seven organisations in Bangladesh and the UK that have a substantial track-record of working together. We will adopt a wide-angle approach, focusing on intertwined risk factors for chronic disease that have not previously been considered in an integrated framework. The plan offers a fundamentally new approach to address this problem because it combines four innovative and inter-linked components:
1) Creation of a 100,000-participant study ("cohort") in urban, rural, and slum areas to enable study of the social, environmental, and behavioural risk factors for chronic diseases.
2) Conduct of cross-disciplinary research projects that will use the new cohort help understand the interplay of risk factors, and how to combat them, drawing on the complementary strengths of sociologists, engineers, behavioural scientists, chemists, biostatisticians, public health scientists and others.
3) Delivery of an integrated programme of research capacity strengthening that targets three inter-linked levels of activity: individual, organisational, and institutional.
4) Mobilisation and deepening of partnerships between Bangladesh and UK centres of excellence.
As well as producing profound disabilities and cutting short millions of lives each year, the rise of chronic disease in Bangladesh has created major societal problems, limiting economic advancement, reducing human welfare, and skewing scarce resources toward costly treatments and away from social progress. This situation is unsustainable, especially as Bangladesh's population ages and continues to grow.
The causes of chronic disease in Bangladesh include distinctive social, environmental, and behavioural factors. For example, Bangladesh has one of the world's worst environmental and lifestyle risk profiles, characterised by:
Severe water and air pollution: According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), arsenic-contaminated water in Bangladesh, which affects ~100M people, is "the largest mass poisoning of a human population in history". A 2016 WHO report on ambient air pollution judged Bangladesh to be the fourth worst polluted country worldwide.
Nutritional disorders: Deficiencies of elements (such as iron) required for normal growth and development are widespread. An evolving and complex background of persisting undernutrition and emerging obesity also increase disease risks.
Risk behaviours: "Western" lifestyles (eg, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity) are increasing, and may amplify adverse effects of traditional risk behaviours, augmenting disease risk.
These social, environmental, and behavioural risk factors tend to cluster in households, share antecedents and causes, amplify each other's effects, and depend on one another in complex (and non-obvious) ways. Importantly, they can also exert importantly different effects in differing contexts such as across rural, urban, and slum settings. Hence, approaches that could tackle such chronic disease risk factors in combination rather than in isolation are likely to be more powerful, as well as approaches that can take account of the context in which they occur.
Yet, Bangladesh's research infrastructure is not configured to evaluate the country's multiple risks and multiple settings, perhaps preventing the emergence of evidence that could suggest "joined up" solutions. Our proposal aims to address this grand challenge.
We will mobilise a multidisciplinary team of about 25 leading investigators from seven organisations in Bangladesh and the UK that have a substantial track-record of working together. We will adopt a wide-angle approach, focusing on intertwined risk factors for chronic disease that have not previously been considered in an integrated framework. The plan offers a fundamentally new approach to address this problem because it combines four innovative and inter-linked components:
1) Creation of a 100,000-participant study ("cohort") in urban, rural, and slum areas to enable study of the social, environmental, and behavioural risk factors for chronic diseases.
2) Conduct of cross-disciplinary research projects that will use the new cohort help understand the interplay of risk factors, and how to combat them, drawing on the complementary strengths of sociologists, engineers, behavioural scientists, chemists, biostatisticians, public health scientists and others.
3) Delivery of an integrated programme of research capacity strengthening that targets three inter-linked levels of activity: individual, organisational, and institutional.
4) Mobilisation and deepening of partnerships between Bangladesh and UK centres of excellence.
Technical Summary
In recent decades, Bangladesh has been in the midst of a rapid transition: disease burden has shifted markedly from a profile dominated by infectious diseases, under-nutrition and conditions of childbirth to one increasingly characterised by chronic disease ("non-communicable diseases") such as heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, lung diseases, and cancer. Estimates suggest that at least 60% of adult deaths in Bangladesh today are due to such chronic diseases.
As well as producing profound disabilities and cutting short millions of lives each year, the rise of chronic disease in Bangladesh has created major societal problems, limiting economic advancement, reducing human welfare, and skewing scarce resources toward costly treatments and away from social progress. This situation is unsustainable, especially as Bangladesh's population ages and continues to grow.
The causes of chronic disease in Bangladesh include distinctive social, environmental, and behavioural factors. For example, Bangladesh has one of the world's worst environmental and lifestyle risk profiles, characterised by:
Severe water and air pollution: According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), arsenic-contaminated water in Bangladesh, which affects ~100M people, is "the largest mass poisoning of a human population in history". A 2016 WHO report on ambient air pollution judged Bangladesh to be the fourth worst polluted country worldwide.
Nutritional disorders: Deficiencies of elements (such as iron) required for normal growth and development are widespread. An evolving and complex background of persisting undernutrition and emerging obesity also increase disease risks.
Risk behaviours: "Western" lifestyles (eg, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity) are increasing, and may amplify adverse effects of traditional risk behaviours, augmenting disease risk.
These social, environmental, and behavioural risk factors tend to cluster in households, share antecedents and causes, amplify each other's effects, and depend on one another in complex (and non-obvious) ways. Importantly, they can also exert importantly different effects in differing contexts such as across rural, urban, and slum settings. Hence, approaches that could tackle such chronic disease risk factors in combination rather than in isolation are likely to be more powerful, as well as approaches that can take account of the context in which they occur.
Yet, Bangladesh's research infrastructure is not configured to evaluate the country's multiple risks and multiple settings, perhaps preventing the emergence of evidence that could suggest "joined up" solutions. Our proposal aims to address this grand challenge.
We will mobilise a multidisciplinary team of about 25 leading investigators from seven organisations in Bangladesh and the UK that have a substantial track-record of working together. We will adopt a wide-angle approach, focusing on intertwined risk factors for chronic disease that have not previously been considered in an integrated framework. The plan offers a fundamentally new approach to address this problem because it combines four innovative and inter-linked components:
1) Creation of a 100,000-participant study ("cohort") in urban, rural, and slum areas to enable study of the social, environmental, and behavioural risk factors for chronic diseases.
2) Conduct of cross-disciplinary research projects that will use the new cohort help understand the interplay of risk factors, and how to combat them, drawing on the complementary strengths of sociologists, engineers, behavioural scientists, chemists, biostatisticians, public health scientists and others.
