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Antibiotics are the most widely prescribed antimicrobial agents to treat an infection. Unlike other drugs, the more they are used, the less effective they become. Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) ‘is one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development today’, according to WHO. Good antibiotic stewardship (AMS), an effective use of antibiotics in compliance with evidence-based guidance, aims to limit misuse in humans and animals which is accelerating the process. AMS strategies require behaviour change in prescribing underpinned by robust infection prevention and control (IP&C) policies. This is of particular concern in low and middle-income countries (LMIC) where many deaths caused by infectious diseases could be avoided by better infection prevention and appropriate prescribing of antibiotics.

dPHE’s projects in this area –ÌýGADSA and iNRIC –Ìýdemonstrated how digital technology could improve AMS and IP&C. The award-winning GADSA decision support app demonstrated a behaviour change at the point of care through a cutting-edge persuasive game technology underpinned by behaviour change methods localised to African settings as well as the NHS. GADSA was the runner-up in the UK IT Awards 2020 competition in the category ‘best healthcare project of the year’ and Prof Kostkova and her team were awarded the Innovator of the Year 2019 by Computing Women in Tech Awards praising the potential to change AMS globally. The International Resource of Infection Control (iNRIC) has been delivering the best evidence and policy guidelines on IP&C globally and illustrated how access to guidelines disseminated via the iNRIC resource could support IP&C in Africa.

In addition to showcasing GADSA and iNRIC, the 5th anniversary of the dPHE Centre event will also bring our recent achievements around COVID-19 vaccination and another award-winning My Lockdown Journal App (Innovation of the Year 2020, dPHE Team of the Year) and other initiatives showcased in a poster session.

During a coffee break, we will celebrate the ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº Grand Challenges: Grand Impact Exhibition in North Cloisters where two projects dPHE run and was involved in are showcased: MANTRA and NeoTree.

Finally, the highlight of the event, a strategic international panel with leading experts from ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº and overseas will discuss major challenges and opportunities for AMR and IP&C in human and animal health in the context of high and low-income settings, and the opportunities of digital tools in this strategic area.

Programme

Speakers

Welcome

Prof Patty Kostkova, Centre for Digital Health in Public Emergencies, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº

Patty is Professor in Digital Health and the Director of ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies (dPHE). She was a consultant at WHO, ECDC, Sky, Telefonica. Her research investigates mobile surveillance in Brazil, maternal health in Nepal and antibiotic stewardship in Nigeria and the NHS. During COVID-19, she lead an award winning project My Lockdown Journal. In 2019 and 2020, Patty won the 'Innovator of the Year' Award by Computing Women in IT Excellence Awards and the prestigious Coronaprofile by Business Science, while her team won the Team of the Year 2020 Award by Computing Rising Stars Awards. Patty published over 230 peer-reviewed papers, and is the Editor in chief of Frontiers in Digital Public Health, and General and Scientific Chair of International Public Health Conference since 2009.

Twitter: @pattykostkova

Website: /risk-disaster-reduction/people/dr-patty-kostkova

Session 1: Minute Madness & Introduction to Posters

Session chair: Prof Mark Pelling, Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, UK

Prof Mark Pelling’s research focuses on social and political aspects of climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, mainly in urban contexts and often inÌýLow and Middle Income Countries. Increasingly he is interested in working across global South–North contexts. His work aims at impact and so is designed and implemented in close partnership with research users from community based organizations to humanitarian NGOs and government or intergovernmental organizations. ÌýHe has been a Coordinating Lead Author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 5^thÌýand 6^thÌýAssessment Report and its Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation. International service also includes the Development Team of the International Science Council RISK Knowledge Action Network and acting as UK representative on the UNDRR European Science and Technology Advisory Group.

Aisha Aldosery, Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, UK

Aisha Aldosery is a PhD candidate at ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº IRDR Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies (dPHE). She moved to London in 2018 and earned her master's degree in Software System Engineering from ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº. Aisha is doing her PhD research on the Internet of Things (IoT) in the context of digital health, specifically vector-borne diseases. Aisha's PhD research project investigates the Internet of Things (IoT) and sensing technologies for predicting mosquito populations to combat vector-borne diseases in Northeast Brazil and Madeira Island - a pertinent global issue with global research significance. Her research aims to combine water, acoustic and environmental sensors for insect sensing and classification – should her IoT sensing system demonstrate the results, we envisage it will be a groundbreaking success.

