Information for applicants
Workshop Title: Learning from each other- improving the clinical management and
prevention of melioidosis and tuberculosis in the UK and South East Asia
UK coordinator: Gregory Bancroft, LSHTM
Thailand coordinator: Ganjana Lertmemongkolchai
Disciplines: Bacterial infection, pathogenesis, immunology, clinical management
Dates and venue: 6-9th January 2015, Khon Kaen, Thailand
Background to British Council Researcher Links
The British Council and has launched a new five-year programme to encourage
international research collaboration between ambitious young researchers from
the UK and eighteen countries around the world.
The programme, ‘British Council Researcher Links’ provides opportunities for
early career researchers from the UK and internationally to interact, learn from
each other and explore opportunities for building long-lasting research
collaborations.
As part of this programme, a ‘call to action’ was issued in April 2014 for leading
researchers to propose themes for bilateral workshops to be held in one of
these countries which will bring together early career researchers to discuss
their research and start to build international relationships.
Successful applicant organisations from the UK and Thailand are now recruiting
early career researchers and welcome applications to attend the above workshop.
The workshops will provide a unique opportunity for sharing research expertise
and networking. During the workshops early career researchers will have the
opportunity to present their research in the form of a poster/short oral
presentation and discuss this with established researchers from the UK and
partner countries. There will be a focus on building up links for future
collaborations and participants selected on the basis of their research potential
and ability to build longer term links.
The British Council will cover the costs related to the participation to the
workshop, including: travel (both international and local), accommodation and
meals. Costs for the visa will be covered; however participants will be responsible
for making all the necessary arrangements. Participants are encouraged to
purchase an adequate travel and medical insurance. The British Council accepts
no responsibility for any problems which may occur when the participants are
in-country.
Scientific Background and Research Aims
Infections with pathogenic bacteria remain a major public health problem in both high
and low income countries. Tuberculosis is a global health issue with over 9 million new
cases a year, resulting in some 1.6m deaths. This is made worse by the emergence of
bacteria strains with resistance against multiple (and in some cases almost all)
antibiotics and the fact that BCG, which protects infants from disseminated disease, is
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not effective in tropical countries against pulmonary tuberculosis, the most frequent
type of infection in adults, and which is responsible for human to human transmission.
Melioidosis, caused by the Gram negative bacteria B. pseudomallei is an important cause
of sepsis and death in SE Asia, and particularly in Thailand, and is increasingly reported
in other tropical countries. B. pseudomallei is intrinsically resistant to many antibiotics,
mortality rates in Thailand of acute melioidosis are approximately 50 % , relapse
following antibiotic treatment is substantial and there is no available vaccine. Thus like
Mycobacterium tuberculosis, B. pseudomallei is able to persist in humans for decades and
elimination is difficult to achieve either by antibiotics or via host immune responses.
To date, research in pathogenesis, clinical management and prevention of the two
diseases has been approached separately, yet they share many features of virulence,
immunity, pathology and increased incidence in populations with underlying
immunosuppressive illnesses such as diabetes. Our objective is to bring together for the
first time, clinical, laboratory and public health experts in these two diseases with young
investigators with an interest in infectious diseases to identify new areas of
collaborative research for improved treatment and prevention.
The workshop is in partnership between Khon Kaen University, situated in the heart of
the endemic region of melioidosis of NE Thailand, and the London School of Hygiene and
Tropical Medicine, a global leader in research in tropical infectious diseases.
Format of the Workshop:
This is a four day, full time, residential workshop in NE Thailand. Days 1 to 3 will include
lectures, poster and verbal presentations by young researchers, opportunities for
discussion and networking and technology transfer workshops. Day 4 will be devoted
to a hands–on workshop on cutting edge bioinformatics tools for researchers interested
in host responses to these infections. The immunology field, like the rest of the
biomedical research enterprise, is being transformed by our ability to generate vast
amounts of data. This present tremendous challenges and opportunities for a new
generation of researchers. Course participants will be introduced to the use of
interactive web applications designed for the exploration of large and heterogeneous
datasets (i.e. Biomedical Big Data). They will learn how novel information and
knowledge can be extracted in a hands on session using public domain datasets.
Topics to include:
 Pathogen virulence and genetics
 Development of vaccines
 Epidemiology and host susceptibility
 Public Health Policy
 Host immune responses and their assessment
 Cutting edge Technology - flow cytometry and systems biology
Confirmed Speakers include:
Ploenchan Chetchotisakd, Wipa Reechaipichikul, Charoen Chuchottaworn, Arunee
Jetsrisuparb, Direk Limmathurotsakul, Ganjana Lertmemongkolchai (Thailand)
Hazel Dockrell, Brendan Wren, Richard Titball, , Steven Smith, Gregory Bancroft (UK)
Damien Chaussabel (USA/Qatar), David Dance (Lao PDR), Guy Thwaites (Vietnam)
Application and Deadline: The full application must be completed using the
Researcher Links Application Form link on this website and submitted by email to
ciu.kku@gmail.com by the 24th October 2015.
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Eligibility Criteria:
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Applications must be submitted using the Researcher Links application form
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Application must be submitted before the above deadline
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Participants must be early career researchers: Early Career Researchers are
defined as holding a PhD (or Medical graduates having equivalent research
experience) and having up to 10 years post-degree research experience.
Consideration will be made if this period is longer due to time away from
research for other legitimate reasons. They are equivalent to the ‘Recognised
Researcher’ and sometimes ‘Experienced Researcher’ categories in the EU
framework for researchers’ careers.
http://ec.europa.eu/euraxess/pdf/research_policies/Towards_a_European_Fra
mework_for_Research_Careers_final.pdf . Leading Researchers as defined by the
EU Framework for researchers careers are research group leaders who are
internationally recognised in their field
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Participants must have a research or academic position (either a permanent
post, research contract, or fellowship etc) at a recognised research institution
either in the UK or in Thailand.
Quality Assessment
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Experience and relevance of the applicant’s research area to the workshop
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Motivation and contribution to the aims of the workshop
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Description of the long term impact expected through the participation in the
workshop
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Ability to disseminate workshop’s outcomes
Selection Procedure:
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Eligibility check
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Quality assessment
Notification of results: Applicants will be notified by email 2 months prior to the
workshop.
Equal Opportunities
The British Council is committed to equal opportunities and diversity in all its activities
and this includes the avoidance of any bias in the assessment of applications due to
gender, disability, racial or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, or religious belief.
Participants’ selection undertaken by workshop organisers must not contravene this
policy. Extra support to enable participation of early career researchers with special
needs will be given.
For further information please contact the workshop organisers at either
g.lert@yahoo.co.uk or gregory.bancroft@lshtm.ac.uk
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