3) Delivery of an integrated programme of research capacity strengthening that targets three inter-linked levels of activity: individual, organisational, and institutional.
4) Mobilisation and deepening of partnerships between Bangladesh and UK centres of excellence.
As well as producing profound disabilities and cutting short millions of lives each year, the rise of chronic disease in Bangladesh has created major societal problems, limiting economic advancement, reducing human welfare, and skewing scarce resources toward costly treatments and away from social progress. This situation is unsustainable, especially as Bangladesh's population ages and continues to grow.
The causes of chronic disease in Bangladesh include distinctive social, environmental, and behavioural factors. For example, Bangladesh has one of the world's worst environmental and lifestyle risk profiles, characterised by:
Severe water and air pollution: According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), arsenic-contaminated water in Bangladesh, which affects ~100M people, is "the largest mass poisoning of a human population in history". A 2016 WHO report on ambient air pollution judged Bangladesh to be the fourth worst polluted country worldwide.
Nutritional disorders: Deficiencies of elements (such as iron) required for normal growth and development are widespread. An evolving and complex background of persisting undernutrition and emerging obesity also increase disease risks.
Risk behaviours: "Western" lifestyles (eg, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity) are increasing, and may amplify adverse effects of traditional risk behaviours, augmenting disease risk.
These social, environmental, and behavioural risk factors tend to cluster in households, share antecedents and causes, amplify each other's effects, and depend on one another in complex (and non-obvious) ways. Importantly, they can also exert importantly different effects in differing contexts such as across rural, urban, and slum settings. Hence, approaches that could tackle such chronic disease risk factors in combination rather than in isolation are likely to be more powerful, as well as approaches that can take account of the context in which they occur.
Yet, Bangladesh's research infrastructure is not configured to evaluate the country's multiple risks and multiple settings, perhaps preventing the emergence of evidence that could suggest "joined up" solutions. Our proposal aims to address this grand challenge.
We will mobilise a multidisciplinary team of about 25 leading investigators from seven organisations in Bangladesh and the UK that have a substantial track-record of working together. We will adopt a wide-angle approach, focusing on intertwined risk factors for chronic disease that have not previously been considered in an integrated framework. The plan offers a fundamentally new approach to address this problem because it combines four innovative and inter-linked components:
1) Creation of a 100,000-participant study ("cohort") in urban, rural, and slum areas to enable study of the social, environmental, and behavioural risk factors for chronic diseases.
2) Conduct of cross-disciplinary research projects that will use the new cohort help understand the interplay of risk factors, and how to combat them, drawing on the complementary strengths of sociologists, engineers, behavioural scientists, chemists, biostatisticians, public health scientists and others.
3) Delivery of an integrated programme of research capacity strengthening that targets three inter-linked levels of activity: individual, organisational, and institutional.
4) Mobilisation and deepening of partnerships between Bangladesh and UK centres of excellence.
Planned Impact
IMPACT SUMMARIES
The ultimate desired impact of this initiative is a real-word sustainable gain in health (eg, material reduction in disability and/or prolongation of life), leading to improvements in human welfare and economic advancement in Bangladesh.
We acknowledge that such an impact is unrealistic within a 4 year grant period, especially since the funding call requests "feasibility, scoping, exploratory, proof of concept studies" (rather than fullscale implementation trials).
Hence, key "intermediate" impacts to be achieved in the grant period through routes described in the Pathways to Impact statement include:
1) Systematic review, systems modelling, and proof of concept studies of several practicable, scalable and effective interventions that can help protect against NCDs, and understanding of their inter-dependencies, setting the stage for definitive separately-funded studies of interventions
Research findings from this project will be relevant to many aspects of the social, physical, and economic environment
We will contribute to the evidence in these areas and directly influence practice and policies at local, regional, national and international levels
2) A novel partnership between key Bangladeshi and UK organisations that will promote enduring relationships based on shared values and a common research agenda
Policy makers will benefit directly from the results of modelling and through using the models to consider different policy scenarios and assess proposed changes. The models will improve the ability to predict likely effects of interventions before deciding how to invest resources in real interventions, a major benefit for Bangladesh's resource-constrained authorities
We recognise that impact is a 2-way process, with our research priorities shaped by policy and public health needs, encouraging us to pursue a partnership approach, co-producing tools and publications and working closely with policymakers and public health practitioners.
3) A cross-disciplinary network of researchers, policy-makers, and other key stakeholders across the UK and Bangladesh committed to a shared research vision
Civil society organisations, NGOs, and campaigners represent other potential audiences for our evidence outputs and may present research opportunities
Our findings should provide better services and lead to a stronger evidence base for this implementation work (eg, BRAC WASH programmes).
4) Training of a cadre of several dozen applied researchers in Bangladesh and the UK capable of sustaining excellent research and effective action in the face of complexity, to combat adverse health effects of environmental exposures
5) A transformative100,000-participant multi-purpose research platform that can be enriched and harvested on an ongoing basis to inform policy and health practice in Bangladesh
The impact of this cohort could be analogous to the "cohorts/panels" created by the ESRC and MRC in the UK during the past 50 years; several have led to major research and societal advances, such as understanding of the relevance of social determinants of health (Whitehall cohort), the hazards of smoking (British Doctors' Study), and the prevention of cot death (ALSPAC)
This research platform will give the Bangladesh research and policy communities similar advantages to those accruing in other low- and middle-income countries that have created such cohorts suited to national circumstances, including China (500,000-participant Kadoorie Biobank) and Mexico (150,000-participant Mexico City Prospective Study).
The ultimate desired impact of this initiative is a real-word sustainable gain in health (eg, material reduction in disability and/or prolongation of life), leading to improvements in human welfare and economic advancement in Bangladesh.
We acknowledge that such an impact is unrealistic within a 4 year grant period, especially since the funding call requests "feasibility, scoping, exploratory, proof of concept studies" (rather than fullscale implementation trials).
