Pandemic PACT Launch
March 2024
Pandemic PACT Programme Launch
The Pandemic Preparedness, Analytical Capacity and Funding Tracking programme (Pandemic PACT) officially launched in March 2024 with a hybrid event hosted by the Pandemic Sciences Institute at the University of Oxford, in collaboration with UK Collaborative on Development Research (UKCDR) and the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness (GloPID-R). The event brought together 250 attendees, including experts from global funding organisations, researchers and policymakers.
Titled Navigating Tomorrow: Lessons Learnt from the Pandemic and Enhancing Future Preparedness, the afternoon provided an opportunity to reflect on the programme’s background and outline its aim to contribute towards global pandemic preparedness.
COVID CIRCLE to Pandemic PACT
In 2020, the UKCDR and GloPID-R established COVID CIRCLE to improve the coherence of and learning from the research response to COVID-19 for LMICs. Key initiatives included the COVID-19 Research Project Tracker and the associated Living Mapping Reviews to monitor how COVID-19 research funding aligned with research priorities. Recognised in the WHO COVID-19 Research and Innovation Achievements Report, the tracker was described as ‘instrumental in reaching global funding decisions’ during the pandemic.
Now housed within the Pandemic Sciences Institute at the University of Oxford, the new Pandemic PACT programme follows on from the success of COVID CIRCLE to further develop its analysis and broaden its scope to focus on priority diseases with pandemic potential and broader preparedness efforts.
The COVID-19 Research Project Tracker was ‘instrumental in reaching global funding decisions’ during the pandemic.
WHO COVID-19 Research and Innovation Achievements Report
The Launch Event
The event opened with a welcoming address from Professor Sir Peter Horby, Director of the Pandemic Sciences Institute. He reflected on the research coordination challenges in COVID-19 and emphasised the urgent need for international collaboration to maintain global health security. He summarised the significance of programme: ‘that's why the Pandemic PACT is important; it allows us to look at what the big research questions are and to look at who's funding what and it allows a way for the for the research communities to coordinate.’
Dr Alice Norton, Principal Investigator of Pandemic PACT, introduced key aspects of the programme, including the launch of the web platform. At the time of launch, the site featured data from over 6,800 grants provided by 77 funders, amounting to more than $7 billion. Since then, these figures have grown substantially. Dr Norton also announced the publication of a Lancet correspondence titled Improving Coherence of Global Research Funding: Pandemic PACT and the protocol for the Living Mapping Review.
Additional presentations from members of the Pandemic PACT team and collaborators - Daniela Toale, Dr Emilia Antonio, Dr Olena Seminog, Dr Omid Rohanian, Dr Rodrigo Furst and Dr Louise Sigfrid - covered the Pandemic PACT Grant Tracker tool, research prioritisation plans, the Pandemic PACT Rapid Research Needs Appraisal methodology, machine learning processes for data annotation and the programme’s integration of FAIR data principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable).
"That's why the Pandemic PACT is important; it allows us to look at what the big research questions are and to look at who's funding what and it allows a way for the for the research communities to coordinate."
Peter Horby
Director, Pandemic Sciences Institute, The University of Oxford
To watch these talks, and the panel discussion ‘What Lessons Have We Learnt from the COVID-19 Pandemic, and Are We Now Better Prepared?’, please find the full recording of the event below.
Find out more about Pandemic PACT
