Human infection challenge vaccine (HIC-vac) network
Lead Research Organisation:
Imperial College London
Department Name: National Heart and Lung Institute
Abstract
Although vaccines save millions of lives around the globe every year, there are many infectious diseases that still kill large numbers of people that are still not preventable by vaccination. This is especially true in low and middle income countries (LMIC) where even basic hospital treatment is unavailable, and the only realistic option is to prevent infectious diseases by finding new and economically viable vaccines. For several hundred years the UK has led the world in making original scientific discoveries by human experimentation. Although there are clearly risks in infecting people with pathogens, these risks need to be balanced against the great advantage of being able to test vaccines experimentally without waiting for people to acquire infections naturally. Central to our network is a close collaboration with scientists in these LMIC to advocate for the value of these studies with regulators, policy makers and the public and then to support scientists to perform the studies.
Developing a new vaccine typically takes 20 years and costs over £1bn. Using experimental challenge studies, definitive results can be obtained showing that a vaccine works or does not work with only a few volunteers - perhaps 10 to 100. Conducting challenge studies in this way allows proof in principle of vaccine efficacy. By contrast, field studies that are needed to prove that a vaccine works can be vast, usually involving thousands of individuals and costing many times more than a human challenge study.
Ethically, the benefits of human challenge need to be weighed carefully against the intention to cause disease. This narrows the range of infections that can be tested to those where the disease is relatively mild or predictable and self-limiting, or diseases that can be easily and reliably treated by existing drugs or supportive care. Examples of human infection studies that are on-going in the United Kingdom include influenza, RSV, rhinovirus, typhoid, malaria, bacterial pneumonia and whooping cough. Although there are problems to be overcome, vaccine development for emerging viruses such as Zika, dengue and MERS would be greatly accelerated if human challenge could be performed.
The field of vaccines is entering a very exciting stage in that many immunological concepts that have emerged from studies in animals are now ready for testing in man. At present the groups around the UK, in London, Oxford, Liverpool, York, Nottingham and Southampton, face the ethical and regulatory challenges to mounting such studies without a structure to provide mutual support. We have a great deal to learn from one another regarding not only experimental techniques but also how to overcome the large but necessary burden of regulation and safe working practices. There are groups working on similar infections but not sharing reagents, tested pathogens or other resources between them. Our proposed network will bring together all of this expertise, build on the support that we have from the public in replacing animal experimentation with informative and well controlled human studies, bringing a unified voice from the human infection volunteer network and regulatory/ethical networks to reinforce the UK's position as the most permissive and supportive environment for vaccine development.
We will do this by uniting our efforts: holding regular meetings by phone, face to face and providing one another with practical support. We will form consortia within the Network to apply for funding to provide core materials and resources. In addition to accelerating vaccine development, HIC-Vac will collaborate to address fundamental scientific questions about human infection that can only be obtained from challenge studies both within the UK and internationally. All of this work is relevant to diseases that afflict LMIC; if funded, our proposed network will therefore contribute very substantially to improving global health.
Developing a new vaccine typically takes 20 years and costs over £1bn. Using experimental challenge studies, definitive results can be obtained showing that a vaccine works or does not work with only a few volunteers - perhaps 10 to 100. Conducting challenge studies in this way allows proof in principle of vaccine efficacy. By contrast, field studies that are needed to prove that a vaccine works can be vast, usually involving thousands of individuals and costing many times more than a human challenge study.
Ethically, the benefits of human challenge need to be weighed carefully against the intention to cause disease. This narrows the range of infections that can be tested to those where the disease is relatively mild or predictable and self-limiting, or diseases that can be easily and reliably treated by existing drugs or supportive care. Examples of human infection studies that are on-going in the United Kingdom include influenza, RSV, rhinovirus, typhoid, malaria, bacterial pneumonia and whooping cough. Although there are problems to be overcome, vaccine development for emerging viruses such as Zika, dengue and MERS would be greatly accelerated if human challenge could be performed.
The field of vaccines is entering a very exciting stage in that many immunological concepts that have emerged from studies in animals are now ready for testing in man. At present the groups around the UK, in London, Oxford, Liverpool, York, Nottingham and Southampton, face the ethical and regulatory challenges to mounting such studies without a structure to provide mutual support. We have a great deal to learn from one another regarding not only experimental techniques but also how to overcome the large but necessary burden of regulation and safe working practices. There are groups working on similar infections but not sharing reagents, tested pathogens or other resources between them. Our proposed network will bring together all of this expertise, build on the support that we have from the public in replacing animal experimentation with informative and well controlled human studies, bringing a unified voice from the human infection volunteer network and regulatory/ethical networks to reinforce the UK's position as the most permissive and supportive environment for vaccine development.
We will do this by uniting our efforts: holding regular meetings by phone, face to face and providing one another with practical support. We will form consortia within the Network to apply for funding to provide core materials and resources. In addition to accelerating vaccine development, HIC-Vac will collaborate to address fundamental scientific questions about human infection that can only be obtained from challenge studies both within the UK and internationally. All of this work is relevant to diseases that afflict LMIC; if funded, our proposed network will therefore contribute very substantially to improving global health.
Technical Summary
Vaccines are amongst the most practical and cost-effective ways of mitigating the impact of infectious disease, especially in LMIC/resource-poor settings. Although they already prevent an enormous number of serious and lethal infections, new or improved vaccines are needed. Animal studies can be misleading and human field trials are both expensive and prone to failure. Human infection challenge (HIC) is an excellent way to expedite vaccine development, enabling vaccines to be tested at reduced cost while providing abundant information about disease pathogenesis and mechanisms of protection. Going back to the time of Edward Jenner, the UK has had a strong tradition of HIC and continues to have a relatively supportive legal, regulatory, ethical and reputational environment. Our network will draw upon the extensive HIC experience of the UK's many research groups using pathogens such as RSV, influenza, rhinovirus, typhoid/paratyphoid, malaria, Neisseria, pertussis, pneumococcus, BCG, leishmania and hookworm. It will draw together our collective experience and share best practice, supporting the development of new research initiatives in testing vaccine safety and efficacy. The network will bring in new investigators and will provide resources to promote the ethical, legally compliant and safe use of HIC. By distributing pump-priming funds, we will catalyse areas of study that extend the use of HIC, enabling substantial grant applications to be made. Most importantly, it will allow comparison of vaccine effects in UK volunteers with those in LMIC such as Malawi, India, Vietnam and Kenya. The network will work with commercial partners to promote the development and use of HIC in vaccine development, communicating the advantages of HIC to regulators, policy-makers and the public. Our network will thereby keep the UK at the forefront of global vaccine research.
