- Home
- Aid by Location
- Far East Asia
Far East Asia Region
UK Integrated Security Fund (UKISF)
UK - UK Integrated Security Fund (UKISF)
The UK Integrated Security Fund (UKISF) replaced the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF), with a wider remit, funding projects both in the UK and internationally to tackle some of the most complex national security challenges facing the UK and its partners. The UKISF combined the CSSF with the National Cyber Programme and the Economic Deterrence Initiative (EDI). The latter tackling sanctions evasion across the UK’s trade, transport, and financial sanctions. Like the CSSF, the UKISF budget includes Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) funds and non-ODA funds.
ISPF-034, Supporting a neutron and muon user community in Indonesia and Malaysia 2025/2026
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
The initial cost of building and running large research facilities is often prohibitive to developing countries. This programme aims to build research capacity in ODA relevant research areas by allowing access to UK research infrastructures, specifically the ISIS Neutron & Muon Source, for Indonesian and Malaysian researchers. It will also develop a relationship with ASEAN funders to further spread the use of neutron and muon techniques.
Integrating and scaling seasonal climate-driven dengue forecasting
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Outbreaks of climate sensitive diseases present a major growing threat to human health, but they are predictable and maybe even preventable. The mosquito transmitted disease dengue is one of the fastest growing global infectious diseases and now causes over 400 million annual cases globally. Dengue is becoming the primary acute infectious disease threat in countries such as Vietnam and Malaysia. Between 2017 and 2019, Vietnam averaged over 200,000 cases every year and in Malaysia dengue fever has the highest incidence rate among any other communicable disease (398 cases per 100,000). Dengue outbreaks are preventable with existing interventions, but only if they are used in the right places at the right times. The ability to forecast disease outbreaks months in advance can reduce the burden on health services. This is important in resource-constrained Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs) where they can make the difference between an effective and efficient proactive response compared to a costly and often unsuccessful reactive response. We aim to demonstrate the value of disease forecasting via a local level dengue forecasting system in Vietnam and Malaysia, which will pave the way for scale up of dengue forecasting and other digital health solutions for climate sensitive diseases. We have developed the necessary disease forecasting techniques as part of the Dengue forecasting MOdel Satellite-based System (D-MOSS) project. Although this system has been operational since July 2019 in Vietnam and July 2020 in Malaysia, more work is needed to bridge the implementation gap to ensure forecasts have direct actionable and measurable impacts on preventing outbreaks at a local level. Further research is required to establish if the forecasting techniques already in operation are capable of producing accurate forecasts at the required spatial and temporal resolutions, tailored to the practices applied by specific sectors of the health system. We will test this by co-developing new forecasts that provide advance predictions in Vietnam and Malaysia. Through a series of longitudinal workshops we will develop risk assessment protocols that link forecasts to outbreak prevention activities at different sectors of the Vietnamese and Malaysian health systems. These knowledge gaps will be addressed by a multidisciplinary team of dengue experts, modellers, public health experts, software engineers and early warning systems experts from multiple institutes in Vietnam, Malaysia and the UK. Training and co-design of the research is central to all aspects of our proposal and we intend to leverage the equitable partnerships established as part of the D-MOSS project to meet our aims. Cross-cutting activities will compare and contrast the operational context in these countries and enable collaboration between them with the goal of deriving generalisable principles and specific guidelines for expansion to other countries. This research will demonstrate clear health value against dengue and other Aedes mosquito-borne diseases (e.g. chikungunya, Zika) in Vietnam and Malaysia, and a plan for how the intervention will be scaled up to other LMICs currently struggling to address the growing threat of dengue and other climate-sensitive diseases. In the longer term, this project will provide evidence on the value of forecasting to health systems for a wide range of health conditions.
Studying Hygiene Interventions to reduce Nosocomial Infections in southeast Asian Intensive Care Units (SHINIA-ICU )
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
It has recently been estimated that 1.7 million AMR-associated deaths in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) are due to health-care associated infections. A substantial proportion of these deaths could be prevented through improving infection prevention and control programmes through low-cost multimodal interventions, but achieving these reductions requires overcoming chronic under-investment in such interventions in LMICs. Such underinvestment stems from the limited evidence base regarding the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of such multimodal interventions in LMIC settings, lack of knowledge about the potential health gains achievable, and uncertainty about the best way to spend limited budgets to achieve these gains. Our proposal aims to address these evidence gaps by generating robust and generalisable evidence about multimodal hygiene interventions in hospitals in LMICs in southeast Asia and to equip regional decision-makers with the knowledge and tools needed to enable appropriate investments in hospital infection prevention and control programmes. The role of hospital environment-mediated pathogen transmission is well-recognized in healthcare-associated infections, which are often caused by micro-organisms which are resistant to multiple drugs. Contaminated surfaces harbouring these pathogens sustain the spread of drug-resistant bacterial clones and mobile genetic elements (which can spread drug-resistance between bacterial species) in outbreak and non-outbreak settings. Despite an emphasis on environmental hygiene and the availability of international guidelines, there