Hence, key "intermediate" impacts to be achieved in the grant period through routes described in the Pathways to Impact statement include:
1) Systematic review, systems modelling, and proof of concept studies of several practicable, scalable and effective interventions that can help protect against NCDs, and understanding of their inter-dependencies, setting the stage for definitive separately-funded studies of interventions
Research findings from this project will be relevant to many aspects of the social, physical, and economic environment
We will contribute to the evidence in these areas and directly influence practice and policies at local, regional, national and international levels
2) A novel partnership between key Bangladeshi and UK organisations that will promote enduring relationships based on shared values and a common research agenda
Policy makers will benefit directly from the results of modelling and through using the models to consider different policy scenarios and assess proposed changes. The models will improve the ability to predict likely effects of interventions before deciding how to invest resources in real interventions, a major benefit for Bangladesh's resource-constrained authorities
We recognise that impact is a 2-way process, with our research priorities shaped by policy and public health needs, encouraging us to pursue a partnership approach, co-producing tools and publications and working closely with policymakers and public health practitioners.
3) A cross-disciplinary network of researchers, policy-makers, and other key stakeholders across the UK and Bangladesh committed to a shared research vision
Civil society organisations, NGOs, and campaigners represent other potential audiences for our evidence outputs and may present research opportunities
Our findings should provide better services and lead to a stronger evidence base for this implementation work (eg, BRAC WASH programmes).
4) Training of a cadre of several dozen applied researchers in Bangladesh and the UK capable of sustaining excellent research and effective action in the face of complexity, to combat adverse health effects of environmental exposures
5) A transformative100,000-participant multi-purpose research platform that can be enriched and harvested on an ongoing basis to inform policy and health practice in Bangladesh
The impact of this cohort could be analogous to the "cohorts/panels" created by the ESRC and MRC in the UK during the past 50 years; several have led to major research and societal advances, such as understanding of the relevance of social determinants of health (Whitehall cohort), the hazards of smoking (British Doctors' Study), and the prevention of cot death (ALSPAC)
This research platform will give the Bangladesh research and policy communities similar advantages to those accruing in other low- and middle-income countries that have created such cohorts suited to national circumstances, including China (500,000-participant Kadoorie Biobank) and Mexico (150,000-participant Mexico City Prospective Study).
Organisations
- University of Cambridge (Collaboration, Lead Research Organisation)
- Economic and Social Research Council (Co-funder)
- University College London (Collaboration)
- National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh (Collaboration)
- Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control And Research (Collaboration)
- University of Dhaka (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN (Collaboration)
- Nightingale Health Ltd. (Collaboration)
- Human Technopole (Collaboration)
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Collaboration)
- University of Massachusetts (Collaboration)
- Government of Bangladesh (Collaboration)
- Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (Collaboration)
- University of Bristol (Collaboration)
Publications
Chowdhury R
(2018)
Reducing NCDs globally: the under-recognised role of environmental risk factors.
in Lancet (London, England)
Chowdhury R
(2020)
Long-term strategies to control COVID-19 in low and middle-income countries: an options overview of community-based, non-pharmacological interventions.
in European journal of epidemiology
Chowdhury R
(2020)
Dynamic interventions to control COVID-19 pandemic: a multivariate prediction modelling study comparing 16 worldwide countries.
in European journal of epidemiology
Corbin LJ
(2018)
Formalising recall by genotype as an efficient approach to detailed phenotyping and causal inference.
in Nature communications
Di Angelantonio E
(2017)
Efficiency and safety of varying the frequency of whole blood donation (INTERVAL): a randomised trial of 45 000 donors.
in Lancet (London, England)
Emdin CA
(2018)
Analysis of predicted loss-of-function variants in UK Biobank identifies variants protective for disease.
in Nature communications
Farahi N
(2017)
Neutrophil-mediated IL-6 receptor trans-signaling and the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma.
in Human molecular genetics
Hendricks AE
(2017)
Rare Variant Analysis of Human and Rodent Obesity Genes in Individuals with Severe Childhood Obesity.
in Scientific reports
Lake P
(2019)
The Influence of Underlying Stresses from Environmental Hazards on Resilience in Bangladesh: A System View
in International Journal of Disaster Risk Science
| Description | Designed to transform Bangladesh's capacity to control non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and serve as a model for other low and middle-income countries (LMICs), the CAPABLE project has created a once-in-a-generation NCD cohort (i.e. the BELIEVE study) to simultaneously serve as a vehicle for: a) capacity building, b) partnership building, and c) cross-disciplinary research. During the award period, the CAPABLE project successfully recruited ~74,000 participants from >38,000 households. We created a highly functioning cross-sectoral partnership of seven organisations in Bangladesh and the UK and we successfully established 3 study clinics in different settings in Bangladesh including urban (i.e. Mirpur), rural (i.e. Matlab) and slum (i.e. Bauniabadh) areas. A fourth study site in an additional rural area (i.e. Belabo) was unable to open due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We also developed an additional partnership with Regeneron which generated genetic data on 74,000 individuals. We have trained >80 Bangladesh researchers in cross-disciplinary research. Our cohort platform has also supported a variety of proof-of-concept studies related to tobacco control, arsenic mitigation, air quality and female empowerment. |
| Exploitation Route | Access to data and samples collected during to the funding period. |
| Sectors | Healthcare |
| Description | 1. Member Secretary of Subcommittee on Containment and Epidemiology of COVID-19 including Modelling of National Technical Advisory Committee on COVID-19 |
| Geographic Reach | Asia |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | Prof Sohel Chowdhury (Co-Investigator and local Principal Investigator) served as Member Secretary on the Subcommittee on Containment and Epidemiology of COVID-19 including Modelling of National Technical Advisory Committee on COVID-19. This was formed by the Bangladesh Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in April 2020. Its terms of reference were advice on containment of pandemic, epidemiological issues, and apprehension of the disease burden. |
| Description | 3. Member, Expert Committee for regulation of Trans Fat level in edible oils and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (PHO) in Bangladesh. |
| Geographic Reach | Asia |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | Prof. Sohel Chowdhury (Co-Investigator and local Principal Investigator) is a member of an expert committee for the regulation of Trans Fat level in edible oils and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (PHO) in Bangladesh. This was formed by Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA), Ministry of Food, Government of Bangladesh in February 2020. Its terms of reference are to advise the BFSA for adoption of trans fat regulation. Draft regulation has now been submitted. |
| Description | BELIEVE Covid-19 surveillance data presented to Bangladesh policy-makers |
| Geographic Reach | Asia |
| Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