Planned Impact
In order to develop the best next generation vaccines, we need to understand more about how pathogens are controlled by the human immune response and human challenge is a key component of this understanding. Broadening interactions between individuals performing challenge studies affects multiple beneficiaries.
Who will benefit from this research?
1. Academic communities studying vaccinology and the pathogenesis of disease, and designing countermeasures, will benefit from this work.
2. Private sector vaccine developers. Vaccines, in order to be developed and produced commercially, have to be supported by private sector companies, both SME and larger pharmaceutical companies. Improved understanding about how the human immune response controls infections is critical for these organisations to develop effective vaccines.
3. Policy-makers. Through the effective use of human vaccine and challenge studies, it may be possible to assess the efficacy of vaccines, without recourse to phase III studies. This is of particular benefit when the infectious agent has a low strike rate in communities or when it is a pandemic agent that only occurs sporadically.
4. LMIC. The network will synergise the expertise and disease knowledge of LMIC partners with the experience of the network HIC studies to develop platforms to ensure vaccine success in LMIC settings.
5. Volunteers. Due to the nature of the studies, the public are a key constituency, altruistically taking part in the studies for no immediate benefits to themselves. Unified ethical and regulatory frameworks will ensure their continued safety.
How will they benefit from this research?
The Catalyst co-ordinator will have responsibility for external activities across the Network. They would assist the HIC-Vac PIs with industrial liaison and (together with the Network Manager), co-ordinate a series of "Ask the Experts" documents on logistics, ethics, regulatory, safety and legal aspects of conducting human challenge studies, culminating in a series of SOPs and Best Practice articles for external use.
1. Academic Community. By bringing together multiple partners with expertise with individual pathogens, synergies and overlaps will be highlighted.
2. Private sector. Developing solutions to complex problems requires a multidisciplinary approach, through links with industry, both large Pharma (e.g. GSK, Janssen, Medimmune-AZ) and SME (Mucosis, Humabs Biomed), the HIC-Vac network will accelerate work from the laboratory into actual products.
3. Policy makers. The drawing together of human challenge experts into this network will create an advocacy body to support the use of challenge to license vaccines.
4. LMIC. Cross fertilisation between scientists in LMIC and the UK will be supported benefit UK scientists by sharing disease expertise and LMIC scientists in cutting edge techniques in HIC.
5. Volunteers. The research will contribute to increase public awareness of scientific and clinical research. It will contribute to interactions between researchers and the public with an aim to increase public participation in clinical research.
Timescales for the benefits to be realised
The training, networking and advocacy benefits will be immediately realised from the initiation of the project. The impact on the private sector will take a bit longer as the information feeds into their clinical assessment strategies.
What research and professional skills will staff working on the project develop which they could apply in all employment sectors?
The lead applicants have many years of successful internationally renowned experience in the field of vaccines and challenge studies. This project will add to the continuation of their expertise as well as maintaining their training and development. The HIC-Vac network will provide an important experience for the wider community of academic staff associated with it, including students, postdoctoral scientists, and clinicical fellows.
Who will benefit from this research?
1. Academic communities studying vaccinology and the pathogenesis of disease, and designing countermeasures, will benefit from this work.
2. Private sector vaccine developers. Vaccines, in order to be developed and produced commercially, have to be supported by private sector companies, both SME and larger pharmaceutical companies. Improved understanding about how the human immune response controls infections is critical for these organisations to develop effective vaccines.
3. Policy-makers. Through the effective use of human vaccine and challenge studies, it may be possible to assess the efficacy of vaccines, without recourse to phase III studies. This is of particular benefit when the infectious agent has a low strike rate in communities or when it is a pandemic agent that only occurs sporadically.
4. LMIC. The network will synergise the expertise and disease knowledge of LMIC partners with the experience of the network HIC studies to develop platforms to ensure vaccine success in LMIC settings.
5. Volunteers. Due to the nature of the studies, the public are a key constituency, altruistically taking part in the studies for no immediate benefits to themselves. Unified ethical and regulatory frameworks will ensure their continued safety.
How will they benefit from this research?
The Catalyst co-ordinator will have responsibility for external activities across the Network. They would assist the HIC-Vac PIs with industrial liaison and (together with the Network Manager), co-ordinate a series of "Ask the Experts" documents on logistics, ethics, regulatory, safety and legal aspects of conducting human challenge studies, culminating in a series of SOPs and Best Practice articles for external use.
1. Academic Community. By bringing together multiple partners with expertise with individual pathogens, synergies and overlaps will be highlighted.
2. Private sector. Developing solutions to complex problems requires a multidisciplinary approach, through links with industry, both large Pharma (e.g. GSK, Janssen, Medimmune-AZ) and SME (Mucosis, Humabs Biomed), the HIC-Vac network will accelerate work from the laboratory into actual products.
3. Policy makers. The drawing together of human challenge experts into this network will create an advocacy body to support the use of challenge to license vaccines.
4. LMIC. Cross fertilisation between scientists in LMIC and the UK will be supported benefit UK scientists by sharing disease expertise and LMIC scientists in cutting edge techniques in HIC.
5. Volunteers. The research will contribute to increase public awareness of scientific and clinical research. It will contribute to interactions between researchers and the public with an aim to increase public participation in clinical research.
Timescales for the benefits to be realised
The training, networking and advocacy benefits will be immediately realised from the initiation of the project. The impact on the private sector will take a bit longer as the information feeds into their clinical assessment strategies.
What research and professional skills will staff working on the project develop which they could apply in all employment sectors?