is insufficient evidence in the current literature to identify the most effective (and cost-effective) setting-specific cleaning strategies to reduce transmission of multidrug-resistant organisms, especially in LMICs. This contributes to the low awareness and prioritisation of environmental cleaning in these resource-limited settings and potentially to underutilisation of low cost and high impact interventions. Our prior work has highlighted the fundamental role of hospital environment hygiene in breaking the vicious cycle of antimicrobial overuse and the resultant high burden of multidrug-resistant healthcare-associated infections. Firstly, the epidemiology of healthcare-associated infections in the LMIC setting has shown an overwhelming predominance of environmental organisms such as Acinetobacter spp. and Pseudomonas spp. Secondly, lack of trust in infection prevention and control policies and rapid colonization by multidrug-resistant organisms amongst newly admitted patients are important drivers of broad-spectrum antibiotic prescriptions, especially in 'high-stake' wards such as intensive care units (ICUs). Thirdly, multimodal cleaning strategies have been shown to substantially reduce multidrug-resistant infections in high income countries, most prominently demonstrated in the REACH and CLEEN trials in Australia, with the latter reducing the chance of ICU patients acquiring infections from 17% to 12%. Aims and objectives The overall aim is to determine setting-appropriate and cost-effective interventions for improving environmental cleaning in low-resource settings, with a goal of reducing multidrug-resistant hospital-acquired infections and health-economic burden. Primary objective: Evaluate the effectiveness of locally optimized multimodal cleaning bundles to reduce multidrug-resistant hospital-acquired bloodstream infections and ventilator-associated pneumonia in ICUs. Secondary objectives: Evaluate the effectiveness of the cleaning bundles to reduce patient colonization by multidrug-resistant organisms in ICUs; Identify multidrug-resistant organism reservoirs and their respective ecological niches in the ICU environment; Assess thoroughness of cleaning for high-touch points; Model the transmission dynamics of multidrug-resistant organisms taking into account human and environmental hidden reservoirs; and, Evaluate the cost-effectiveness of cleaning bundles for preventing hospital-acquired bloodstream infections and ventilator-associated pneumonia 6. Develop an qualitative and quantitative understanding of the causal pathways between the intervention and any resulting changes in drug-resistant infections
Improving the detection of emerging zoonotic pathogens in forest fringe populations: can we achieve high quality spatio-temporal sampling?
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Context: Many emerging infections (such as COVID-19, HIV), have arisen where people live in close proximity to wildlife. When a new infection crosses over from the wildlife to humans (zoonotic infections/pathogens), it usually takes time to establish, circulating in remote populations before entering urban environments. Fevers are a starting point for recognising an emerging infection. The development of new pathogen variants, which may make people sicker, often bring it to the attention of health care workers. Indigenous communities living in and around forest-fringes, such as those found in Indonesia, Malaysia, and many parts of Southeast Asia, are particularly vulnerable to emerging infections: these populations live near wildlife and their daily activities (such as farming/hunting) bring them into close contact with them. Insect-vectors also facilitate the spread of vector-borne diseases. These populations often have limited access to healthcare and can delay seeking care when unwell. Even when they seek care, diagnostic tests are limited. Further, fevers are commonly reported, but the causes of fevers are often not identified. Challenge: The recent COVID-19 pandemic is a stark reminder of the human and economic consequences of newly emerging infections. To prevent future epidemics/pandemics and their devastating consequences, we must engage with communities most-at-risk of emerging infections and develop context-specific, acceptable, feasible ways to rapidly identify emerging infections with epidemic/pandemic potential as they arise. This would facilitate early, rapid clinical and public health action at source. But how to do this is unclear. Given the high-risk of zoonotic infections, burden of reported fevers, and limited access to healthcare, innovative ways to diagnose fevers as they arise in high-risk indigenous forest-fringe communities are warranted. A community-led model of sample collection and testing to detect the like cause, may be appropriate. Combining this with newer genetic (DNA/RNA) techniques such as sequencing for detecting pathogens, may help us identify known and unknown pathogens. But we do not know if a community-led approach is feasible, acceptable, and achieves high coverage among indigenous forest-fringe populations and would give enough genetic material from samples for testing. Vector-borne diseases (e.g. malaria, dengue), transmitted by mosquitoes, are also common in these settings. Therefore, trapping and testing vectors for pathogens, may complement testing in humans. But how best to trap vectors in and around forest areas is not known. Aims and objectives: Therefore, we propose to co-develop a decentralised community-led community-sampling intervention package for fevers in two indigenous forest-fringe communities in Indonesia and Malaysia. Rapid diagnostic tests will be used for diagnosis with linkage-to-care for managing people with fevers. Acceptable sample-types will be collected, processed, and stored for sequencing. Using implementation research, we will determine if this approach is feasible, acceptable, and achieves high-coverage. We will also determine if this provides high-quantities of high-quality DNA/RNA required for sequencing, compared to collecting samples at healthcare facilities by trained research staff. Finally, we will evaluate different mosquito traps to identify the optimum trap for use in these communities. Benefits: Through this work, we aim to identify the ways to deliver services to detect emerging infections to indigenous forest-fringe communities across similar geographies. Our work, combined with the rapidly developing accessible sequencing technologies (and analysis methods), could inform on how to detect pathogens in a meaningful, sustainable way in high-risk, hard-to-reach populations.