| Impact | Covid-19 surveillance data has been collected on ~17,000 BELIEVE cohort study participants through the CAPABLE project's infrastructure and staff. These valuable data on symptoms and testing status has been analysed jointly by a Cambridge postdoctoral researcher and a Bangladesh research fellow. Findings have been stratified by age, sex and setting (urban, urban-poor and rural) to identify whether there are differences in infection rate. Additionally this data has been linked with baseline BELIEVE data on demographic, socioeconomic, clinical and lifestyle factors to determine key risk factors for Covid-19 infection and severe outcomes. These findings have been communicated through regular meetings to investigators who are involved in the Covid-19 public health response in Bangladesh e.g. senior epidemiologists sitting on national committees and senior policy-makers working within the Ministry of Health, Government of Bangladesh. These findings will strengthen the evidence base for the Bangladesh Government's response to the Covid-19 pandemic. |
| Description | CAPABLE NCD Epidemiology and Biostatistics Training Course |
| Geographic Reach | Asia |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | CAPABLE's second advanced training course on non-communicable disease epidemiology and biostatistics was held in February 2020. This course provided training for 40 early-career researchers in Bangladesh as part of CAPABLE's capacity building initiative. Four trainees were selected after the course for 12-month research fellowships affiliated with the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research in Bangladesh and University of Cambridge in the UK. This course and the fellowship scheme provide valuable individual training and mentorship from senior scientists in the UK and Bangladesh. This will lead to strengthening of population health research capacity in Bangladesh and the ability to produce high quality research. |
| Description | CAPABLE NCD Epidemiology and Biostatistics Training Course |
| Geographic Reach | Asia |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | CAPABLE's first advanced training course on non-communicable disease epidemiology and biostatistics was held in July 2018. This course provided training for 30 early-career researchers in Bangladesh as part of CAPABLE's capacity building initiative. Three trainees were selected after the course for 12-month research fellowships affiliated with the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research in Bangladesh and University of Cambridge in the UK. This course and the fellowship scheme provide valuable individual training and mentorship from senior scientists in the UK and Bangladesh. This will lead to strengthening of population health research capacity in Bangladesh and the ability to produce high quality research. |
| Description | Member, Technical committee for drafting amendments of Tobacco Control Act. |
| Geographic Reach | Asia |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | Prof Sohel Chowdhury (Co-Investigator and Local Principal Investigator) was a member of the technical committee for drafting amendments to the Bangladesh Tobacco Control Act. This committee was formed by the National Tobacco Control Cell (NTCC), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in August 2020. Its terms of reference were the drafting of proposals for amendment of current tobacco control act to make it FCTC compliant. |
| Description | Progression of CAPABLE Fellows |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | 1 Fellow has progressed onto a PhD in Neuroscience at Viginia Tech 1 Fellow has taken on the role of Senior Scientific officer at the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control And Research (IEDCR) 1 Fellow has become a Senior Research Fellow at the BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University and MSc in Epidemiology at the Lonodn School of Health and Tropical Medicine 1 Fellow has become a Deputy project coordinator BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health 2 Fellows have taken on lecturer positions at the University of Dhaka 2 Fellows joined the MPhil in Population Health Sciences at the University of Cambridge in September 2022 1 Fellow is a Associate Consultant at IQVIA |
| Description | Cambridge alliance to protect Bangladesh from long0term environmental hazards |
| Amount | £7,946,901 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | MR/P02811X/1 |
| Organisation | Medical Research Council (MRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2017 |
| End | 12/2021 |
| Description | Contribution of gender norms to diabetes prevention and care in Bangladesh: a pilot study based on a patriarchal South Asian population |
| Amount | £79,618 (GBP) |
| Organisation | United Kingdom Research and Innovation |
| Department | Global Challenges Research Fund |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2020 |
| End | 07/2020 |
| Description | Health effects of a large-scale drinking water intervention on arsenic levels in Goalmari, Bangladesh |
| Amount | £79,650 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | G100049 |
| Organisation | United Kingdom Research and Innovation |
| Department | Global Challenges Research Fund |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2019 |
| End | 01/2020 |
| Description | Preparatory work for a trial of tobacco cessation interventions in Bangladesh |
| Amount | £79,778 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University of Cambridge |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2019 |
| End | 07/2019 |
| Description | The CAPABLE longitudinal study of non-communicable diseases |
| Amount | £93,797 (GBP) |
| Organisation | United Kingdom Research and Innovation |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 12/2022 |
| End | 03/2023 |
| Title | BELIEVE Blood samples 2020 |
| Description | ~1,000 additional 5ml blood samples were collected from participants of the BELIEVE study in Mirpur, Bauniabadh and Matlab. These blood samples were collected as part of the Covid-19 surveillance efforts and are intended to be used for antibody assays to determine previous infection and immunity in the BELIEVE cohort. These samples are being stored in Bangladesh at CAPABLE's partner institutions leading the three BELIEVE study sites. |
| Type Of Material | Biological samples |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | None yet, samples are currently being stored until funding is obtained for analysis. |
| Title | BELIEVE Covid-19 Electronic Questionnaire Applications |
| Description | The Cambridge project hub have developed three new 'apps' to collect Covid-19 symptom data & sample collection data and to schedule sample collection appointments. These apps have enabled paperless collection of data over the telephone by data collectors in Bangladesh. The apps have built in quality control checks to ensure that data is recorded accurately and that data quality is high, as well as integrated transfer, export and cleaning of these data in Cambridge. These apps were created, tested, translated into Bengali and implemented in April-June 2020. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | These apps ensure that Covid-19 surveillance data collected is of the highest possible quality and that data is collected, transferred and cleaned ready for analysis as efficiently as possible. These apps also provide good value for money as they were created internally by the project hub using a free platform and free server space, which meant the project team did not need to hire an expensive external app developer. |
| Title | BELIEVE Electronic Questionnaire Application |
| Description | As part of the BELIEVE study, three bespoke electronic questionnaire applications have been developed to collect baseline and follow-up data during cohort recruitment. These apps enable paperless collection of data on household factors, lifestyle, socioeconomic factors, medical history and physical measurements. The apps have built in quality control checks to ensure that data is recorded accurately and that data quality is high. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The use of the BELIEVE electronic apps instead of paper has led to a reduction in paper use by the study team and improvements in data quality and data security. |
| Title | BELIEVE Mirpur, Bauniabadh and Matlab Samples |