The lead applicants have many years of successful internationally renowned experience in the field of vaccines and challenge studies. This project will add to the continuation of their expertise as well as maintaining their training and development. The HIC-Vac network will provide an important experience for the wider community of academic staff associated with it, including students, postdoctoral scientists, and clinicical fellows.
Organisations
- Imperial College London (Lead Research Organisation)
- Translational Health Science And Technology Institute (Collaboration)
- ST GEORGE'S UNIVERSITY OF LONDON (Collaboration)
- Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (Collaboration)
- Kenyan Institute for Medical Research (KEMRI) (Collaboration)
- Leiden University Medical Center (Collaboration)
- Janssen Pharmaceutica NV (Collaboration)
- University of Sheffield (Collaboration)
- Eijkman Institute (Collaboration)
- University of Bath (Collaboration)
- Ifakara Health Institute (Collaboration)
- Sanofi (Collaboration)
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (Collaboration)
- GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) (Collaboration)
- Medical Research Council (MRC) (Collaboration)
- Kathmandu University (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON (Collaboration)
- University of Bristol (Collaboration)
- Central University of Rajasthan (Collaboration)
- Makerere University (Collaboration)
- NORTH BRISTOL NHS TRUST (Collaboration)
- University College London (Collaboration)
- University of Manchester (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER (Collaboration)
- PUBLIC HEALTH ENGLAND (Collaboration)
- Wellcome Trust (Collaboration)
- IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD (Collaboration)
- Tribhuvan University of Nepal (Collaboration)
- Mahidol University (Collaboration)
- HUMABs Biomed, Bellinzona,Switzerland (Collaboration)
- SGS Life Sciences Ltd (Collaboration)
- Uganda Virus Research Institute (Collaboration)
- HVIVO PLC (Collaboration)
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) (Collaboration)
- Antigen Discovery Inc (Collaboration)
- Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF KENT (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH (Collaboration)
- Christian Medical College, Vellore (Collaboration)
- Patan Hospital (Collaboration)
Publications
Alabi A
(2021)
Establishing a controlled hookworm human infection (CHHI) model for Africa: A report from the stakeholders meeting held in Lambaréné, Gabon, November 10-11, 2019.
in Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique
Ascough S
(2022)
Divergent age-related humoral correlates of protection against respiratory syncytial virus infection in older and young adults: a pilot, controlled, human infection challenge model.
in The lancet. Healthy longevity
Ascough S
(2019)
Local and Systemic Immunity against Respiratory Syncytial Virus Induced by a Novel Intranasal Vaccine. A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-controlled Clinical Trial.
in American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine
Baay M
(2021)
Virology, epidemiology, immunology and vaccine development of SARS-CoV-2, update after nine months of pandemic.
in Biologicals : journal of the International Association of Biological Standardization
Balasingam S
(2022)
Human infection studies: Key considerations for challenge agent development and production.
in Wellcome open research
Barker C
(2022)
Public attitudes to a human challenge study with SARS-CoV-2: a mixed-methods study.
in Wellcome open research
Bekeredjian-Ding I
(2021)
Controlled Human Infection Studies: Proposals for guidance on how to design, develop and produce a challenge strain.
in Biologicals : journal of the International Association of Biological Standardization
Besteman SB
(2019)
Fail-Fast in Respiratory Syncytial Virus Vaccine Development.
in American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine
Cable J
(2023)
Respiratory viruses: New frontiers-a Keystone Symposia report.
in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
Chelysheva I
(2021)
RNA2HLA: HLA-based quality control of RNA-seq datasets.
in Briefings in bioinformatics
Chilengi R
(2020)
A pilot study on use of live attenuated rotavirus vaccine (Rotarix™) as an infection challenge model.
in Vaccine
Costa-Martins A
(2021)
Prior upregulation of interferon pathways in the nasopharynx impacts viral shedding following live attenuated influenza vaccine challenge in children
in Cell Reports Medicine
Cuthbertson L
(2022)
Resilience of the respiratory microbiome in controlled adult RSV challenge study.
in The European respiratory journal
De Graaf H
(2020)
Controlled Human Infection With Bordetella pertussis Induces Asymptomatic, Immunizing Colonization.
in Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America
Grimwade O
(2020)
Payment in challenge studies: ethics, attitudes and a new payment for risk model.
in Journal of medical ethics
Guvenel A
(2020)
Epitope-specific airway-resident CD4+ T cell dynamics during experimental human RSV infection.
in The Journal of clinical investigation
Habibi MS
(2020)
Neutrophilic inflammation in the respiratory mucosa predisposes to RSV infection.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
Humphreys D
(2020)
Senescence and Host-Pathogen Interactions.
in Cells
Hurst EA
(2021)
Vitamin D insufficiency in COVID-19 and influenza A, and critical illness survivors: a cross-sectional study.
in BMJ open
Jochems SP
(2019)
Innate and adaptive nasal mucosal immune responses following experimental human pneumococcal colonization.
in The Journal of clinical investigation
Knight SR
(2020)
Risk stratification of patients admitted to hospital with covid-19 using the ISARIC WHO Clinical Characterisation Protocol: development and validation of the 4C Mortality Score.
in BMJ (Clinical research ed.)
Koopman JP
(2019)
Risk assessment for the implementation of controlled human Schistosoma mansoni infection trials in Uganda.
in AAS open research
Kunda-Ng'andu E
(2021)
Engagement of ethics and regulatory authorities on human infection studies: Proceedings of an engagement workshop in Zambia
in Wellcome Open Research
Kunda-Ngándu EM
(2021)
Exploring willingness to participate in future Human Infection Studies in Lusaka, Zambia: A nested qualitative exploratory study.
in PloS one
Langwig KE
(2019)
Limited available evidence supports theoretical predictions of reduced vaccine efficacy at higher exposure dose.
in Scientific reports
Lin GL
(2020)
Simultaneous Viral Whole-Genome Sequencing and Differential Expression Profiling in Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection of Infants.
in The Journal of infectious diseases
Lindsey B
(2019)
Effect of a Russian-backbone live-attenuated influenza vaccine with an updated pandemic H1N1 strain on shedding and immunogenicity among children in The Gambia: an open-label, observational, phase 4 study
in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine
Mazur NI
(2018)
The respiratory syncytial virus vaccine landscape: lessons from the graveyard and promising candidates.