Twitter: @aisha_tec

Website: /risk-disaster-reduction/people/phd-students/aisha-aldosery

Ava Sullivan, Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, UK & EcoHealth Alliance, New York, USA

Ava Sullivan has an MPH in Environmental Health from Tulane University’s School of Publich Health and Tropical Medicine with a specialization is Disaster Managment. Ava is currently based in New York City where she works as a Research Scientist at EcoHealth Alliance where she is involved in multiple global health projects examining the human-animal-environment connection in relation to emerging infectious disease. Ava’s research interests are related to the point of spillover as a critical moment for the prevention of future pandemics.

Lan Li, Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, UK

Lan is a PhD student at dPHE, IRDR. Her research topic is integrating behavioural theory into digital intervention to increase vaccine confidence. She is interested in social media data analysis, digital health, behaviour change and vaccination hesitancy studies.

Liuqing Yang, Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, UK & School for Public Health, Southeast University

Liuqing Yang is a visiting researcher comes from Southeast University, China. Her main research topic is to use health theoretical frameworks to understand the drivers of vaccine hesitancy. She is also interested in the modeling of infectious diseases and health economics evaluations.

Ziyue Shang, Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, UK

Ziyue is a second-year undergraduate student at ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº IRDR studying global humanitarian studies with digital science pathway. Currently, he is working as a research assistant in the dPHE research centre and focus on the MyJournal App’s data analysis and visualisation.

Xiaohui Shen, Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, UK

Xiaohui Shen is working toward the PhD degree in dPHE with IRDR of ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº. His research focus is population health in China including direct and indirect effects of China's COVID policies.ÌýHis study aims to systematically explore the trajectory of COVID-19 in China, the direct and indirect effects of both the disease, and policy restrictions on people's health and real-life experience. This study offers a perspective in China on patients' health and experience, the general public's life experience during and after zero-COVID, and communities' support. The findings from individual perceptions of essential services, requirements and gaps between lockdown and reopening can not only contribute to an understanding of the COVID picture in China but also inform policy discussion and support for people in the future pandemic.

Ella Browning, Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, UK & People and Nature Lab, CBER, GEE, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº

Ella is a Research Fellow based between the ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº Centre for Biodiversity and Environment and the Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies. As an ecologist, she focuses on identifying the impacts of environmental change on biodiversity. Her research has addressed understanding biodiversity population trends and how environmental and anthropogenic factors affect them using spatial-temporal statistical modelling tools. Her work also investigates improving biodiversity data collection using passive acoustics, ‘Internet of Things’ devices, and citizen science methods. Under the MEWAR project Ella uses spatio-temporal modelling methods to forecast changes in mosquito abundance in response to socio-economic, climatic, and landscape factors.

Dr Anwar Musah, Department of Geography, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº & Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, UK

Anwar Musah is a lecturer at ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº's Department of Geography. Broadly, his research interests focus on the application of statistical modelling, geospatial analysis and data science to public health and social sciences (with a regional focus on the Global South). His interdisciplinary background to date has led him to apply these primarily to areas of infectious disease epidemiology (e.g. cholera, COVID-19, soil-transmitted helminths & schistosomiasis) and medical entomology (e.g. surveillance of arboviruses in Brazil). He has a growing interest in areas of fire hazards & safety and quantitative criminology from an African perspective.

Emma Back, Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, UK

Emma is a part-time PhD student supervised by Professor Patty Kostkova in dPHE/IRDR and Dr Stephen Roberts at the ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº Institute for Global Health. Her doctoral research project uses anÌýinterdisciplinary mixed-methods approach toÌýexplore ongoing perceptions of pandemic risk through a comparative study, covering the UK and two other countries with contrasting experiences of COVID-19: South Africa and New Zealand.ÌýAlongside her doctoral studies, Emma is a consultant and lecturer in global health focusing on the health-environment interface, the challenge of antimicrobial resistance, and other health policy and research agendas in low- and middle-income countries.

