José Lourenço, PI from BioISI in the field of epidemiology of infectious diseases, jointly with Francesco Pinotti, postdoctoral researcher at the Evolutionary Ecology of Infectious Disease group of the University of Oxford, were awarded a Bilateral Research Fund Grant from PARSUK (Portuguese Association of Students and Researchers in the UK), aimed at creating and strengthening links between universities and research institutes based in Portugal and in the UK.

José Lourenço, PI from BioISI in the field of epidemiology of infectious diseases, jointly with Francesco Pinotti, postdoctoral researcher at the Evolutionary Ecology of Infectious Disease (EEID) group of the University of Oxford, were awarded a Bilateral Research Fund Grant from PARSUK (Portuguese Association of Students and Researchers in the UK), aimed at creating and strengthening links between universities and research institutes based in Portugal and in the UK.

This winning project is focused on transferring the knowledge – generated for the UK context, by the One Health Poultry Hub – in terms of mathematical models of the transmission of respiratory viruses (e.g. Influenza) and antibiotic resistant bacteria (e.g. Campylobacter) in poultry production, transport and market networks to the Portuguese scenario.

The adaptation and implementation of those models in Portugal will be of paramount importance for the country’s public health as it will give an insight on how viruses and antibiotic resistance spillover can take place on the national ecological interfaces between wildlife and human society, but also in farming and food industry sectors.

The grant will also be an excellent opportunity to benefit from the existing One Health Poultry Hub’s activities, strategies and knowledge which will improve national epidemiology and public health research and innovation and, at the same time, bypass the huge amount of money required to set up such a scientific hub in the country.

Apart from the obvious added value in terms of the development of the underdeveloped field of epidemiology and public health in human-wildlife-industry interface in Portugal, this project will also leverage José Lourenço’s research, as he himself refers: “This grant has been awarded at a time at which I am transferring my research career from the University of Oxford into the University of Lisbon. It thus provides much welcome short-term opportunities to solidify a strong connection between the two universities, but also to kick-start new research paths both in Portugal and the UK”.

Find out more about José Lourenço’s research here 

Get to know Francesco Pinotti’s work here.

More info on PARSUK here.

From left to right: José Lourenço and Francesco Pinotti