| Description | Collection of blood and nail samples from the BELIEVE (BangladEsh Longitudinal Investigation of Emerging Vascular and Non-Vascular Events) Study across three settings; Mirpur (urban), Bauniabadh (urban slum) and Matlab (rural). These three study sites are managed in collaboration with three Bangladeshi partner institutions; the National Heart Foundation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University and the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh. This study aims to recruit up to 150,000 community-based individuals (age >5 years) through a household survey to ensure maximum and generalisable participation, particularly from individuals with shared environmental and genetic background. The key objectives of the BELIEVE prospective cohort study are to create a re-callable population and bio-resource involving a general South Asian population to: (1) enable genetic discovery using diverse phenotypes (particularly those related to nutrition such as anaemia, infection, or environment-related aspects such as air and toxic metal pollution), causal evaluation and functional genomics; (2) assess reliably the roles of established and unique locally-relevant risk factors on incident NCDs such as cardiovascular, cancer, diabetes and kidney diseases (ascertained by clinical records and standardised validation); (3) help study discrepant risk factor patterns unique to this population (eg, unusually high tobacco usage, lowest average body mass index, highest physical inactivity rates) over time, in various age groups as a life-course approach; and their heritability; and (4) create a well-characterised population base to set-up innovative and cost-effective behaviour modification and pharmaceutical interventions, suitable from a South-Asian context. |
| Type Of Material | Biological samples |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | None yet, samples and data still being collected and analysed. |
| Title | Participant Follow-up Electronic Questionnaire Applications |
| Description | The Cambridge project hub has developed a new app for periodic follow-up of the cohort participants using xls forms and a free online available platform. These apps have enabled paperless collection of follow-up data over the telephone by data collectors in Bangladesh. The apps have built-in quality control checks to ensure that data is recorded accurately and that data quality is high, as well as integrated transfer, export and cleaning of these data in Cambridge. The states of creation, testing, translation into Bengali, implementation and further amendments happened between March-September 2021. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | This app ensures that the participant follow-up surveillance data collected is of the highest possible quality and that data is captured, transferred and cleaned ready for analysis as efficiently as possible. This app enabled the periodic BELIEVE participant follow-up to be done over the phone during the pandemic restrictions, replacing the costly, time and resource consuming household visits that were previously used in this process. The app is good value for money, since it was created internally by the project hub using a free online platform with a free server space, which meant the project team did not ened to hire an expensive external app developer. Furthermore, it has enabled the group to have a more cost-effective and longer-term follow-up process: it will allow the continuation of the project after the granting is over using contingency budget until new funding is secured. Moreover, the development of this app served as an important capacity building tool for our hub, as it required the developer to learn from scratch how to develop apps using xls forms. |
| Title | BELIEVE Covid-19 Dataset |
| Description | Data on Covid-19 symptoms and testing status was collected in ~17,000 participants of the BELIEVE cohort study (urban, urban-poor and rural sites) by three Bangladeshi partner institutions; the National Heart Foundation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University and the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, in collaboration with the project hub at Cambridge University. These data on symptoms and testing status are being analysed jointly by a Cambridge postdoctoral researcher and a Bangladesh research fellow. Findings have been stratified by age, sex and setting (urban, urban-poor and rural) to identify whether there are differences in infection rate. Additionally this data has been linked with baseline BELIEVE data on demographic, socioeconomic, clinical and lifestyle factors to determine key risk factors for Covid-19 infection and severe outcomes. Several CAPABLE research fellows are working on these analyses. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Preliminary findings based on this BELIEVE Covid-19 dataset have been communicated through regular meetings to investigators who are involved in the Covid-19 public health response in Bangladesh e.g. senior epidemiologists sitting on national committees and senior policy-makers working within the Ministry of Health, Government of Bangladesh. These findings will strengthen the evidence base for the Bangladesh Government's response to the Covid-19 pandemic. |
| Title | BELIEVE Mirpur (Urban), Bauniabadh (Urban Slum) and Matlab (Rural) |
| Description | Collection of data from the BELIEVE (BangladEsh Longitudinal Investigation of Emerging Vascular and Non-Vascular Events) Study across three settings; Mirpur (urban), Bauniabadh (urban slum) and Matlab (rural). These three study sites are managed in collaboration with three Bangladeshi partner institutions; the National Heart Foundation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University and the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh. This study aims to recruit up to 150,000 community-based individuals (age >5 years) through a household survey to ensure maximum and generalisable participation, particularly from individuals with shared environmental and genetic background. The key objectives of the BELIEVE prospective cohort study are to create a re-callable population and bio-resource involving a general South Asian population to: (1) enable genetic discovery using diverse phenotypes (particularly those related to nutrition such as anaemia, infection, or environment-related aspects such as air and toxic metal pollution), causal evaluation and functional genomics; (2) assess reliably the roles of established and unique locally-relevant risk factors on incident NCDs such as cardiovascular, cancer, diabetes and kidney diseases (ascertained by clinical records and standardised validation); (3) help study discrepant risk factor patterns unique to this population (eg, unusually high tobacco usage, lowest average body mass index, highest physical inactivity rates) over time, in various age groups as a life-course approach; and their heritability; and (4) create a well-characterised population base to set-up innovative and cost-effective behaviour modification and pharmaceutical interventions, suitable from a South-Asian context. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | None yet, samples and data still being collected and analysed. |
| URL | https://www.capable-bangladesh.org/cohorts/ |
| Description | BELIEVE |
| Organisation | National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh |
| Country | Bangladesh |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Funding, protocol design and implementation support; analysis of data and publication manuscript preparation. Scientific leadership. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Conduct of the protocol, use of resources and sample/data transport |
| Impact | N/A - commenced 2016 |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | CAPABLE - BSMMU |
| Organisation | Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University |
| Country | Bangladesh |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Intellectual input and scientific direction/coordination to help set up a research cohort to better understand disease and environmental risks in Bangladesh. Coordinating centre for the CAPABLE programme under which this collaboration sits. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Intellectual input and scientific direction/coordination to help set up a research cohort to better understand disease and environmental risks in Bangladesh. Provision of staff, resources, space. |
| Impact | No outputs yet. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | CAPABLE - Department of Genetics, Cambridge |
| Organisation | University of Cambridge |
