BactiVax investigators Assoc. Prof. Siobhán McClean (UCD) and Prof. Miguel Valvano (QUB) secure funding for new collaboration

University College Dublin (UCD) and Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) have strenghtened their collaboration of many decades recently, as Associate Professor Siobhán McClean (UCD) and Professor Miguel Valvano (QUB) secure funding for a new collaborative programme. This will be funded under the Irish Higher Education Authority’s North-South Research Programme.

The programme will be led by Prof. McClean and Prof. Valvano, and includes Principal Investigators from University College Cork and Trinity College Dublin, in addition to QUB and UCD. The All-island Vaccine Research and Training Alliance (AVACTA) will draw on shared expertise in infection, immunology, pharmacy and psychology, with a shared goal of designing and developing better vaccines to prevent difficult to treat bacterial infections.

“We will also develop interventions to address low vaccine uptake in identified communities across our shared island. As the recent pandemic demonstrated, infections don’t recognise borders and a shared island approach to vaccine deployment is important,” said Assoc. Prof. Siobhán McClean.

“We will examine concerns that people have which might reduce their confidence in vaccines and develop guidelines to improve people’s willingness to be protected by vaccination on the island. This funding will give us the opportunity to train 15 researchers to provide the next generation of vaccine experts who will support the growing vaccine industry and public health policy on the island.”

The achievement was recently highlighted in the Irish Times here and here.

 

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