in The Lancet. Infectious diseases
Mewamba EM
(2021)
The Genetics of Human Schistosomiasis Infection Intensity and Liver Disease: A Review.
in Frontiers in immunology
Openshaw PJM
(2022)
Using correlates to accelerate vaccinology.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
Osowicki J
(2021)
A controlled human infection model of Streptococcus pyogenes pharyngitis (CHIVAS-M75): an observational, dose-finding study.
in The Lancet. Microbe
Osowicki J
(2019)
A Controlled Human Infection Model of Group A Streptococcus Pharyngitis: Which Strain and Why?
in mSphere
Park M
(2020)
COVID-19: Lessons from SARS and MERS
in European Journal of Immunology
Petrarca L
(2018)
Vaccination policies in Europe: Common goals, diverse approaches and public doubts
in European Journal of Immunology
Pollard AJ
(2020)
Third human challenge trial conference, Oxford, United Kingdom, February 6-7, 2020, a meeting report.
in Biologicals : journal of the International Association of Biological Standardization
Progatzky F
(2019)
Induction of innate cytokine responses by respiratory mucosal challenge with R848 in zebrafish, mice, and humans.
in The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology
Rapeport G
(2021)
SARS-CoV-2 Human Challenge Studies - Establishing the Model during an Evolving Pandemic.
in The New England journal of medicine
Sekhar A
(2020)
Human challenge trials in vaccine development.
in Seminars in immunology
Siegers JY
(2020)
A High-Fat Diet Increases Influenza A Virus-Associated Cardiovascular Damage.
in The Journal of infectious diseases
Smith E
(2019)
Human infection challenge vaccine (HIC-vac) network
in Impact
Tripp RA
(2018)
Respiratory Syncytial Virus: Targeting the G Protein Provides a New Approach for an Old Problem.
in Journal of virology
Williams E
(2022)
Ethics review of COVID-19 human challenge studies: A joint HRA/WHO workshop.
in Vaccine
Wiseman DJ
(2020)
Immunological and Inflammatory Biomarkers of Susceptibility and Severity in Adult Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections.
in The Journal of infectious diseases
Yates T
(2021)
Obesity, Ethnicity, and Risk of Critical Care, Mechanical Ventilation, and Mortality in Patients Admitted to Hospital with COVID-19: Analysis of the ISARIC CCP-UK Cohort.
in Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.)
| Description | One of the primary goals of the Network was convening our collective experience and expertise, and sharing best practice, thus supporting the development of new research initiatives in testing vaccine safety and efficacy. The network has brought together new investigators and is providing resources to promote the ethical, legally compliant and safe use of HIC. By distributing pump-priming funds, we have catalysed areas of study that extend the use of HIC, enabling substantial grant applications to be developed. Most importantly, it has enabled comparison of vaccine effects in UK volunteers with those in LMIC such as Malawi, India, Vietnam and Kenya. The network has worked with commercial partners to promote the development and use of HIC in vaccine development, communicating the advantages of HIC to regulators, policy-makers and the public. Our network has therefore helped to keep the UK at the forefront of global vaccine research. |
| Exploitation Route | One of the principle aims of this network was to strengthen interactions in the human challenge community, with a focus on creating a diverse and global group. This has been achieved through Network membership, meetings (which enabled new collaborations), and cross-Network activities. The five GCRF Vaccine Networks jointly supported a veterinary and human vaccinology workshop in association with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (UN FAO), through the European Commission for the Control of Foot and Mouth Disease (EuFMD). The workshop was aimed at post-graduate students and early career researchers resident in ASEAN countries and in the UK and covered aspects of human and animal vaccinology, the vaccine development process, biomanufacturing, regulatory and ethical issues. A key goal of strengthening the challenge community was to foster new collaborations, underpinned by our pump-priming awards (which required more than one institution in the application to be eligible). A total of 30 new collaborations were reported across all grants. Four new collaborations with LMIC partners were reported across all grants (collaborations with Zambia, India, Uganda and Malawi - one of these collaborations supported a new program grant award). Four grant holders reported that their pump priming grant or HIC-Vac had enabled them or others working on the grant to attend extend training courses. Pump-priming awards also supported the career progression of early career researchers, with new collaborators, opportunity to lead independent research, boosted visibility/reputation, and publications cited as positive outcomes of the awards. The laboratory visits/exchanges facilitated knowledge transfer, establishment of technologies and assays in new sites (notably the transfer of the ability to collect and analyse samples in sites where disease in endemic, eg Kenya, Malawi and Tanzania), and the publication of data after learning a new technique. |
| Sectors | Education,Healthcare,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
| URL | https://www.hic-vac.org/public-information |
| Description | The consortium is ongoing and has generated many new findings, collaborative opportunities and grant applications. Pump-priming funding has supported successful programme awards in the filed of human challenge. The HIC-Vac Network has been fundamental in bringing together expertise to develop plans for the first human challenge with SARS-CoV-2. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2018 |
| Sector | Healthcare |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal,Policy & public services |
| Description | CONSIDERATIONS ON THE PRINCIPLES OF DEVELOPMENT AND MANUFACTURING QUALITIES OF CHALLENGE AGENTS FOR USE IN HUMAN INFECTION MODELS |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or Improved professional practice |
| Description | Developing ethical frameworks for human challenge studies |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
| Description | Foundations for regulatory guidelines for challenge agent manufacture |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Description | President of the British Society for Immunology |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
| Impact | I am President of the British Society for Immunology (BSI), a leading UK membership organisation, working with scientists and clinicians from academia and industry to promote immunological research and application around the world. Our friendly, accessible community consists of over 3,500 immunologists, giving us a powerful voice to immunological science, for health and societal benefit. Based in Holborn, London, our staff of 14 work with our Trustees and members to achieve the organisation's aims. The BSI's mission is to promote excellence in immunological research, scholarship and clinical practice in order to improve human and animal health. We do this by: • Working with our members to support current and future generations of immunologists • Sharing our passion for immunology through meetings, publications and the media • Building up an understanding of our work by engaging with the public and those working in the research and health environments • Working with partners in pursuit of our mission, building on common interests. |
| URL | https://www.immunology.org/ |
| Description | Vaccine Taskforce Human Challenge Board |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Description | 'Human Infection Challenge Network (HIC-Vac)' |
| Amount | £135,640 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 225737/Z/22/Z |
| Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2022 |
| End | 11/2023 |
| Description | A UK underpinning platform to study immunology and immunopathology of COVID-19:The UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium |
| Amount | £6,552,119 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | MR/V028448/1 |
| Organisation | Medical Research Council (MRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2020 |
| End | 08/2021 |
| Description | A first-in-human open label wild-type SARS-CoV-2 dose-finding human infection challenge study |
| Amount | £817,899 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 10/2020 |
| End | 10/2023 |
| Description | Human challenge with live-attenuated rotavirus to assess next-generation rotavirus vaccines in Africa |
| Amount | £776,687 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | MR/T030321/1 |
