Mapping Microbes research shared with Thailand's Ministry of Public Health
On 10th September 2018 Dr Emma Roe presented at the Economic and Social Research Council funded ‘Fresh Perspectives: Social Science in Antimicrobial Resistance Symposium and Networking Event', held at the British Academy London. The event was an inspiring occasion as a wealth of social science research on antimicrobial resistance was presented from across the world with presenters having travelled from Uganda, Bangladesh, North America, Thailand, Australia and Finland.
Emma Roe said: “It was fantastic to explain our innovative mapping microbes research and particularly the value of a creative microbial aesthetic to engage people in more effective hand-washing practices. We also encouraged people to watch the public health education film 'In our hands’ on YouTube which uses striking magical images that were produced in the course of the research. We had a great conversation with two visitors from the Ministry of Public Health, Thailand who have been trying to study the movement of pathogens in a hospital ward setting. They were particularly fascinated by our innovative methodology”. The interdisciplinary research project (PI Emma Roe, Co-I's Jacqui Prieto, Lisette Schoonhoven, Sandra Wilks, Xunli Zhang, Paul Hurley) was funded through a pump-priming research grant awarded internally from the University of Southampton’s Bridging the Gap EPSRC award led by Professor Tim Leighton.
This wasn’t the only social science research on antimicrobial resistance from the University of Southampton presented at the event. There was a poster that presented research findings from the ESRC funded AMR in corporate food retail supply chains (PI Alex Hughes, Newcastle) which includes Southampton-based Co-Is (Emma Roe, Neil Wrigley, Michelle Lowe and Bill Keevil). The poster (shown on the right) displayed maps which presented the known and unknown risks of imported fresh and processed poultry meat carrying antibiotic resistance entering the UK; they were created by the University’s Geodata team. Further findings from this research project will be launched at a Stakeholder engagement event with the food retail industry at the British Academy on Monday 19th November 2018.