Workshop: Bridging disciplines, sectors and systems for interdisciplinary research on antimicrobial resistance
Authors:   Organised by: University of Bielefeld Chair persons: Kayvan Bozorgmehr - Germany
Published: November 2019

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the biggest contemporary threats to global health, food security and development. AMR is associated with longer illness, higher mortality and higher health care costs, and threatens the success of many disease interventions including surgery, chemotherapy and the fight against HIV, TB and Malaria. The risks and impacts of AMR are truly universal and global, putting everyone at risk across demographic, socioeconomic and geographic boundaries.

AMR is a “wicked” problem driven by a range of complex, structural and interconnected factors, including in sectors related to human health, animal health, agriculture and the environment. Research on AMR is therefore needed not only from, but which bridges across, diverse disciplines including biomedicine, public health and the environmental, animal, social and political sciences. Despite calls for coordinated action on AMR, traditional siloes between sectors and disciplines, and from research to practice, remain difficult to bridge. Many efforts have strengthened communication and coordination but remain essentially focused on “drugs and bugs”, stopping short of achieving the type of radical, integrative and trans-border (disciplinary, sectoral, national, etc) collaboration needed to explore and effectively tackle this complex challenge.

The goal of this workshop is to create a space for dedicated discussion between professionals from diverse disciplines, sectors and settings to explore the following questions: What key questions or challenges for understanding and tackling AMR (from a research, policy or practice perspective) need to be explored using an interdisciplinary research approach?What thematic intersections, tensions and synergies exist between different disciplines conducting research on or relevant to AMR? What different theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches can be brought together to answer such questions?How can we create bridges and strengthen solidarity between professionals in different disciplines, sectors and stakeholder groups to foster the type of systematic, inter-/trans-disciplinary research needed? How can we ensure the knowledge generated informs evidence-based policy and practice to effectively and equitably tackle AMR?What initiatives for inter-/trans-disciplinary research on AMR have been effective and what can be learned to inform future research?

Following a brief introduction of key concepts and objectives, two presentations will provide input from research on the macro-structural drivers of AMR, which demonstrate the importance and value of different disciplinary research on this topic. A third presentation will explore equity and gender considerations in tackling AMR. The subsequent discussion will examine the above questions by tapping into the expertise, experience and perspectives of the presenters and participants. The workshop will close with a summary of lessons learnt and directions for future research.

Key messages

New forms of inter- and trans-disciplinary, translational research are needed to understand the complex drivers and dynamics of antimicrobial resistance and how to address this major global threat. Meaningful exchange is needed to identify concrete ways to overcome the methodological, practical and other challenges to conducting systematic, inter-/trans-disciplinary research on AMR.