| Organisation | Medical Research Council (MRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2020 |
| End | 08/2023 |
| Description | ISARIC - Coronavirus Clinical Characterisation Consortium (ISARIC-4C) |
| Amount | £490,894,600 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | MC_PC_19059 |
| Organisation | Medical Research Council (MRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2020 |
| End | 09/2021 |
| Description | Senior Investigator Award |
| Amount | £60,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | National Institute for Health Research |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2020 |
| End | 03/2021 |
| Title | Due diligence |
| Description | Due diligence processes initiated and implemented in accordance to GCRF's demands. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Due diligence processes in place and tested by audit by UKRI for future network awards. |
| Title | Finance systems to support pump-priming and training awards |
| Description | Template contracts, financial statements, and training award letters developed and approved by JRO. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Mechanisms established for awarding pump-priming awards from Imperial College's systems. |
| Title | System for robust investigator decision-making for pump-priming awards established at board level, linking with university research infrastructure |
| Description | The NMB and ISAB were responsible for completing the application review process, following a process defined by the HIC-Vac management office. The Network Manager and the Comms Lead performed initial eligibility checks on applications received, which covered: • whether lead applicants and co-applicants were HIC-Vac members (if not they were asked to become members, which boosted membership numbers in this period); • whether the £100,000 limit had been breached, • funding duration no more than 12 months; • at least two different institutions per application • assessment of conflict of interest for reviewers. The Network Manager and Comms Lead allocated 3 reviewers from the NMB and ISAB to each application, avoiding both personal and institutional conflict of interest and attempting an even burden of reviews per reviewer. These allocations were reviewed by the Network Director and Deputy Director. All reviewers were sent all applications received for context, though they only had to complete reviews for their nominated applications. Scoresheets were completed with marks out of 30 for: • Scientific merit (10 marks), • track record (5 marks), • facilitating cross-network collaborations (5 marks), • strategic impact for the network (5 marks) • route to further funding (5 marks). Outliers were assessed by Ops group but concluded that with only 3 reviewers per application, adjusting for generous or harsh marking made not material difference to final rankings. A maximum of 3 strategic points per application were awarded by the Director as follows: • LMIC (1 mark) • Lead = Early Career Researcher (1 mark) • Equality and Diversity (1 mark) Each application were ranked firstly by Mean Average Score and secondly by Mean Average plus Strategic score. NMB did not wish to re-rank or review the scores. They agreed to fund the top 9 as per Average+StrategicRank. NMB and funders were happy that the review procedure used was robust. The Director summarised reviewer comments from scoresheets which was included as constructive feedback for applicants on notification emails. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Guidelines are periodically published on the HIC-Vac website and templates available by request to the Network Manager for any other research groups wishing to set up a similar awarding process |
| URL | https://www.hic-vac.org/funding/pump-priming-funding |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | Central University of Rajasthan |
| Country | India |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia |
| Country | Zambia |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | Christian Medical College, Vellore |
| Country | India |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | Eijkman Institute |
| Country | Indonesia |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | Imperial College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | Kathmandu University |
| Country | Nepal |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | Kenyan Institute for Medical Research (KEMRI) |
| Country | Kenya |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | Leiden University Medical Center |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | Medical Research Council (MRC) |
| Department | MRC Unit, The Gambia |
| Country | Gambia |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | Medical Research Council (MRC) |
| Department | MRC/UVRI and LSHTM Research Unit Uganda |
| Country | Uganda |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | North Bristol NHS Trust |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | Public Health England |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | St George's University of London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | Translational Health Science And Technology Institute |
| Country | India |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | Tribhuvan University of Nepal |
| Country | Nepal |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | Tribhuvan University of Nepal |
| Country | Nepal |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | Uganda Virus Research Institute |
| Country | Uganda |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | University of Bath |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | University of Bristol |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | University of Kent |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | University of Leicester |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | University of Manchester |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | University of Oxford |
| Department | Oxford University Clinical Research Unit Vietnam (OUCRU) |
| Country | Viet Nam |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | University of Oxford |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | University of Sheffield |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | University of Southampton |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
| Department | Mahidol University-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Programme |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Academic partnerships through funding |
| Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
| Department | Malawi-Liverpool Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme |
| Country | Malawi |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have made financial contributions to these academic/publicly funded organisations via competitive applications for pump-priming or training funding awards, and a vaccine hesitancy project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Academic and publicly funded organisations have brought research expertise to the the partnership, to allow us to achieve our goal of supporting and boosting HIC studies globally. |
| Impact | 24 pump-priming grants have been awarded and reported. 4 early career researchers/students from LMICs were funded to attend the IVVN vaccinology course. 9 training grants have been awarded with 3 having reported outcomes. 3 public engagement grants were awarded. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Industry partnerships |
| Organisation | Antigen Discovery Inc |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Partnerships with Antigen Discovery Inc and SGS Life Sciences are a direct funding relationship - both are collaborators on pump-priming grants. The other industry partners have attended HIC-Vac meetings (Kick-off meeting, innovation sandpit and first annual general meeting) contributing expertise and exploring potential new collaborations. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Industry expertise in collaboration with academic partners to achieve research outputs as defined in the pump-priming applications. Collaborators on further grants (ReSViTRAIN, GSK) |
| Impact | 2 pump priming awards, 1 further award resulting from Network activities. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Industry partnerships |
| Organisation | GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) |
