On the 10-12th October 2022, the UK team joined their Indian colleagues at Pondicherry University for 'An International Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance Microbiome Under Changing Climate' (ARMIC). The conference, organised by Professor Joseph Selvin had over 250 participants and featured talks from a range of experts.

Conference themes included: 

• Climate Change & Biodiversity
• Climate Change & Environmental Policies
• Climate Change & Food Security
• Policies for Preventing Antimicrobial Resistance
• AMR & Clinical Implications
• Microbial Genomics & Molecular Biology
• Bioinformatic Tools in Metagenomics & AMR
• Environmental Policies, Sustainability and Antimicrobial Resistance

The conference was reported upon in the newspaper 'The Hindu', which is now available to read online. 

On the 4-5th of July, the SELECTAR team hosted an AMR workshop at the University of Leeds for the AMR-India Project Coordination Team. Members of the programmes's UK arm (including AMRWATCH) were in attendance. Each research group gave a presentation outlining their progress and engaged in discussions regarding shared challenges. International experts on AMR, joined the event virtually to give their own talks and share knowledge. An LCMS demonstration and laboratory tour was also given.

On the 26th April 2022,members of the AMRWATCH presented at Imperial's UK-India Science and Innovation Partnerships dialogue.

This hybrid event brought together thought leaders from India and the UK to discuss and promote the crucial role of research, education and innovation partnerships in driving forward the 2030 Vision to create healthy, climate resilient societies. It offered a platform to discuss, inspire and help inform how the UK and India can partner to co-lead on global challenges in the coming decade. 

The panel (chaired by Lord Jo Johnson), featured speakers: 

Professor K VijayRaghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India

Sir Patrick Vallance, Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government

Professor Govindan Rangarajan, Director of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

Professor Mary Ryan, Interim Vice-Provost (Research and Enterprise), Imperial College London.

The event is now available to watch online. Alternatively, you can read more about the event on the Imperial College London website.

World Antimicrobial Awareness Week took place from 18th-24th November 2021. 
 

The Indian team visited schools and public venues such as: Pondicherry University, Kanchi mamunivar College, Art and Craft village and, MOH Farook Maricar Government Girls Higher Secondary School

Here, they gave awareness talks on antimicrobial resistance, distributed resources and, answered questions from the public. 

The team's work on the event, was featured on the front page of Thillai Mail.

Imperial stories recently published an article titled 'Antimicrobrial Resistance: A Silent Pandemic'. The piece explored the main challenges related to AMR and what researchers at Imperial are doing to help. The research conducted by AMRWATCH was highlighted and its importance explained. 

To read the article, please see; Imperial Stories web page

The webinar, organized by Prof Joseph Selvin (Pondicherry University), Prof Nick Voulvoulis (Imperial College London), Dr M.S Muthu (Indian Institute of Technology), Dr R. Latha (Aarupadai Veedu Medical College & Hospital) and the AMRWATCH team was held on the 21 of June 2021 via Microsoft Teams and is now available to watch online. 

More than 250 participants attended the webinar including: academics, researchers, undergraduate and graduate students, policy makers, manufacturers, NGOs and representatives from the Drug Control Office in Pondicherry and the Pollution Control Board.

The UK kick-off meeting for the AMRWATCH project was held on 9th March 2021. Principal Investigator Prof. Nick Voulvoulis and Co-Investigator Prof. Shiranee Sriskandan gave a presentation on the project and its background. The aims, method, and scope of the research were also briefed.