ESEI and EEHI Science Coordination Seedcorn
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Portsmouth
Department Name: Faculty of Science
Abstract
The overall aim of both the EEHI and ESEI programmes is the establishment of truly interdisciplinary teams of researchers, conducting high quality state-of-the-art innovative research, addressing national/international research priorities that will inform and impact on policy and practice. This grant will fund coordination, communication and KE across the ESEI and EEHI grants which address the aims of the ESEI and EEHI communications and KE plan.
Organisations
| Description | Breakfast briefing |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | This breakfast briefing provided the opportunity for parliamentarians to discuss with experts associated with the Environmental Exposure and Health Initiative and relevant stakeholders, the effect of air quality policies on air pollutant exposure and health. The event was chaired by Baroness Manningham-Buller. This was a working breakfast for MPs, Peers and their staff to discuss the science and resulting policy issues relating to new knowledge on the interconnections and pathways between air pollutants and interacting stressors, exposure routes and health effects in humans. Seven researchers and policy respondents in the field of air pollution spoke to the subject before answering questions |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www.parliament.uk/documents/post/Airqualitymeetingsummary.pdf |
| Description | ESEI workshop |
| 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 | In January 2016 there was a Environmental and Social Ecology of Human Infectious Diseases (ESEI) programme level meeting for invited attendees from research organisations, policy makers and funders, which included: The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA, UK); Department of Health, Kenya; Department for Health, UK; Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services; Food Standards Agency (DEFRA); House of Lords; Ministry of Health, Malaysia; Public Health England; Research Council, UK; UK Universities; and the World Health Organisation. Projects shared information on anticipated research outputs and how these might benefit potential users of the research. They engaged with key stakeholders and policy makers to better understand their requirements. Opportunities were provided to help projects consider how to get the most from the evidence they are building in terms of knowledge exchange and the potential impact of their research on policy and practice. Participants discussed 'impact' opportunities and challenges in a rapidly changing world; how ESEI research can contribute more broadly and how to ensure sustainability for the interdisciplinary approach this programme has nurtured. It was widely recognised by the participants that the programme was visionary, progressive and cutting-edge. That the integrated and novel research that has evolved applies not just to the respective study systems, but to other zoonotic and emerging diseases. Take home messages from the workshop included: A recognition of the significant quality and contribution to knowledge that the ESEI programme is making to both infectious disease knowledge and interdisciplinary approaches to research The need (and usefulness) of a 'broker' to facilitate knowledge exchange between researchers and policy makers / practitioners The necessity of identifying and fully engaging stakeholders from the outset of the project. This can lead to significant value-added and (often) unseen co-creation benefits In order to capture the full benefit of the research and to ensure effectiveness in real-world situations we need to complete the 'policy cycle' i.e. provide dedicated resource / additional capacity to facilitate timely knowledge exchange between researchers and policy makers (both ways). The importance of sustaining these interdisciplinary partnerships through longer-term strategies, policies and funding that will create stability and further emulate interdisciplinary 'real-world' research as has been developed through ESEI Ensuring that funding and policy mechanisms are more capable of encouraging / taking risks and finding a way to report what doesn't work as expected The importance of career development and the responsibility of employers to ensure that interdisciplinary research is suitably rewarded and career paths are available for the 'T-shaped researchers' that we produce The ESEI projects are already delivering results that are contributing to new knowledge. The ESEI programme is providing timely and ground-breaking outputs which are managing to establish novel inter-disciplinary approaches to studying the ecology of infectious diseases. This new understanding will contribute to our international capability to respond more proactively to the threat from novel pathogens, particularly zoonoses and emerging infections, such as Ebola or Zika. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.environmentandhealth.net/esei2016 |
| Description | Traffic webinar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The TRAFFIC project was funded under the cross-Research Council Environmental Exposure and Health Initiative (EEHI) with funds from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Medical Research Council (MRC), the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Department of Health (DoH). Professor Frank Kelly, the Principal Investigator of TRAFFIC, led a consortium of twenty investigators from King's College London, Imperial College London, St George's, University of London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to better understand the health problems caused by air pollution and noise from traffic in London. At the start of the project we suspected that traffic pollution was having an adverse effect on the health of people living and working in London. One aim of TRAFFIC was to understand better the risks to individuals as they go about their everyday lives." This webinar took place as a result of the seedcorn funding, reaching a wide audience of individuals from organisations that would not have the time to attend a workshop. Feedback was positive and question and answers comprehensive |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.environmentandhealth.net/videos#TRAFFIC |
| Description | Value chain webinar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Title: Value chain analysis to assess the risks and resilience of food systems Description: Food systems have evolved over time from simple localized production and processing of food to meet people's needs to complex global systems of transport, processing, storage and retailing. The benefits from the complexity have been increasing levels of economic efficiency leading to the price of food reducing relative to other goods in society. Yet how stable are these systems? And what do we know about them? This webinar will explore the use of value chain analysis to improve our overall understanding of the food system and how this can be used to assess the risks these system pose and also their resilience. Jonathan Rushton is an agricultural economist who works on animal health and food systems. http://www.rvc.ac.uk/about/our-people/jonathan-rushton Pablo Alarcon is a veterinary epidemiologist with experience of data collection and analysis of livestock food systems. http://www.rvc.ac.uk/about/our-people/pablo-alarcon This webinar was a direct result from this seedcorn funding |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www.environmentandhealth.net/videos#URBANZOO |