| Country | Global |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Partnerships with Antigen Discovery Inc and SGS Life Sciences are a direct funding relationship - both are collaborators on pump-priming grants. The other industry partners have attended HIC-Vac meetings (Kick-off meeting, innovation sandpit and first annual general meeting) contributing expertise and exploring potential new collaborations. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Industry expertise in collaboration with academic partners to achieve research outputs as defined in the pump-priming applications. Collaborators on further grants (ReSViTRAIN, GSK) |
| Impact | 2 pump priming awards, 1 further award resulting from Network activities. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Industry partnerships |
| Organisation | HUMABs Biomed, Bellinzona,Switzerland |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Partnerships with Antigen Discovery Inc and SGS Life Sciences are a direct funding relationship - both are collaborators on pump-priming grants. The other industry partners have attended HIC-Vac meetings (Kick-off meeting, innovation sandpit and first annual general meeting) contributing expertise and exploring potential new collaborations. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Industry expertise in collaboration with academic partners to achieve research outputs as defined in the pump-priming applications. Collaborators on further grants (ReSViTRAIN, GSK) |
| Impact | 2 pump priming awards, 1 further award resulting from Network activities. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Industry partnerships |
| Organisation | Hvivo PLC |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Partnerships with Antigen Discovery Inc and SGS Life Sciences are a direct funding relationship - both are collaborators on pump-priming grants. The other industry partners have attended HIC-Vac meetings (Kick-off meeting, innovation sandpit and first annual general meeting) contributing expertise and exploring potential new collaborations. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Industry expertise in collaboration with academic partners to achieve research outputs as defined in the pump-priming applications. Collaborators on further grants (ReSViTRAIN, GSK) |
| Impact | 2 pump priming awards, 1 further award resulting from Network activities. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Industry partnerships |
| Organisation | Janssen Pharmaceutica NV |
| Country | Belgium |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Partnerships with Antigen Discovery Inc and SGS Life Sciences are a direct funding relationship - both are collaborators on pump-priming grants. The other industry partners have attended HIC-Vac meetings (Kick-off meeting, innovation sandpit and first annual general meeting) contributing expertise and exploring potential new collaborations. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Industry expertise in collaboration with academic partners to achieve research outputs as defined in the pump-priming applications. Collaborators on further grants (ReSViTRAIN, GSK) |
| Impact | 2 pump priming awards, 1 further award resulting from Network activities. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Industry partnerships |
| Organisation | SGS Life Sciences Ltd |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Partnerships with Antigen Discovery Inc and SGS Life Sciences are a direct funding relationship - both are collaborators on pump-priming grants. The other industry partners have attended HIC-Vac meetings (Kick-off meeting, innovation sandpit and first annual general meeting) contributing expertise and exploring potential new collaborations. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Industry expertise in collaboration with academic partners to achieve research outputs as defined in the pump-priming applications. Collaborators on further grants (ReSViTRAIN, GSK) |
| Impact | 2 pump priming awards, 1 further award resulting from Network activities. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Industry partnerships |
| Organisation | Sanofi |
| Department | Sanofi Research Division |
| Country | France |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Partnerships with Antigen Discovery Inc and SGS Life Sciences are a direct funding relationship - both are collaborators on pump-priming grants. The other industry partners have attended HIC-Vac meetings (Kick-off meeting, innovation sandpit and first annual general meeting) contributing expertise and exploring potential new collaborations. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Industry expertise in collaboration with academic partners to achieve research outputs as defined in the pump-priming applications. Collaborators on further grants (ReSViTRAIN, GSK) |
| Impact | 2 pump priming awards, 1 further award resulting from Network activities. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | LMIC partnerships |
| Organisation | Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia |
| Country | Zambia |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Provided funding via pump-priming or training awards. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Capacity-building, early career training, and sharing expertise via pump-priming collaborations. |
| Impact | 5 training awards 10 pump-priming awards either led by or involving an LMIC researcher. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | LMIC partnerships |
| Organisation | Christian Medical College, Vellore |
| Country | India |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Provided funding via pump-priming or training awards. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Capacity-building, early career training, and sharing expertise via pump-priming collaborations. |
| Impact | 5 training awards 10 pump-priming awards either led by or involving an LMIC researcher. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | LMIC partnerships |
| Organisation | Eijkman Institute |
| Country | Indonesia |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Provided funding via pump-priming or training awards. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Capacity-building, early career training, and sharing expertise via pump-priming collaborations. |
| Impact | 5 training awards 10 pump-priming awards either led by or involving an LMIC researcher. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | LMIC partnerships |
| Organisation | Ifakara Health Institute |
| Country | Tanzania, United Republic of |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Provided funding via pump-priming or training awards. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Capacity-building, early career training, and sharing expertise via pump-priming collaborations. |
| Impact | 5 training awards 10 pump-priming awards either led by or involving an LMIC researcher. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | LMIC partnerships |
| Organisation | Kenyan Institute for Medical Research (KEMRI) |
| Country | Kenya |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Provided funding via pump-priming or training awards. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Capacity-building, early career training, and sharing expertise via pump-priming collaborations. |
| Impact | 5 training awards 10 pump-priming awards either led by or involving an LMIC researcher. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | LMIC partnerships |
| Organisation | Mahidol University |
| Country | Thailand |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Provided funding via pump-priming or training awards. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Capacity-building, early career training, and sharing expertise via pump-priming collaborations. |
| Impact | 5 training awards 10 pump-priming awards either led by or involving an LMIC researcher. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | LMIC partnerships |
| Organisation | Makerere University |
| Country | Uganda |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Provided funding via pump-priming or training awards. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Capacity-building, early career training, and sharing expertise via pump-priming collaborations. |
| Impact | 5 training awards 10 pump-priming awards either led by or involving an LMIC researcher. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | LMIC partnerships |
| Organisation | Medical Research Council (MRC) |
| Department | MRC Unit, The Gambia |
| Country | Gambia |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Provided funding via pump-priming or training awards. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Capacity-building, early career training, and sharing expertise via pump-priming collaborations. |
| Impact | 5 training awards 10 pump-priming awards either led by or involving an LMIC researcher. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | LMIC partnerships |
| Organisation | Patan Hospital |
| Country | Nepal |