| Department | Department of Genetics |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The Cambridge project hub have brought together experts from multiple different disciplines to regular meetings where CAPABLE's Covid-19 surveillance strategy, study design, data collection, analysis and dissemination have been discussed. Cambridge have provided coordination, data management and data analysis support for these efforts. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Dr Henrik Salje at the Department of Genetics, who has expertise in infectious disease epidemiology and modelling, has provided guidance to investigators in Cambridge and Bangladesh. This has ensured that CAPABLE's Covid-19 surveillance strategy and data collection tools used (e.g. questionnaires) are scientifically robust and will generate useful findings that are actionable for policy-makers in Bangladesh. Dr Salje has attended regular meetings of the CAPABLE project team to provide valuable input, and he presented his research at the annual general assembly meeting to the whole project consortium. He is now attending monthly meetings of the BELIEVE Covid-19 data analysis working group where data analysis and dissemination strategy are discussed by investigators, analysts and research fellows in Cambridge and Bangladesh. |
| Impact | This partnership has ensured that the Covid-19 surveillance data collected through the CAPABLE project is scientifically robust and relevant, and will be actionable for policy-makers in Bangladesh. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | CAPABLE - Directorate General of Health Services, Bangladesh |
| Organisation | Government of Bangladesh |
| Department | Directorate General of Health Services, MOHFW |
| Country | Bangladesh |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | This partnership has been formed through the existing partnership between Cambridge and another branch of the Government of Bangladesh; the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research. Cambridge are providing valuable Covid-19 surveillance data to Bangladesh policy-makers and senior scientists, including Professor Sabrina Flora, the Additional Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services. Cambridge has provided study coordination, data management and data analysis support. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Directorate General of Health Services have provided guidance and expertise to ensure that the Covid-19 surveillance data being collected through the CAPABLE project is relevant and actionable in terms of public health policy. The Additional Director General Professor Flora has attended CAPABLE's most recent steering committee meeting and general assembly meeting in late 2020 to provide input on the project's strategy regarding the Covid-19 response. |
| Impact | This partnership has enhanced the collection of valuable Covid-19 surveillance data which will feed into public health policy in Bangladesh. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | CAPABLE - IEDCR |
| Organisation | Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control And Research |
| Country | Bangladesh |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Intellectual input to the research into environmental and lifestyle risk factors in Bangladesh with respect to non-communicable diseases, as well as the planning and coordination of capacity building and training in the programme. Coordinating centre responsible for the CAPABLE consortium under which this collaboration sits. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Intellectual input to the research into environmental and lifestyle risk factors in Bangladesh with respect to non-communicable diseases, as well as the planning and coordination of capacity building and training in the programme. Provision of space and resources for capacity building elements of the programme. |
| Impact | Not outputs yet. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | CAPABLE - University of Dhaka |
| Organisation | University of Dhaka |
| Country | Bangladesh |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Cambridge have provided expertise in terms of epidemiology and population health research, to complement the environmental research expertise which University of Dhaka have. Cambridge have provided research coordination and administrative support for the environmental determinants work plan of CAPABLE. Cambridge have provided resources for the purchase of equipment to measure air quality and for supporting two 12 month research fellowships at the University of Dhaka. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The University of Dhaka have provided expertise in air pollution monitoring, which has been key in developing scientific plans to investigate the environmental determinants of non-communicable diseases within CAPABLE. University of Dhaka have provided use of their internationally accredited facilities for measuring air quality and environmental pollution. Two members of staff at University of Dhaka are in 12 month research fellowships as part of the CAPABLE programme. University of Dhaka provide supervision for these fellows and have taught on CAPABLE'S Advanced Short Course in Dhaka. |
| Impact | No outcomes yet. This is a multi-disciplinary collaboration; University of Cambridge provide expertise in population health and epidemiology, and University of Dhaka provide expertise in environmental science, specifically the measurements of air quality. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | CAPABLE-University College London |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Department | Institute For Global Health |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Intellectual input and scientific direction/coordination to help set up a work stream on social determinants and better understand disease and environmental risks in Bangladesh. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Intellectual input and scientific direction/coordination to help set up a work stream on social determinants, policy and gender studies to better understand disease and environmental risks in Bangladesh. Supervision of fellows, capacity building. |
| Impact | No outcomes yet |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | CAPABLE-University of Aberdeen |
| Organisation | University of Aberdeen |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Intellectual input and scientific direction/coordination for studying arsenic and other environmental toxic metals. Coordinating centre for analytical analyses in biological and non-biological samples. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Intellectual input and scientific direction/coordination to better understand disease and environmental risks in Bangladesh. Provision of staff, resources, space, capacity building, development of novel analytical methods to study the concentration of toxic metals in biological and non-biological samples. |
| Impact | No outputs yet |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Human Technopole Collaboration |
| Organisation | Human Technopole |
| Country | Italy |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Providing samples from UK and Asian cohorts |
| Collaborator Contribution | proteomic assays |
| Impact | None yet |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Nightingale Collaboration |
| Organisation | Nightingale Health Ltd. |
| Country | Finland |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Collaboration with Nightingale Health Ltd enabled us to increase data for our analysts, providing strategic and analytical input. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Nightingale health provided lab support and Bristol shared strategic and analytical input. |
| Impact | No outputs to date |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Nightingale Collaboration |
| Organisation | University of Bristol |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Collaboration with Nightingale Health Ltd enabled us to increase data for our analysts, providing strategic and analytical input. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Nightingale health provided lab support and Bristol shared strategic and analytical input. |
| Impact | No outputs to date |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Regeneron |
| Organisation | Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Providing samples from Asian cohorts |
| Collaborator Contribution | Whole exome genotyping on samples from Asian cohorts. |
| Impact | none yet |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | University of Massachusetts - Larry King |
| Organisation | University of Massachusetts |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Prof. King is a co-PI on the CAPABLE programme funded by UKRI. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Take part in operational and scientific meetings, provide scientific inputs, write project proposals, contribute in scientific papers, and other activities as requested by the CAPABLE Executive Committee. Co-lead the work of analysing social determinants of risk factors in the CAPABLE programme. |
