New research programme to tackle public health crises

A new research programme, which aims to create solutions to public health crises, has been announced.

The DOROTHY Programme is being led by the Irish Research Council, which will work in collaboration with the Health Research Board and the Environmental Protection Agency. It is co-funded by the Department for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and the EU.

It will work to break down barriers between different academic disciplines by driving collaboration between researchers. As part of the programme, 25 researchers will be awarded a three-year postdoctoral fellowship with a total value of €5.5 million.

This will allow them to work in both Irish and overseas research institutions.

The programme is named after Dorothy Stopford-Price, an Irish doctor who was a pioneer in eradicating tuberculosis in Ireland, and who is also credited with being the key figure in promoting the merits and use of the BCG vaccine here.

According to the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Simon Harris, it is fitting that this programme is named after Ms Stopford-Price, “who played a monumental role in helping to prevent the spread of tuberculosis in Ireland”.

“The DOROTHY programme will support the next generation of researchers in Ireland who can help inform public health policy on a national and international stage,” he commented.

According to the Irish Research Council’s programme manager, Dr Chiara Loda, the Covid-19 pandemic “has reminded us of the value of investing in research, and of the need to adopt a multidisciplinary approach when responding to public health crises”.

“We hope to create a collaborative research initiative where scientists, policymakers and the population in general can learn from each other, bringing about creative and inclusive solutions to public health crises.

“These are significant, complex and multi-faceted phenomena that require approaches of the same type and magnitude,” she said.

For more information on the Irish Research Council, click here.