Stephen L. Roberts, Institute for Global Health, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº

Dr Stephen Roberts is a critical global health security scholar, and Lecturer in Global Health at the Institute for Global Health. His research focuses on the datafication and digitisation of global health security practices (which includes new uses of Big Data analytics, Artificial Intelligence, and evolving data collection methods) during public health emergencies and considers the impacts of these digital shifts across government, politics, society, law, and ethics.

Dr Anna Cupani, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº

Anna is a scientist with more than 10 years of experience in research and business development between academia and the private sector. She currently focuses on innovation in the healthcare sector, in particular through use of data science tools. In her current role at ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, she supports and develops industry research collaborations, educational programmes and engagement activities around translational research and patient data management, bringing together industry, academia, and the NHS.

Session 2: Good bugs and Bad bugs: antimicrobial resistance and food fermentation
Ìý

Dr Caroline E. Wood, Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies, University College

Dr Caroline Wood is an Honorary Researcher at dPHE. Her research interests focus on using theoretical frameworks from behavioural science to understand challenges and design solutions within the field of digital public health.

Dr Susanne Luedtke, Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, UK & Public Health Agency, Nuremberg

Susanne Luedtke is a Senior Clinical Research Fellow at dPHE. Susanne is an infectious disease and internal medicine specialist working on the DR-TB Genie App project advising on clinical development of a digital mobile application for physicians in South Africa to help with treatment decisions for multi drug resistant Tuberculosis. She also works on the GADSA: ‘Gamified Antimicrobial Stewardship Decision Support App’ project.

Dr Ann Versporten, Laboratory of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences , University of Antwerp, Belgium

Ann Versporten is trained in epidemiology and public health. She has built extensive expertise on antimicrobial consumption using different antimicrobial use metrics and investigating their validity in terms of quality indicators and clinical importance in the inpatient and outpatient setting (projects: , , , , , ). She’s coordinating the on Antimicrobial Consumption and Resistance since 2014. Ann is committed to sustainable and reproducible epidemiological research as a fundamental mechanism for generating scientific evidence to inform health professionals and policy makers.

Dr Akuzike Kalizang’Oma, Division of Infection and Immunity, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº

Aku is a clinician and medical microbiologist that graduated in 2022 with a PhD in pathogen genomics from ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº. He is currently based at the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome program as a postdoctoral researcher and deputy head for the Pneumonia and Meningitis Pathogens Associate Research Group. Aku leads pneumococcal carriage studies in Malawi that seek to address the impact of mass antibiotic usage and different pneumococcal vaccine scheduling on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and pneumococcal carriage respectively. Aku’s research interest is the emergence and dissemination of AMR among Streptococcus pneumoniae lineages in high burden regions under pressure from pneumococcal vaccines and antibiotics.

Dr James Paskins,Ìý¹û¶³Ó°Ôº Research, Innovation & Global Engagement

Dr James Paskins FRSA is the Deputy Director of ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº Grand Challenges programme which supports cross-disciplinary and cross-boundary research into some of the world's most pressing problems. Before joining the Grand Challenges, his previous roles included working as a researcher and managing an EPSRC project supporting interdisciplinary research on urban sustainability. His previous research includes children’s health and travel behaviour, accessible transport, urban design and human wellbeing. His PhD thesis investigated the role of cognitive mapping skills in children’s independent mobility. He is a member of the British Psychological Society and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Dr Emma Wilson Population, Policy & Practice Department, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, UK

Emma is an interdisciplinary researcher, with a background in international development, gender studies and epidemiology. She has a particular interest in the co-development and evaluation of digital health interventions. For her PhD she conducted a large randomised controlled trialÌýto evaluate an online STI testing and results service in south London. Emma is currently the social science lead for the Neotree project -Ìý a digital quality improvement platform that supports healthcare professionals in low resource settings to count and care for every newborn.

