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New project mobilizes social sciences against infectious threats

Published on 26 February 2019

Sonar-Global, a new EU project involving IDS, will build an international Social Sciences network for the prevention and response to infectious threats and Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR).

The project will provide a platform for collaboration among social sciences experts, institutions and existing networks engaged in preparedness and response to epidemics and AMR in Europe and around the world. The platform will build on activities at regional hubs within Europe and vulnerable countries threatened by emerging infectious diseases (EID) and AMR. It will facilitate learning opportunities on how to improve the governance of EID and AMR preparedness and response within Europe, between the global North and South, and between countries in the global South.

Hayley MacGregor, IDS Fellow said:

“At IDS we are delighted to be part of the Sonar-Global consortium and to share in discussions with an engaged group of social scientists who are committed to bringing social science perspectives to debates on emerging infectious diseases and anti-microbial resistance. Involvement in these efforts and the aim of building a social science network complements our existing work in the UNICEF-funded Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform and the Wellcome-funded collaborative award on Pandemic Preparedness.”

Specific objectives of Sonar-Global

Sonar-Global will lead activities through a programme that builds governance from the ground by:

  1. Developing an open-access platform to support the Sonar-Global activities and sharing them broadly.
  2. Adapting, testing and evaluating vulnerability assessment tools on the ground and engagement models to facilitate collaboration across multiple stakeholders.
  3. Piloting and evaluating curricula for training social scientists in preparedness and response to infectious threats and AMR and fostering social sciences knowledge of infectious threats and of AMR among non-social sciences actors.

The Sonar-Global project was granted within the Horizon 2020 Program of the European Union after a competitive one-stage selection process. The project started with a kick-off meeting in Paris (France) on 30 January 2019 at Institut Pasteur, coordinator of the project, and will be funded for three years.

Follow Sonar-Global on Twitter

 

EU flagThis project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement N° 825671.

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