| Sector | Hospitals |
| PI Contribution | Provided funding via pump-priming or training awards. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Capacity-building, early career training, and sharing expertise via pump-priming collaborations. |
| Impact | 5 training awards 10 pump-priming awards either led by or involving an LMIC researcher. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | LMIC partnerships |
| Organisation | Translational Health Science And Technology Institute |
| Country | India |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Provided funding via pump-priming or training awards. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Capacity-building, early career training, and sharing expertise via pump-priming collaborations. |
| Impact | 5 training awards 10 pump-priming awards either led by or involving an LMIC researcher. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | LMIC partnerships |
| Organisation | Uganda Virus Research Institute |
| Country | Uganda |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Provided funding via pump-priming or training awards. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Capacity-building, early career training, and sharing expertise via pump-priming collaborations. |
| Impact | 5 training awards 10 pump-priming awards either led by or involving an LMIC researcher. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | LMIC partnerships |
| Organisation | University of Oxford |
| Department | Oxford University Clinical Research Unit Vietnam (OUCRU) |
| Country | Viet Nam |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Provided funding via pump-priming or training awards. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Capacity-building, early career training, and sharing expertise via pump-priming collaborations. |
| Impact | 5 training awards 10 pump-priming awards either led by or involving an LMIC researcher. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | LMIC partnerships |
| Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
| Department | Malawi-Liverpool Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme |
| Country | Malawi |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Provided funding via pump-priming or training awards. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Capacity-building, early career training, and sharing expertise via pump-priming collaborations. |
| Impact | 5 training awards 10 pump-priming awards either led by or involving an LMIC researcher. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | LMIC partnerships |
| Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
| Department | Malawi-Liverpool Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme |
| Country | Malawi |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Provided funding via pump-priming or training awards. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Capacity-building, early career training, and sharing expertise via pump-priming collaborations. |
| Impact | 5 training awards 10 pump-priming awards either led by or involving an LMIC researcher. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Animation and website supporting a covid human challenge study |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Website and animation used as a foundation for gauging public opinions regarding a human challenge study with SARS-CoV-2. Also supported institutional press releases eg https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/206893/uk-researchers-explore-human-challenge-studies/. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.hic-vac.org/public-information/human-challenge-studies-coronavirus-towards-effective-vac... |
| Description | Building trust in Human Infection Challenge Studies in Zambia through engagement workshops using participatory discovery and creation methods |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Aim: Building trust in Human Infection Challenge Studies in Zambia through community engagement by use of participatory discovery and creative methods among men and women of George and Matero communities Specific objectives 1. To prepare communities to understand the principles guiding HIC 2. To explore the appropriate language/terms in communicating HIC in Zambian languages for adequate information provision 3. To develop effective communication materials for HIC |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021,2022 |
| Description | Covid human challenge study public engagement program |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | HIC-Vac led a programme of public engagement and involvement during the development of a human challenge study with SARS-CoV-2 (le by Dr Chris Chiu). The program included a nationwide YouGov survey reaching over 2000 people, and 4 working groups to 1. Discuss the survey results in more depth, 2. Review the public facing material, and 3. A group specifically for people from ethnic minorities to discuss inclusion and diversity in relation to the study. Findings being prepared for publication. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | DCVMN webinar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | A webinar to a network of international vaccine manufacturing industries to discuss value of CHIM studies. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.dcvmn.org/IMG/mp4/the_role_of_human_challenge_studies_in_accelerating_vaccine_developmen... |
| Description | Feature in the FT |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | A feature in the FT discussing the ethics of human challenge studies. Article behind a paywall https://www.ft.com/content/1f8ad850-037b-11e9-99df-6183d3002ee1 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | HIC-Vac Independent Scientific Advisory Board (ISAB) |
| 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 | - Established the HIC-Vac ISAB, with formal Terms of Reference. - Membership is Fred Hayden (US, Chair), Camille LOCHT (France) and Richard Moxon (UK). - ISAB members participated in scoring process for first pump-priming awards round and will meet by teleconference on 1st April, subsequently producing a short report for MRC on scientific and management progress of the HIC-Vac Network. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.hic-vac.org/members/network-management-board/scientific-advisory-board |
| Description | HIC-Vac Twitter channel |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Creation of a Twitter feed to share information including funding calls and publications with our Network. Now 410 followers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://twitter.com/hic_vac |
| Description | HIC-Vac interactive talk at Great Exhibition Road Festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This activity was part of the Great Exhibition Road Festival - a free annual celebration of science and the arts in South Kensington, London. The Festival offers - among other things - workshops, talks, performances and installations from organisations in the South Kensington area, including Imperial College London, the Royal College of Music, Science Museum, V&A and Natural History Museum. Approximately 100 people attended the 2022 Festival. Summary of the HIC-Vac activity HIC-Vac's Great Exhibition Road Festival activity was based on the world's first human COVID-19 challenge study, set up at Imperial College during the pandemic to help research and development of new therapies. It was an interactive talk entitled 'Why we infected healthy people with COVID-19'. The activity included a re-enactment of a Research Ethics Committee (REC) review of the COVID-19 human challenge study, as well as presentations on the rationale behind the COVID-19 challenge study, what the study involved and what the findings were. The talk ended with a Q&A session, involving three of the COVID-19 challenge study participants. As well as having the opportunity to ask questions of the staff behind the challenge study and the study participants, the audience were also invited to participate by answering questions on Mentimeter throughout the talk. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | HIC-Vac member conferences and events |
| 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 | Six events have taken place to engage HIC-Vac members and encourage networking and collaborations: the Kickoff meeting (Nov 2017), the Innovation Sandpit (June 2018), the Annual General Meetings (Nov 2018 (Liverpool), 2019 (Windsor), 2021 (Chalfont), 2022 (Guidlford)). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017,2018,2019,2021,2022 |
| Description | HIC-Vac website creation and development |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Creation and development of an independent HIC-Vac website. Audience is primarily researchers, but also inclusive of a section for public information. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://www.hic-vac.org/ |