Dr Catherine Walker, GEE, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, UK

Catherine is Lecturer (Teaching) in the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment (GEE) at ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº. She completed her PhD in 2021 with Professors Mark G. Thomas (GEE), and Dorian Fuller, Institute of Archaeology, investigating human genetic adaptation to dietary change and quantifying dietary change at the individual nutrient level in modern and ancient diets. Her additional research interests include lactase persistence, milk and fermented dairy food consumption in past populations and microbial diversity in modern artisan cheeses. She has worked as a BBSRC postdoc at Neal’s Yard Dairy and with the ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº Microbiology Domain.

Twitter:Ìý@CBWalker67

LinkedIn:Ìý

Jelena Belgrave,ÌýFermentation Educator and Consultant, Fermentation Guild

Jelena Belgrave is a fermentation educator, consultant and flavours tinkerer who firmly believes that microbial food preservation is an essential skill and belongs on curriculum. She entwines stories and knowledge from her Balkan heritage with Japanese macrobiotic training and latest research in the scientific realm of gut health. Jelena is a member of the UK Fermenters Guild and regularly teaches hands-on workshops in London, around the UK and the Balkans. Her workshops and events will always introduce you to new flavours, leave you inspired, excited and eager to learn more about the vast microbial world thatÌý transforms food and the time-honoured techniques that can lead to a more equitable and regenerative food system.

Dr Marina Chang,ÌýRIGE: Grand Challenges ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº Grand Challenges, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, UK

Marina has had a diverse career path which has enabled her to cross boundaries between academia, industry, businesses, public, and community / volunteer sectors. Prior to joining ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, she was an Assistant Professor at the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience at Coventry University. Her research has focused on food and the city; food commons; decolonising food geographies; and more recently, the heritage grain movement in the UK. She holds a BA in History and Philosophy from National Taiwan University, and a MSc in Urban Studies and a PhD in Development Planning, both from ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº.

Strategic International Panel: Antimicrobial Resistance and Digital InnovationÌý – global challenge looming!

Dr Lucy Brunton, Royal Veterinary College, UK

Lucy is an epidemiologist with a background in microbiology. Having worked for seven years at the UK’s Animal and Plant Health Agency where she conducted epidemiological research in the areas of food-borne disease, AMR and bovine tuberculosis, she joined the RVC in February 2017. Her research focuses on understanding the molecular epidemiology of antimicrobial resistance and using One Health systems approaches to tackle this complex problem. She is particularly interested in the role that food animal production plays in contributing to the emergence and spread of AMR, and the increased burden of AMR on health and livelihoods in LMICs.

Ai-Nee Lim, Whittington Health NHS Trust, UK

Ai-Nee Lim is a Consultant Pharmacist in Antimicrobials, providing strategic and operational leadership on antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) for the tertiary, secondary and community health services at the Whittington Health NHS Trust for over 6 years. In 2023, she was appointed the AMS lead for North Central London (NCL). She is a lecturer in the MSc Clinical Pharmacy, International Practice and Policy Programme (MSc CPIPP) at ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº (¹û¶³Ó°Ôº).

Closing remarks

Prof Joanne Faure Walker, Head of Department, Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, UK

Joanna Faure Walker is a Professor at the Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction. She is the Head of Department of IRDR. She lectures on natural hazards, vulnerability, risk and their integration into decision-making. Her primary research is centred around studying faults in the Earth’s continental crust and using this to better understand the physical processes controlling earthquake generation, locations and timing. A related line of research integrates physical science research into risk and disaster reduction, including residents’ risk perception and vulnerability and resilience during the transitional phase of recovery.

The event will be followed by a drinks reception and poster exhibition from 7pm.

Tickets are free but must be booked in advance.

About the Centre

The ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº IRDR Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies is part of ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº's Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction. How society sees risk, links understanding of the causative mechanics to statistical approaches, and increases resilience and reduce the risk of disasters are common themes cutting across research in natural, environmental, health and technological hazards.Ìý

Don't forget to follow us onÌýÌý@¹û¶³Ó°Ôº_dPHEÌýfor regular updates, news, articles and events connected to Digital Public Health and Digital Public Health in Emergencies.

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