Identifying drivers for the emergence and transmission of key human pathogens and AMR in Vietnam and the Philippines (AMR-VP)
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Southeast Asia (SEA) remains particularly vulnerable to new and emerging disease threats due to poor infection control, unregulated antibiotic use, inadequate water sanitation, high population density and rapid urbanization. Sequencing technologies have transformed our understanding of infectious diseases and pathogen evolution, including the transmission of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of frontier science efforts to analyse microbe diversity and its potential impacts on human health including the value of genomics-based approaches in tracking and tracing not only the presence of the virus but also its movement, enabling identification of where (and often how) new strains emerged. This enables resources to be targeted to ‘hotspots’ of emergence and ‘nodes’ of spread. It is of paramount importance that the knowledge and experience built during the pandemic are now consolidated and built on for other microbes with epidemic potential across One Health (OH) dimensions, i.e. in the food chain – in particular, multi-drug resistant bacteria, such as Acinetobacter baumannii, Klebsiella pneumonia, Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp. and Helicobacter pylori that have been prioritised in Vietnam and Philippines due to their ability to rapidly spread within environmental and human-animal interface or develop resistance to multiple antibiotics. Translating OH research priorities into action for human health is essential for the creation of evidence-based policies and programs for the prevention and control of infectious diseases and other health threats, and thus is an important component of a robust national capacity to effectively prevent, control, and mitigate biological incidents. Following, one of the most pivotal technical domains within an OH framework is understanding the emergence and evolution of key pathogens and AMR and one of the most pivotal research priorities that need to be translated into action for human health is limitations on inference regarding directionality of transmission or risk pathways deduced from conventional data. AMR-VP project brings together SEA and UK researchers working on interdisciplinary AMR challenges to study the epidemic potential of key human gastrointestinal pathogens and the molecular mechanisms underlying AMR in urban environmental, animal, food and human interface across major metropolitan areas in SEA, focusing on Manila (Philippines) and Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam). Our project will adopt a systems approach to trace the origins and drivers of AMR bacteria overlapping with health practices, genetics, applied sciences, and social contexts. As the project progresses, pathogen and AMR dynamics will be analysed, comparing data across different contexts such as food systems and human activities to achieve its overarching objectives to: [1] provide training and capacity build for SEA researchers in next-generation sequencing (NGS) and bioinformatics, addressing identified weaknesses whilst simultaneously demonstrating the value of an OH systems approach, crucial for identifying epidemic strains circulating between humans, animals, and the environment in SEA; [2] explore the emergence, evolution and transmission of AMR and key resistant pathogens (A. baumannii, K. pneumonia, E. coli, Salmonella spp. and H. pylori) in and between human, animal and the environmental microbiomes within OH context; [3] perform big data analysis and systems modelling to identify transmission routes of these pathogens; and [4] develop artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, based on machine learning, to expedite the genomic and epidemiological metadata in predicting epidemics, outbreaks and AMR. This will counteract the emergence, transmission and spread of bacterial pathogens and AMR, enhance genomic surveillance, improve targeted interventions, and boost public health resilience.
Multi-target DNA binding: A novel approach to combat foodborne and AMR bacteria
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Salmonella spp., a Gram-negative bacterium, is a leading cause of global foodborne bacterial infection. Symptoms include fever, diarrhoea, vomiting and abdominal cramps, however the infection has become life-threatening to people with weakened immune systems. The majority of worldwide non-typhoidal foodborne Salmonellosis is caused by S. enteritidis and S. typhimurium. In Southeast Asia, Thailand and Malaysia in particular, Salmonella infections have remained a crucial health burden due to rapid antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the region. Tackling these problematic infections is aligned with the WHO’s Global Action Plan on the AMR. Strathclyde Minor Groove Binders (S-MGBs) are an anti-infective platform that has successfully delivered molecules that are potent against a wide range of pathogenic organisms, including bacteria, fungi, parasites and viruses. The molecule class has been externally verified as ‘novel’ according to WHO criteria, which is an important aspect of dealing with AMR. However, until now S-MGBs have demonstrated limited activity against Gram-negative bacteria. Recently, researchers from the University of Strathclyde have identified several promising, and novel, S-MGB molecule types with improved activity against Gram-negative pathogens, including Salmonella spp. In this project, we aim to enhance the capability of newly developed S-MGB molecules against Salmonella spp. and to increase awareness of global AMR though STEM education. Specific objectives to achieve these goals include : 1) to design and make improved S-MGB molecules, and test their effectiveness against Gram-negative pathogens, principally Salmonella spp., and their cytotoxicity against mammalian cells. 2) to gain insight into how these new S-MGB molecules kill bacterial pathogens by looking for differences in the gene expression of Salmonella spp. after exposure to S-MGB molecules, and by monitoring their uptake into bacteria using microscopy. 3) to deliver a sustained programme of STEM outreach to school students in Scotland, Malaysia and Thailand.
Tackling antimicrobial resistance in Aspergillus fumigatus in South East Asia
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Pulmonary aspergillosis is a severe lung infection due to a green mould called Aspergillus fumigatus. We all inhale between 100 and 1000 Aspergillus spores daily, which can cause infections with mortality of around 40%, mostly in people with chronic lung diseases or weakened immune systems. There are estimated to be 4 million cases of pulmonary aspergillosis globally per annum, but very little is known about rates in South-East Asia. Antifungal resistance to the main class of drugs used to treat these infections, the triazoles, is rising. Environmental resistance rates of up to 90% have been detected in Vietnam, and 30% in Thailand. Resistance has been shown to double mortality. Work in Europe has shown that the increase in resistance is due to dual-use effects of triazole fungicides used in agriculture, as fungi are major crop pathogens. Resistant strains of Aspergillus fumigatus are emerging in the environment and causing infections in patients. As a consequence, the pharmaceutical industry is developing novel antifungal classes, however equivalent fungicides with the same mechanism of action are now being developed, and cross-resistance has been shown to occur experimentally. Fungicide usage is rapidly escalating in South-East Asia, but whilst composting has been identified as a major amplifier of azole-resistant Aspergillus fumigatus (ARAf) in Europe, composting is not routinely performed in South East Asia. However the higher temperatures in this region mean that amplification may occur independently of compost. Therefore understanding the agricultural drivers and hotspots for amplification of Aspergillus resistance and the impact on human health in South East Asia is urgently required. This will allow us to develop rational interventions to mitigate the risk of high mortality pulmonary aspergillosis infections whilst ensuring that food security is not compromised. Aims 1: Develop novel point-of-care technologies to enable field testing for fungicide concentrations and levels of ARAf in South East Asia We will use low-cost “Delta Traps to sample air and “eco sensors” to capture water samples from soil. Fungicides will be detected using innovative point-of-care tests and ARAf identified using portable DNA tests. Techniques will be validated using Mass Spectrometry and Metabarcoding. 2: Field studies in Thailand, Vietnam and Laos to determine the extent of antifungal usage in the environment and the relationship to ARAf. Capacity building in local laboratories at specific hub sites in Bangkok, Hanoi and Vientiane to enable field testing and accurate diagnosis of pulmonary aspergillosis. We will then undertake field studies across one health aimed at understanding the extent of rural and urban anfungal use in the environment, the relationship to ARAf in the environment, the burden of pulmonary aspergillosis and the degree of resistant infections 3: Develop an appropriate interventional strategies to try to mitigate the risk of ARAf. We will assess local practices for fungicide use, undertake further experimental work to better understand the safe levels of fungicide usage in the environment. The evidence we generate will enable us to engage the agricultural industry, end-users, and policy makers to develop just interventions to mitigate the risk of ARAf. Together, these studies will deliver training and capacity building for South East Asian partners to be able to track Aspergillus resistance, identify its underlying causes, and be able to determine the impact of resistant Aspergillus infections on human health. A international framework will be developed to tackle the underlying causes.
Weather and Climate Science for Service Partnership S E Asia (WCSSP) - Calls - tender - SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL (STFC)
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Strengthened partnership between meteorological services in UK, Philippines, Malaysia Vietnam, and Indonesia. This is for 100TBAs storage on the JASMIN system to support scientists storing and sharing their outputs in order to carry out research for the weather and climate science to service partnership (WCSSP).
Weather and Climate Science for Service Partnership S E Asia (WCSSP) - Calls - tender - UNIVERSITY OF READING
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Understanding and Prediction of Compound Ocean-Atmosphere Storms in the Tropics (SEA-COAST) The South-East Asia region (SEA) is prone to extreme precipitation and winds from weather systems operating at different scales, e.g. squall lines, tropical cyclones or cold surges. Ocean processes like ocean tides, sea-waves and ocean surge driven by these weather systems can aggravate their impacts, the so-called compound events. For example, increasing the risk of flooding in extreme precipitation events, or the risk of damaging infrastructure in extreme wind cases. The provision of effective weather warnings for coastal hazards over the SEA region requires sophisticated modelling tools, with enough detail to represent the multiscale behaviour of local hazards, the interactions between different components of the environment and the region’s complex coastlines and orography. Forecasting tools to support decision-making include an atmosphere model at convective scale resolutions to capture the convection processes and its feedback to larger scales, a full 3-D or a 2-D barotropic ocean model to capture tides and storm surge, and a wave model to capture the total sea level. These models run as an ensemble with schemes representing the uncertainty of the initial condition and modelled processes to capture the uncertainty of the events. Relevant areas of improvement include the prediction of the impacts and uncertainty of costal hazards linked to (a) tropical cyclone landfall for cases where rapid intensification occurred, (b) smaller-scale convective processes with an associated storm surge and enhanced seawaves. This work is focused on developing scientific understanding on the predictability of coastal hazards over SEA and the development of prototypes for forecasting coastal hazards and collaboration with in-country partners.
Determining the Role of Mass Drug Administration in the Emergence of Anthelminthic Resistance of Soil-Transmitted Helminths in Southeast Asia
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Our aim is to discover how the mass administration of anthelminthic drugs to children in Southeast Asia is causing reductions in anthelminthic efficacy against soil-transmitted helminths (STHs), altering the population genetic structure of STHs, and selecting STH genomes for anthelminthic resistance. This work will leverage a “natural experiment” that is happening in Southeast Asia, comparing STHs where there is mass drug administration (Indonesia and the Philippines) with STHs where there is not (Malaysia). STHs are one of the World Health Organization’s-defined 20 Neglected Tropical Diseases, infect 1.5 billion people globally, and cause more Years Lost Due to Disability than malaria, TB or HIV/AIDS. Because of the harm caused by STHs, many countries have national programmes of Mass Drug Administration (MDA) where children in high-risk populations are treated at least annually with anthelminthic drugs. These MDA programmes bring health and wider benefits to infected children and to their families. The continued success of anti-STH MDAs depends on the sustained efficacy of anthelminthics, However, there is already evidence of reduced anthelminthic efficacy against STHs. The long-term and widespread use of anthelminthics is predicted to lead to STHs developing anthelminthic resistance. There is extensive evidence of widespread, anthelminthic resistance in nematodes infecting livestock to the same drug classes used to treat STHs, a portent of the future for human STHs. MDA programmes are at a major risk of failure if there are widespread reductions in anthelminthic efficacy. The nature and extent of anthelminthic efficacy in STHs in Southeast Asia is unknown and a major evidence gap that our work will fill, generating information which is directly relevant to stakeholders, policymakers and users. Our central hypothesis is that the use of anthelminthics in MDA programmes is selecting STHs and driving the evolution of anthelminthic resistance. From this we predict that: (1) Repeated use of anthelminthics will lead to lower anthelminthic efficacy. We will test this by measuring anthelminthic drug efficacy in areas with (Indonesia and the Philippines) and without (Malaysia) MDA programmes, our Work Package 1. (2) Repeated anthelminthic use will change the STH population structure, by repeatedly bottlenecking their populations. We will investigate this by whole genome analysis of STH genetic diversity in MDA and non-MDA regions, our Work Package 2. (3) STH genomes are being selected by the repeated use of anthelminthics. We will investigate this by doing genome scans for sites of selection, our Work Package 3. The outputs and benefits of this work are: (a) ascertaining anthelminthic efficacy against STHs, which will feed into policy and practice in Southeast Asia; (b) determining the genetic effect of anthelminthic selection on STHs; (c) building a sustainable Southeast Asia–UK research network; (d) capacity strengthening a generation of researchers in state-of-the-art bioinformatics analyses of genomic data applied to improving human health and wellbeing.