| Description | Impact journal publication |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | An article about human challenge studies in Impact pub. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | http://impact.pub/April2019-digitaledition/ |
| Description | Imperial Lates: Origami Outbreak |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | We helped developed and participated an engagement event at Imperial College - "Imperial Lates". The activity was based around flu and flu vaccination. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Imperial Science Festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | HIC-Vac ran a stall at the Imperial Science Festival to discuss human infection studies with the public and run some engagement activities. Also an activity about vaccines for children. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Interviews following announcement of human challenge partnership |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Public facing: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-54612293 https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/13574220/world-first-covid-trial-2500-brits-deliberately-catch-virus/ https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/uk-deliberately-infect-volunteers-coronavirus-22730802 Researcher facing: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02821-4 https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4101 https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(20)30518-X/fulltext |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | MRC press release to announce HIC-Vac first funding round |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | The MRC (our primary funder) wrote a press release describing our activities and our first round of funding announcement. The story was covered by the Telegraph https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2018/07/02/volunteers-infected-deadly-strain-flu-make-vaccine-better/ and Daily Mail https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5913445/Would-flu-science-10-volunteers-given-deadly-H3N2-strain-summer.html. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://mrc.ukri.org/news/browse/funding-boost-for-volunteer-infection-studies-to-help-combat-infect... |
| Description | Media and communications training workshops |
| 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 | Two workshops providing media and communication training to LMIC partners running HIC studies. One in Nairobi (June 2019) and Bangkok (January 2020). Outcome was up-skilling in communications planning and execution. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019,2020 |
| Description | Network Management Board |
| 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 | HIC-Vac established a Network Management Board (NMB) of key Human Infection Challenge senior researchers which meets on a quarterly basis to review progress against objectives in the grant application to MRC. This enables these pivotal HIC principal investigators to discuss and resolve issues on a regular basis, keep up to date with scientific progress of the field and keep HIC-Vac high on mutual lists of priorities. Board membership consists of: Peter Openshaw John Tregoning Andy Pollard Daniella Ferreira Stephen Gordon Meta Roestenberg Cherry Tang Robert Read Martin Broadstock Melissa Lennartz-Walker Shobana Balasingam Claire Puddephatt Emma Smith NMBs were held on: NMB1 - 26 Sept 17 NMB2 - 24 Nov 17 NMB3 - 14 March 18 NMB4 - 18 June 18 NMB5 - cancelled NMB6 - 12 Nov 18 Dates for future NMBs set as: NMB7 - 19 March 19 NMB8 - 18 June 19 NMB9 - 19 Sept 19 NMB10 - 18 Nov 19 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017,2018,2019 |
| URL | https://www.hic-vac.org/members/network-management-board |
| Description | Participant videos |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Creation of short videos featuring volunteers who have taken part in human infection studies for the website and social media channels. The videos have also been shared by the institutes who ran the studies. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.hic-vac.org/public-information/participants-stories |
| Description | Past, present and future of controlled human infection studies; viewed through the eyes of participants, shared through the media of video |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Human infection challenge is increasingly seen as a method for improving time to market for therapies, and rapid down/up selection of potential drug targets and / or candidate vaccines at an early stage of development. Modern day controlled human infection model (CHIM) studies have rigorous ethical and scientific review and involvement of the public in shaping the research itself. Nevertheless, it is important to assess the current understanding of such studies and what can be done to enhance attitudes and bring attention to the subject. The importance of this public involvement can be seen most recently with discussions surrounding a controlled human infection model for COVID-19, but also in recent years with models for cutaneous leishmaniasis, dengue, influenza and malaria amongst many other diseases. However, as with many scientific research projects, public awareness remains limited. Although groups such as 1daysooner.org have highlighted this growing area of clinical research, there is much work to be done on the public perception of CHIM studies. Our vision therefore aims to go back to basics, remove scientific researchers from the discussion and invite the stakeholders to comment on such studies. The aim is inclusivity and increased awareness based on the individuals who such studies may impact. Our conceptual outline for the study is therefore split into past, present and future. Past - intimate discussion with individuals who have previously taken part in CHIM studies to assess motivations and their realistic impressions; Present - the participant journey from agreeing to involvement in a CHIM through to intervention and the experience; Future - a discussion with the public, anyone can be a potential participant. High quality video editing will be used to help engage a new audience including young people, and enable sharing through commonly used social media platforms. This will help generate dialogue and start a fresh discussion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Podcast for the European Scientific Working Group "A mucosal perspective on pandemics" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | "Learn about the fascinating field of mucosal immunology, vaccine effectiveness, and the role of face-mask protection not from virus particles but "spiticles and snoticles". Dr Peter Openshaw, ESWI Board Member and Professor of Experimental Medicine, Imperial College London, expertly guides us through what led to the unprecedented speed of COVID-19 vaccine development. From his experience of two pandemics, he offers a vision of future variants and how SARS-COV-2 is continuing to evolve." |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Telegraph feature |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Feature in the Telegraph naming HIC-Vac and quotes from Co-Director Prof Pollard and member Dr Andrea Collins. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/students-paid-3500-catch-potentially-deadly-diseases-science/ |
| Description | The Global Health Network Platform |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Development of a platform to share resources, information and best practice linked to human challenge studies internationally, with a particular focus on supporting LMICs setting up new challenge studies. Site still being developed. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://humaninfectionstudies.tghn.org/ |
| Description | Typhoid animation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The bacterial pathogen Salmonella Typhi causes typhoid fever, which is a global health problem. Dr Daniel Humphreys and his team at the Department of Biomedical Science, University of Sheffield, investigate how Salmonella attacks the DNA in human cells to rewire our biology and evade detection by our immune system. With HIC-Vac funding, they have created an animation to explain their important research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.hic-vac.org/news/how-does-typhoid-hijack-human-cell-biology |
| Description | UK-VN Newsletter |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Short piece in the third issue of the UK-VN Newsletter about HIC-Vac. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |