LeSPAR AMR workshop series

AMR is a global health threat. A better understanding of how different environments and antimicrobial uses affect the evolution and transmission of resistance is key to tackling AMR. These environments include: animal and human host tissues; hospitals and urban environments; and agricultural and natural settings.

Interdisciplinary research and knowledge exchange across medicine, the biological sciences, physical sciences, engineering, maths, social sciences, agricultural and veterinary sciences will be vital for closing this knowledge gap and translating research into applications to tackle AMR.
Each half-day workshop was attended by 47–57 delegates, including academic researchers and postgraduates from across the UK. There were also delegates from the pharmaceutical industry, small and medium enterprises, funding bodies including MRC, BBSRC and NERC, and learned societies.

The workshops included invited talks from established AMR researchers and AMR funding representatives, poster sessions, informal networking time and a structured networking and discussion session, where delegates were invited to propose and discuss topics of interest. The three workshops were:

• Workshop 1: Charles Darwin House, London, 25 June 2015. Chaired by Professor Jodi Lindsay, Professor of Microbial Pathogenesis at the Institute of Infection and Immunity, St George’s, University of London.
• Workshop 2: Discovery Centre for Translational and Interdisciplinary Research, University of Dundee, 3 July 2015. Hosted and Chaired by Professor Mike Ferguson, Professor of Life Sciences and Associate Dean for Research Strategy, The College of Life Sciences, University of Dundee.
• Workshop 3: MediCity, Nottingham, 7 July 2015. Hosted by Professor Christine Dodd, President of the Society for Applied Microbiology and Chair in Food Microbiology, University of Nottingham. Chaired by Dr Dov Stekel, Associate Professor of Integrative Systems Biology, University of Nottingham.

Key objectives of the workshops were opportunities to network with researchers in other disciplines, keeping up-to-date with the latest AMR research and learning about AMR funding opportunities. 98% of delegates who completed the evaluation survey agreed that these objectives were met.

This workshop series summary includes the presentations (page 4) and topics and issues raised during the discussion sessions (page 6).

This summary is based on discussions during the workshop and delegate feedback. It does not purport to reproduce all discussions. Note that the messages conveyed in the summary do not represent official positions of the individual learned societies of the Learned Society Partnership on Antimicrobial Resistance.

For further information or comment from LeSPAR, please contact [email protected].