| Impact | none yet |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | 2021 UK Biobank International Scientific Advisory Board Meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Progress update and outline of future plans, UK Biobank Access, the value of -omics assays discussion, Imaging study and SARS-CoV-2, Deeper characterisation through record linkage |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | BTRU Seminars 2021 (Emanuele Di Angelantonio) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | National and International specialist speakers addressed staff and interested parties on aspects of blood, transplant and donor Health at 5 different events in 202 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | http://www.donorhealth-btru.nihr.ac.uk/ |
| Description | BangladEsh Longitudinal Investigation of Emerging Vascular Events (BELIEVE) community engagement meetings (Sophie Weston) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Regular community engagement meetings are held in all three BELIEVE cohort study sites. Community advisory boards, made up of local community leaders, have been created specifically for the study. The purpose is to form a strong positive relationship with the community, to gather feedback on recruitment approaches/interactions with the study team and encourage participation in the BELIEVE studies. These meetings have led to changes in study procedure based on community feedback and improved recruitment and retention rates. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.phpc.cam.ac.uk/ceu/international-vascular-health/believe |
| Description | Blood Donor Studies Steering Committee Meeting (Emanuele Di Angelantonio) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | "The role of the Blood Donors Studies Steering Committee (BDSSC) is to safeguard the health of donors and monitor overall conduct of trials, e.g. organisation and implementation of trial protocols, within the NIHR BTRU. Through the Chair, it should provide advice to BTRU partners (University of Cambridge, Wellcome Sanger Institute, University of Oxford and NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT)), NIHR and any other Sponsor/Funder on all aspects of trials conducted within the BTRU" |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | CAPABLE Annual General Assembly Meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | CAPABLE's annual meeting was held virtually in 2020 due to Covid-19 travel restrictions. The purpose of this meeting is to share updates on the progress on cohort recruitment, capacity building and targeted studies and to discuss scientific plans. The outcome was further strengthening of CAPABLE consortium, making decisions on future scientific plans including the Covid-19 response and taking on board feedback obtained from consortium and advisory board. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | CAPABLE Bangladesh Launch |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Bangladesh launch of CAPABLE programme, talks given, press spoken to and site visited. Generated lots of debate and in country press articles. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | CAPABLE Cambridge Team visit to Bangladesh |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | Cambridge hub team (PI, co-investigators and coordination team) visited Dhaka to meet with all four Bangladeshi partner organisations in the CAPABLE consortium. The purpose of this was to share updates on programme progress and to discuss scientific plans. The Cambridge hub team also met with community advisory groups to hear feedback from them directly. These meetings strengthened partnerships and collaboration, led to challenges being identified and resolved, and allowed scientific working groups to be further developed. During this visit, the Cambridge hub team also coordinated and taught on the second short course on non-communicable disease epidemiology and biostatistics. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | CAPABLE General Assembly (John Danesh) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Annual general assembly of CAPABLE programme, gathering of all collaborators, staff members, supporters, extended network, donors and other stakeholders. Talks, debates, working groups. This was a talk and discussion between Cambridge and Dhaka for a working collaboration to help improve the lives of the Bangladeshi people (2019). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018,2019 |
| URL | http://www.capable-bangladesh.org/capable-in-popular-media/meeting-september-2018-uk/ |
| Description | CAPABLE workshop in Bangladesh (Emanuele Di Angelantonio) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Travel to Dhaka to plan implementation of CAPABLE study, with Scientific Planning Committee Meeting, site visits and meeting collaborators |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Cambridge BHF Centre of Research Excellence Annual Research Symposium (Emanuele Di Angelantonio) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presented on topic: 'Cardiovascular disease risk prediction using UK Biobank' in the Population and Data Science session. The Cambridge BHF Centre of Research Excellence and the Cardiovascular IRC have run a series of joint research symposia. These annual events are free to attend and open to all Cambridge Cardiovascular-area academic and clinical researchers. There are 140 delegates across the University, hospitals, affiliated institutions, and industrial partners. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.cardiovascular.cam.ac.uk/research/cambridgecre/bhf-cambridge-cre-annual-meetings |
| Description | Cambridge Festival (Emanuele Di Angelantonio) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talk titled 'Every drop counts - blood donors of the future' as part of the interdisciplinary Cambridge Festival with a mixture of on online, on-demand and in-person events covering all aspects of the world-leading research happening at Cambridge |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Cambridge Festival of Ideas (Sophie Weston) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talk as part of the Cambridge Festival of Ideas by two Cambridge PhD students working on BELIEVE. The purpose was to inform the general public about the role of air pollution, arsenic and climate change on NCDs and health in general (with examples from Bangladesh). Several members of the audience got in touch after the talk to give positive feedback and ask further questions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.festivalofideas.cam.ac.uk |
| Description | Cambridge GCRF launch event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Visit by politicians (Joe Johnson) and RCUK representatives to promote the GCRF projects funded at the University of Cambridge, including presentations to these stakeholders. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Cambridge Programme to Assist Bangladesh in Lifestyle and Environmental Risk Reduction (CAPABLE) General Assemby Meeting (Sophie Weston) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | CAPABLE's annual meeting in Cambridge. The purpose is to share updates on the progress on cohort recruitment, capacity building and targeted studies and to discuss scientific plans. The outcome was further strengthening of CAPABLE consortium, making decisions on future scientific plans and taking on board feedback obtained from consortium and advisory board. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Cambridge Science Festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Helping out at the "Hands On" stall by the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, giving a talk with 'Out-thinkers' and running a live action game event aimed at teaching 30 school children about the complexity of dealing with emerging epidemics. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.sciencefestival.cam.ac.uk/about/past-festivals/2018-festival |
| Description | Cambridge team visit to Bangladesh for the Cambridge Programme to Assist Bangladesh in Lifestyle and Environmental Risk Reduction (CAPABLE) (Sophie Weston) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Cambridge hub team (PI, co-investigators and coordination team) visited Dhaka to meet with all four Bangladeshi partner organisations in CAPABLE consortium. The purpose of this was to share updates on programme progress and to discuss scientific plans. The Cambridge hub team also met with community advisory groups to hear feedback from them directly. These meetings strengthened partnerships and collaboration, led to challenges being identified and resolved, and allowed scientific working groups to be further developed. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.iph.cam.ac.uk/global-public-health/projects/bangladesh |