Weather and Climate Science for Service Partnership S E Asia (WCSSP) - Calls - tender - UNIVERSITY OF READING
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Understanding and Prediction of Compound Ocean-Atmosphere Storms in the Tropics (SEA-COAST) The South-East Asia region (SEA) is prone to extreme precipitation and winds from weather systems operating at different scales, e.g. squall lines, tropical cyclones or cold surges. Ocean processes like ocean tides, sea-waves and ocean surge driven by these weather systems can aggravate their impacts, the so-called compound events. For example, increasing the risk of flooding in extreme precipitation events, or the risk of damaging infrastructure in extreme wind cases. The provision of effective weather warnings for coastal hazards over the SEA region requires sophisticated modelling tools, with enough detail to represent the multiscale behaviour of local hazards, the interactions between different components of the environment and the region’s complex coastlines and orography. Forecasting tools to support decision-making include an atmosphere model at convective scale resolutions to capture the convection processes and its feedback to larger scales, a full 3-D or a 2-D barotropic ocean model to capture tides and storm surge, and a wave model to capture the total sea level. These models run as an ensemble with schemes representing the uncertainty of the initial condition and modelled processes to capture the uncertainty of the events. Relevant areas of improvement include the prediction of the impacts and uncertainty of costal hazards linked to (a) tropical cyclone landfall for cases where rapid intensification occurred, (b) smaller-scale convective processes with an associated storm surge and enhanced seawaves. This work is focused on developing scientific understanding on the predictability of coastal hazards over SEA and the development of prototypes for forecasting coastal hazards and collaboration with in-country partners.
Accurate, Rapid, Robust and Economical diagnostic Solutions for UTI and drug resistance
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
There is an urgent need for the development and implementation of new tools for the rapid diagnosis of urinary tract infections (UTI) and its drug resistance profiling. In this co-developed project, we will, in concert, develop, evaluate and refine three approaches for the rapid and accurate diagnosis of UTI and their resistance profiles, and establish their clinical utility with our partners in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, with the vision of promoting improved healthcare and wellbeing. Prompt and precise diagnosis including drug resistance profiling is critical for timely and accurate treatment of UTI, and reducing its progression to urosepsis. Sepsis kills 11 million people every year (2.9 million deaths under the age of five) and over 25% of sepsis cases start as UTIs. However, due to the lack of reliable and rapid diagnostics, patients are often empirically prescribed antibiotics. The rationale being that ‘gold standard’ culture-based techniques needed for bacterial identification and antibiotic susceptibility testing are time-consuming (typically up to 48 hours). This is a major cause of concern from many angles, as antibiotics can have serious adverse side-effects, and their overuse drives resistance. This happens as clinicians (and patients) are all busy, neither wants a repeat appointment, and the guess might work. What is needed is a work-flow where a patent’s urine sample is analysed (ideally within 30-60 mins), to allow the right antibiotic to be prescribed at the right time for the specific patient – in essence personalised medicine. The aims and objectives of this project are to support: (i) sustainable health via resource efficient early diagnosis of diseases through the innovative use of chemistry and electrochemistry and thus promoting well-being; (ii) inclusive and equitable training and technology validation with our partners and (iii) help develop sustainable livelihoods supported by strong foundations for sustainable, inclusive economic growth and innovation To achieve this, the objectives set encompass a series of parallel strands, as shown below: The application of a suite of technologies for the rapid and early assessment of UTI (and drug resistance profiles) in parallel with standard culture methods. A better understanding of and tackling key healthcare technology challenges specific to resource-poor settings Building focused, proactive and long-term interdisciplinary partnerships through dynamic collaborative relationships: establishing these as exemplars of best practice. Promoting across the international team both highly collaborative and multi-cross-disciplinary ways of working to enhance the provision and availability of better healthcare Leveraging the breadth of our international leading science excellence to: Provide training, skills development and knowledge transfer with our partners Embed within our partners an enhanced capability whilst promoting a strong culture of independence, innovation and entrepreneurship in the healthcare sector Enabling the very best, world-class collaborative research that builds stronger and lasting relationships and thus excellent research in the partner countries in the development of innovative research capability focused on affordable healthcare. The potential applications and benefits are myriad - The area of UTI and the antibiotic resistance profiling are the initial targets. Once validated, infections from multiple other areas will become accessible to the technology, showing its broad importance, and broader impacts. In addition, the project also has the potential to kick start a change in MedTech, in which electrochemical sensing, that offers low-cost solutions with robustness and quantification within a clinical diagnostic setting, becomes main-stream.
Development and assessment of novel, high-throughput immunological assays to improve surveillance of spillover of viral families of pandemic potential
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Context Emerging infections pose a significant burden on healthcare systems and result in economic loss for societies worldwide as exemplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. Another new viral pathogen, causing ‘disease X’, will likely emerge in the future and pandemic preparedness is thus one of the top priorities of global agencies (UN, WHO, G20) and national governments. Vulnerable health systems, dense populations with close human-animal interactions, rapid urbanization and economic development, and stark health inequalities render Southeast Asia a hotspot for outbreaks of new and existing infectious pathogens, in particular zoonotic viruses. Yet, the region represents a weakness in pandemic preparedness and response. The challenge the project addresses Early detection of spillover events is critical to informing coordinated global responses, including the rapid development and deployment of effective and safe countermeasures, (especially diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines) to prevent future pandemics or mitigate their health and societal impact. Existing surveillance platforms are primarily based on clinical diagnosis in healthcare settings supplemented, in some areas, by genomic surveillance. They often therefore fail to capture early cases and those with asymptomatic or mild infection. Despite their potential utility, owing to the current low throughput and technical challenges, antibody and T-cell assays are rarely used for zoonotic spillover detection. Here, we will first develop high-throughput, high-resolution antibody and T-cell assays to enable early detection of spillover events. We will then apply the developed assays to comprehensively map out the immune landscape against zoonotic viruses of the families Coronaviridae, Orthomyxoviridae and Paramyxoviridae in high-risk populations in Cambodia and Vietnam. The data will be used to evaluate how immunological data could be utilised as part of broader surveillance strategies and estimate their potential to improve earlier detection of spillover events. Finally, potent, broadly neutralizing antibodies against zoonotic viruses will be discovered using samples collected from study participants with a confirmed infection. Aims and objectives Our aims are To develop novel, high-throughput immunological tools for viral families of epidemic/pandemic potential To apply the assays developed under Aim 1 to map out the immune landscape against zoonotic viruses with pandemic potential in high-risk populations in Cambodia and Vietnam To utilize the data from Aims 1 and 2 to evaluate the utility of the novel immunological tools as part of broader surveillance strategies and estimate their potential to improve earlier detection of spillover events To discover potent and broadly neutralising antibodies against zoonotic viruses causing spillover documented under Aim 2 Potential applications and benefits Our project will ultimately build regional research capacity in immunology, metagenomics, modeling and monoclonal antibody discovery in Cambodia and Vietnam. Importantly, a strong collaborative network across the region, linked with international experts in the UK and Singapore will be established. Therefore, our collective outputs would lay the foundation for locally-led responses to future emerging infections.
GLOBALSEAWEED PROTECT: conserve, improve, innovate, manage and empower for a resilient seaweed aquaculture industry
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
The global seaweed industry is the fastest growing aquaculture sector contributing half of global marine production. Southeast Asia, notably Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia, is the largest producer of red seaweeds that produce carrageenan, a hydrocolloid used in foods, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, worth c. US$14.7 billion and supporting over 1 million livelihoods there. Seaweeds, a low trophic crop, are of huge benefit to Southeast Asia, and unlike finfish/shrimp aquaculture, contribute to enhancing biodiversity. Demand for carrageenan is surging, but seaweed production systems in this region are massively challenged by the lack of genetic diversity, making them vulnerable to pests and diseases. This is compounded by climate change, which is also devastating wild seaweeds and habitats, the source of new cultivars on which the seaweed industry depends. These challenges threatening crop health, the wider environment and the livelihoods of the communities that rely on this industry for income. GLOBALSEAWEED-PROTECT aims to achieve a productive seaweed industry in Southeast Asia by taking a One Health approach. This will ensure that production systems are resilient to climate change, crops are healthy by preventing the introduction and spread of pests and disease, wild seaweed biodiversity and the wider environment are protected and enhanced, improving the long-term livelihoods of farmers and their communities, and providing a model for the rest of the world. The objectives, developed with our partners in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, are to build capability and capacity in and between countries in i) research innovation, ii) development of resilient crops, (iii) implementation of biosecurity management strategies and tool kits for improving seaweed health, and (iv) engagement with local communities, researchers, governments, industry and NGOs through ‘Sharing Best Practice’ workshops. These objective will be realised through four Work Packages: WP1: Sustain resilient and viable seaweed production systems. WP2: Improve resilience of cultivars to climate change and pest and diseases. WP3: Adapt and build seaweed aquaculture systems that reduce losses of production due to disease, while also improving the health of the commercial crop and the wider aquatic environment. WP4: Empower local solutions to ensure viable and resilient seaweed production systems. The outcomes of new methodologies and knowledge generated from developing climate-resilient seaweed cultivars and how these temperature-resilient cultivars adapt to climate change will have far-reaching applications and benefits for seaweed farming throughout Southeast Asia and beyond. Understanding wild and farmed biodiversity and how seaweed farming and help seaweed-habitat restoration and the wider environment will strengthen production systems and, therefore, be of value to seaweed farmers. Implementing a Global Seaweed Protection Strategy will optimise seaweed health, the ecosystems supporting them, communities reliant on these crops and of value to policy makers. Introducing a Progressive Management Pathway for Improving Aquaculture Biosecurity (PMP/AB), trialling innovative early warning pests and diseases detection methodologies, and working with local communities to achieve a more reliable economy through e.g., crop diversification, will also improve production system health and thus livelihoods. This project will also contribute to the UK Government’s International Development Strategy to re-energise the UN Sustainable Development Goals, notably No Poverty, No Hunger, Gender Equality, Decent Work and Economic Growth, Reduced Inequality, Climate Action, and Life Below Water. Through our collaborations and further development of research networks our proposal will, therefore, have a legacy of cooperation well beyond the lifetime of the funding.
AQUASoS: an integrative scalable interdisciplinary approach for climate resilient sustainable SE Asian aquaculture
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Rivers, seas, and deltas are particularly vulnerable to rising water temperatures, salinization, pollution, and changes in sediment flow due to natural and anthropogenic environmental change. These changes disrupt ecosystems, reduce biodiversity, and threaten food and water security, disproportionately impacting developing nations. We have chosen the Mekong Delta (MKD) in Vietnam to develop our framework approach due to its relevance to the wider SE Asia region aquaculture development for a number of reasons including; 1) scale with more than 80% of national production @ 5 million tonnes, growing at 3.3% pa and a value over $8.9billion, 2) multi-species production and 3) complex one health landscape driving anti-microbial resistance (AMR). Adding to the complexity of developing sustainable aquatic food systems in the MKD is the increasing burden of infectious diseases. Indeed, infectious diseases in Asian and global aquaculture are a major continuous threat to sustainable production representing a ‘wicked problem’. Ongoing research at the University of Stirling coupling pioneering Earth observation technology into a Digital Observatory at the river-to-sea systems scale will be harnessed to build the Aqua System of Systems (AquaSoS). AquaSoS will be designed to address the above ‘wicked problem’. Our inter-disciplinary approach will brings together digital information on the component parts of this complex system to understand the current and projected interactions and influences. We will deliver suite of products and solutions for developing sustainable aquaculture that truly embeds consideration for natural resources (and protection thereof) and the peoples who's lives depend on aquaculture. This will provide a framework to tackle this ‘wicked problem’ across the SE Asia region and indeed globally. A critical component of our approach is the integration of both existing data and future data generation from multiple sources (metagenomics, biodiversity indices, in-situ sensors, satellite etc) into a scalable data formats into a one-stop-shop of information (SoS) accessible to stake holders including, policy and decision makers, scientists and industry to resolve the conflicts between environmental responsibilities and sustainable aquaculture practise and development. AquaSOS brings together a world-leading researcher consortium incorporating critical elements of Earth observation, biodiversity understanding, and one health approaches directly linked to cutting edge health biotechnologies. This is further supported by a network of international experts, with emphasis upon the SE Asian region that is global aquaculture’s powerhouse of production. AquaSoS team members furthermore actively engage with many relevant industry, government and policy bodies, both nationally and internationally, and with public engagement fora, that will provide effective conduits for ensuring the science and solutions developed are communicated effectively and widely to support knowledge sharing and action. Our consortium will use this project to further build upon a ‘SE Asia Woman in Science Research Network’ that promotes and recognises leading women scientists and takes their leadership to build capacity and legacy by providing research collaboration opportunities and career advancement.
Working towards Adaptive and Versatile Environmental Sustainability in mollusc aquaculture (WAVES)
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Mollusc aquaculture produces 20 million tonnes (USD 29.8 billion) live biomass annually, supporting both marginal farming communities and export trade. Asia hosts >95% of activity with bivalves dominating production, primarily oysters, mussels, and benthic clams. These non-fed species offer a ‘low-carbon’ solution to high-quality nutritional security and confer environmental benefits for biodiversity and seawater nutrient status. Molluscs are inexpensive, nutritionally rich and sector expansion can enhance food security in Southeast Asia. Nevertheless, mollusc output as a proportion of aquatic animal aquaculture declined to 20.3% from 30.2% since 2000, with producers facing challenges from climate change and disease, concerns over algal toxins, food safety and reliable access to high-quality seed, and other societal, cultural and commercial pressures. Questions remain as to whether mollusc culture can develop and grow into a sustainable industry, in the face of bottlenecks to seed supply, changes in production and nutritional value resulting from climate change, and commercial pressures from other aquatic food producers. At grow out, diseases and climate impacts present major issues, with a more complete understanding of environmental tolerance of crop species necessary to map the suitability of existing and potential future farm locations. Meanwhile, hatchery technology offers promise for enhancing reliability of supply and providing a platform for future resilience by enabling initiatives such as selective breeding. The WAVES consortium aims to develop capacity in diversified mollusc aquaculture to create system resilience and to promote the sustainability and growth of this sector. To achieve our ambition, four key objectives have been co-developed that place engagement with farming communities and stakeholders at its heart: i) conduct systems mapping of current mollusc production in Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia (clams, mussels and oysters) as models of wider Asia to provide deep understanding for activities, livelihoods and climate change threats; ii) create a systems dynamic model and develop a scenario tool to forecast plausible futures for mollusc aquaculture; iii) generate data to support species diversification for climate resilience, to promote hatchery development for reliable supply of high-quality seed, and to produce safe and nutritious food; iv) iterate and disseminate findings to develop context-sensitive roadmaps for future sustainable expansion of resilient mollusc aquaculture. Our consortium entrains multinational expertise in bivalve aquaculture and physiology, with specialists in microbiology, nutrition, food safety, systems-thinking, climate forecasting, sustainable socioeconomic development, environmental justice and multilevel governance, to genuinely implement systems-scale understanding in forecasting plausible futures for mollusc aquaculture. Beneficiaries include coastal communities where operations are located and people whose livelihoods rely on mollusc farming that are threatened by climate change effects. Development and expansion of mollusc farming, through improved productivity and enhanced natural resource use, will contribute to regional food and nutritional security. Core to our vision is enhancing regional capability and capacity for systems approaches, which will be achieved through collaboration, training and mentorship. The WAVES Consortium seeks to enable the equitable transition of mollusc aquaculture to sustainable systems resilient to the challenges posed by climate change, ensuring optimised use of the natural environment, and with increased output enhancing local food security and nutritional benefit. The project will provide a contextually-relevant fulcrum to stimulate further investment and create a UK-Asia alliance of researchers leading developments in mollusc farming and contributing to UN SDGs 2, 3, 6, 8, 12, 13, 14 and 17.
Early intervention systems for sustainable aquaculture health in Viet Nam and Thailand
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Early prediction, detection and management of changes in the health of aquaculture are important entry points to increasing production through reduced disease and mortality, resulting in greater resilience and sustainability. This in turn can facilitate food security and poverty reduction across SE Asia where aquaculture makes a significant GDP contribution. Rapid identification of changes in pathogen load, water quality, animal behaviour and feeding can be used as early warnings of adverse health outcomes, with these parameters also influenced by wider climatic fluctuations. However, the level of technologies available for monitoring is highly variable across SE Asian aquaculture systems, with existing methods often focusing on factors in isolation, rather than applying a holistic approach. Additionally, accessibility of monitoring tools to end-users, particularly in poorer regions, can be limited if systems are technologically complex or require significant financial investment. The aim of this project is to support and work alongside farmers in Viet Nam and Thailand to co-develop low-cost, sustainable, early warning monitoring systems of aquaculture health. This will facilitate sustainable resilience to environmental fluctuation, reducing production losses through disease. Systems will be developed around shrimp aquaculture, but with a focus on technologies transferable across species and SE Asia. The long-term impact will provide in-country capacity to predict adverse changes to aquatic animal health and welfare. This will better inform aquaculture practices, reduce disease outbreaks and mortality, improve food security, and therefore enhance economic development. The project will be delivered through the following four objectives: (1) Co-develop novel strategies to monitor and identify physiology and behaviour changes in aquaculture animal health with SE Asia stakeholders. (2) Co-develop low-cost point-of-need sensors for known aquaculture pathogens and nitrogenous waste parameters. (3) Create predictive climate models to identify the scale and impact of weather events, leveraging existing data and new data provided through objectives 1 and 2. (4) Continuously engage with end-users to ensure an understanding of needs and priorities. In working with local fish farming communities, the expected outcomes include a deep understanding of working practices and priorities for the aquaculture farming community, resulting in a fit-for-purpose, easy to use low-cost, sustainable monitoring tool in water quality and potential disease detection. This will be modelled in the context of wider pond and environmental conditions, such that farmers can predict potential problems and react in a timely fashion. As the tool kit includes the development of on-site methods for detecting aquatic pathogens, the link between environmental conditions and disease will also be elucidated. The direct beneficiaries are small aquaculture farming communities, particularly those from low-income households with little access to modern technologies. Through end-user workshops we will promote gender equity and inclusivity across protected characteristics and communities; end-users will be involved in development of monitoring systems and provided with key tools to monitor and predict pond conditions. Greater predictive ability will benefit policy makers and governments through increased resilience and planning in the context of climate change. Technologies developed, while targeted at shrimp aquaculture in Viet Nam and Thailand, have a high transfer potential across species farmed under similar conditions (i.e. many fish species in SE Asia) broadening end-user beneficiaries in the long-term.
Weather and Climate Science for Service Partnership S E Asia (WCSSP) - Calls - tender - UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Strengthened partnership between meteorological services in UK, Philippines, Malaysia Vietnam, and Indonesia - research on understanding and evaluating convective processes over SE Asia.
Anthelmintic resistance in Southeast Asia (AHR-SEA): implications for control and elimination of intestinal helminths
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Soil-transmitted helminth (STH), or intestinal worm infections, are a major health burden worldwide, particularly in rural and poor urban areas of low- and middle-income countries, including in Southeast Asia. They infect over 1 billion people worldwide, causing considerable disease including anaemia and stunting and wasting in children. They can also significantly exacerbate poverty, particularly in marginalised communities. In the Philippines nearly 30% of school-aged children are infected with STHs, whereas in Malaysia and Thailand infections are particularly common in indigenous communities, refugees and migrants. The diseases caused by STHs are classified as Neglected Tropical Diseases by the World Health Organization (WHO). In its Roadmap for Neglected Tropical Diseases, WHO targets STH diseases for elimination as a public health problem by 2030. The main approach for STH control is regular distribution of deworming drugs to individuals living in endemic areas. However, there are concerns that resistance will arise to deworming drugs in human STHs, as is common in similar worm infections in animals, thus jeopardising control programmes. Therefore, there is an urgent need to understand how effective deworming drugs are in treating STHs, what the impacts would be on WHO elimination targets if resistance does emerge and explore alternative control approaches. Our project brings together an interdisciplinary team of expert researchers from Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and the United Kingdom and aims to address current knowledge gaps in relation to performance of deworming drugs in treatment of STHs and to identify alternative control strategies for STHs which are acceptable to communities. We will do this by undertaking field studies to assess performance of deworming drugs in treatment of STHs in areas of the three countries where high levels of STHs persist despite deworming treatment. We will use cutting edge genomics approaches to determine whether there are genetic variations associated with resistance to deworming treatment in the STHs circulating in the study sites. We will also investigate interactions between STHs and deworming treatment and people’s gut microbial community (microbiome) to propose alternative STH treatment options and to explore if gut microbes might influence treatment responses. Furthermore, we will employ machine learning methods to predict emergence of resistance to deworming drugs and use mathematical modelling and health economics approaches, informed by preference, symptoms and health-related quality-of-life data collected during the field studies, to determine what impact emergence of resistance will have on STH control and identify alternative control approaches which are acceptable to communities. Finally, we will design a strategy to monitor for emergence of deworming resistance. Integrated into the project will be a programme of knowledge exchange and research capacity building activities including training courses, researcher exchanges and field-based training. By embracing a collaborative interdisciplinary approach, this project will shed new light on the issue of STH resistance to deworming drugs and the effect that emergence of resistance will have on STH control and elimination. Ultimately, the project will deliver evidence-based strategies to monitor for resistance emergence and minimise the impact of resistance emergence on achieving the WHO 2030 targets, crucial information for public health policy makers.