| Description | Community engagement meetings in Belabo, Bangladesh for BELIEVE |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | During the visit of the Cambridge project hub to Bangladesh, the team visited Belabo, where a new rural BELIEVE study site will begin participant recruitment in 2021. The Cambridge team were given a tour of local health facilities, met with local senior health administrators and led a meeting with the community to outline the BELIEVE study objectives, procedures and what participation in the study would entail. The community reacted very positively to this visit and the engagement meeting. The meeting led to enthusiasm for participation in the study and provided the opportunity for community leaders to ask questions and give valuable feedback to the project hub team. The final outcome of the meeting was that the local community gave their approval for the study to proceed in the local area. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Data Science Committee |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Introduction to Data Science Collaborative Research Programme, Evaluation and discussion of top ranked proposals from for emerging investigators, ascending Investigators and distinguised investigators. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Donor Research Network Week of Talks (Emanuele Di Angelantonio) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talk titled 'SAFETY AND EFFICIENCY OF BLOOD DONATION - EXPERIENCE FROM THE UK BLOOD DONOR POPULATION STUDIES' as part of the Donor Research Network 'Week of Talks' - a free event that will be promoted globally to practitioners, donor organisations, researchers, and other interested parties. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021,2022 |
| URL | https://research.psy.uq.edu.au/dorn/ |
| Description | ESC Preventative Cardiology 2021 (Emanuele Di Angelantonio) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presention title "A new initiative in risk estimation: the ESC's cardiovascular risk collaboration." within the live session 'How do we assess cardiovascular risk - now and in the future?' ESC Preventive Cardiology is the annual congress of the European Association of Preventive Cardiology (EAPC), the leading community for healthcare professionals involved in preventive cardiology, covering public health, primary care, secondary prevention and rehabilitation as well as sports cardiology and exercise. From cardiologists, general practitioners, basic scientists, young researchers, policymakers and allied health professionals such as our colleagues in physiotherapy, psychology, nursing and nutritional science. International leaders in your field will discuss their findings with you during live chats and interactive features for best practice and patient care. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | East London Genes & Health (ELGH) Cardiovascular Workshop (Professor John Danesh) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Updates on research conducted and future plans. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | HDRUK Cambridge Cross Institutional Advisory Board |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | HDRUK-Cambridge's achievements and strategic deveoplment so far are reviewed. Further opportunities and challenges are discussed. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Hot topics in cardiovascular research |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 4 series of hot topics seminar in cardivascular research |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | La Caixa Review Panel (Emanuele Di Angelantonio) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Evaluation panel of funding assessments for health research proposals, with constructive feedback to help improve the next generation of applications. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021,2022 |
| Description | NIHR UKRI, Strategic Priorities Fund 'Tackling multimorbidity at scale' funding Panel meeting (Emanuele Di Angelantonio) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The key aims is to bring together multi-disciplinary collaborations of experts with a range of scientific, methodological, and specialist knowledge and skills to build Multimorbidity Research Collaboratives. These collaboratives will be expected to have strong patient involvement, as benefits the remit of the project |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Newsletter to update CAPABLE consortium members on project progress (Sophie Weston) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Newsletter sent to members of the CAPABLE study consortium, updating with project progress and future plans. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019,2020 |
| Description | Novartis The Cardiovascular and Metabolic (CVM) Council 2021 - John moderated TQJ230 Heritage study results session |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | To seek advice on current and future Novartis projects and trends in cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.To discuss strategic issues that are relevant to Novartis and to maximize the experts' input and advice into the areas of heart failure, resistant hypertension, cardiovascular disease, cardiomyopathy, atherosclerosis, dyslipidemia, and inflammation |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Presentation on BELIEVE Covid-19 Surveillance at Cambridge Scientific Meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Three presentations by CAPABLE's Scientific Director, Senior Scientific Coordinator and Study Coordinator were given on the BELIEVE Covid-19 surveillance efforts at quarterly scientific meetings of the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge. The audience for these presentations were senior scientists, postdoctoral researchers and postgraduate students. These presentations informed others working in similar areas of population health and Covid-19 related research and gave the opportunity for these individuals to provide feedback so that the Covid-19 efforts within BELIEVE could be further enhanced. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Presentation on BELIEVE Covid-19 Surveillance at GCRF workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | CAPABLE's Senior Scientific Coordinator gave a presentation on the BELIEVE Covid-19 surveillance efforts at a Covid-19 themed workshop organised by UKRI for GCRF projects. This virtual workshop was attended by other project managers and study coordinators working on other GCRF funded projects. This workshop provided the opportunity to engage with individuals working on similar projects facing similar challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic and provided inspiration for how to respond to these challenges. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Task Force Meeting - 2023 ESC Guidelines on CVD in patients with Diabetes (Emanuele Di Angelantonio_ |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | ESC Task Force to develop guidelines on CVD risk in patients with Diabetes |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Teaching a Short Course in Poznan, Poland (Professor Nick Mascie-Taylor) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Teaching Short Course on epidemiology and biostatistics in Poznan, Poland organised by European Association |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018,2019 |
| Description | Teaching a Short Course in Vilnius, Lithuania (Professor Nick Mascie-Taylor) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Teaching on Short Course on epidemiology and biostatistics in Poznan, Poland organised by European Association. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Teaching at Short Course in Dhaka, Bangladesh (Emanuele Di Angelantonio) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Teaching on Short Course in Dhaka, Bangladesh organised by UK Universities to extend knowledge and educate as part of CAPABLE study |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018,2019,2020 |
| Description | Teaching at Short Course in Dhaka, Bangladesh (Professor Nick Mascie-Taylor) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Teaching on Short Course in Dhaka, Bangladesh, organised by UK universities to extend knowledge and educate as part of CAPABLE study. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018,2019,2020 |
| Description | Teaching at Short Course in Warsaw, Poland (Professor Nick Mascie-Taylor) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Teaching on Short Course on epidemiology and biostatistics in Poznan, Poland organised by European Association |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |