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STAR-IDAZ IRC

STAR-IDAZ International Research Consortium (IRC)

Building on STAR-IDAZ, an International Research Consortium (IRC) of research funders and programme owners, aiming to maximise funding for coordinated animal health research, with a higher level of commitment was launched at an event hosted by the European Commission in Brussels on 27 January 2016. Documents relating to the STAR-IDAZ IRC can be found here.

The overall objective of the STAR-IDAZ IRC is to coordinate research at the international level to contribute to new and improved animal health strategies for at least 30 priority diseases/infections/issues.

The deliverables include:
• candidate vaccines, and/or
• diagnostics, and/or
• therapeutics and other animal health products, and/or
• procedures and/or
• key scientific information/tools to support risk analysis and disease control

The STAR-IDAZ IRC will be governed through an Executive Committee, a Scientific Committee and a variable number of working groups all supported by a secretariat (SIRCAH), the mandates of which can be viewed here. The organisational structure is illustrated below:

IRC partners

Partners

Filters

IRC Partners

Partners who have joined, to date, the IRC include:

1. Danish National Veterinary Institute (DTU Vet), Denmark
2. National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA), France
3. The French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES), France
4. Ministry of Health, Italy
5. Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV), The Netherlands
6. National Institute for Agriculture and Food Research and Technology (INIA), Spain
7. Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), UK
8. Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council (BBSRC), UK
9. Regional Consortium: Universiteit Gent (Ghent University), Université de Liège, the Federal Public Service Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment (unit Contractual Research) and Sciensano
10. Kimron Veterinary Institute, Israel
11. International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Kenya
12. Tanzania Veterinary Laboratory Agency (TVLA), Tanzania
13. National Institute of Animal Health, National Agriculture and Food Research Organisation (NIAH), Japan
14. Agriculture Research Services, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA ARS), US
15. National Institute of Agriculture Technology (INTA), Argentina
16. Ministry of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation (MINCYT), Argentina
17. Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), Canada
18. World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH)
19. Zoetis
20. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF)
21. HealthforAnimals (Global Animal Medicines Association)
22. Diagnostics for Animals (Veterinary Diagnostics Manufacturers) (formerly  EMVD)
23. European Commission
24. Regional Consortium; Nigerian Animal Health Research Network led by National Veterinary Research Institute Vom
25. National Advisory Council on Animal Health (CONASA) and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics (FVMZ), Mexico
26. CSIRO Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL), Australia
27. Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (LVRI, CAAS), China
28. National Veterinary Institute of Sweden (SVA), Sweden
29. National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), USA
30. Norwegian Veterinary Institute (NVI), Norway
31. Regional Consortium: Regional Consortium Switzerland, Switzerland
32. Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO), Kenya
33. Office National for the Sanitary Safety of Food Products (ONSSA), Morocco
34. National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO), Uganda

Joining the IRC

To join the STAR-IDAZ IRC Executive Committee, the programme owner/funding body, whether a member of STAR-IDAZ or not, should commit a minimum of $10 million USD over 5 years for future funding of research projects/programmes contributing towards STAR-IDAZ IRC objectives. If your organisation is unable to commit this level of funding alone it is possible to form a group, usually regional, and join that way. For further information please contact Valeria Mariano v.mariano@woah.org or Maddy Newman SIRCAH project manager Madeline.Newman@defra.gov.uk   .

Executive Committee

IRC Executive Committee

The IRC Executive Committee is composed of one representative per funding body (including public funding bodies, charities and the animal health industry), or group of funders, OIE, the Chair of the Scientific Committee and the STAR-IDAZ Chairperson.
These individuals are nominated and appointed according to the following principals:

• Individual STAR-IDAZ IRC Programme Owners/Funding Bodies
To be considered as a member of the STAR-IDAZ IRC the programme owner/funding body, whether a member of STAR-IDAZ or not, should commit a minimum of $10 million over 5 years for future funding of research projects/programmes contributing towards STAR-IDAZ IRC objectives. Each funding body can nominate one representative to the Executive Committee. Previous investments since 1 January 2015 contributing to STAR-IDAZ IRC objectives should be disclosed to help enable networking of presently active research teams. In the interest of keeping the size of the Executive Committee manageable, countries with more than one committed programme owner/funding body may consider designating a single common representative. All membership requests must be sent in writing to the Chair of the Executive Committee, for approval by the Executive Committee.

• Groups of STAR-IDAZ Programme Owners/Funding bodies 
Programme owners or funding organizations that would like to contribute to STAR-IDAZ IRC, but who cannot reach the minimum required investment for membership (such as public funders from a group of smaller countries in particular regions of the world) and/or provide funding for only a single priority disease/issue or a subgroup of priority diseases/issues, may form a group of funders that together reach the threshold for membership (i.e., $10 million US over a 5-year period). Each such group of funders can nominate one representative to the Executive Committee. Other configurations of group funders are also eligible.

• Stakeholders and representatives of advisory bodies 
The Executive Committee may invite representatives of the livestock industries, animal health industry associations and other relevant international organisations to participate as non-voting members. These organisations should represent broad industry interests and geographical areas. Upon proposal from a member, the Executive Committee can decide to invite other observers to its meetings or representatives of organisations that may be given an advisory role such as regulatory bodies. Such invitations shall be done by the Chair in consultation with the members of the Executive Committee.

STAR-IDAZ IRC Executive Committee: Mandate

The STAR-IDAZ IRC Executive Committee:

• Agrees and adopts STAR-IDAZ IRC Governance, Policies and Guidelines, including decisions on the creation or closure of Working Groups
• Coordinates research funding strategies to address identified research priorities such as those identified by the Scientific Committee
• Advocacy – promotes support for STAR-IDAZ IRC objectives from the livestock and animal health industries and services and the wider donor community.
• Monitors progress and provides updates to funding bodies.
• Reviews nominations and accepts new members to the Scientific Committee
• Agrees on a Communication Strategy that ensures timely and correct dissemination regarding STAR-IDAZ IRC objectives and progress made
• Provides a forum for the resolution of any conflicts, should they arise.
Members of the Executive Committee may participate in meetings of any Working Group.

Current Executive Committee Members

1.Danish National Veterinary Institute (DTU Vet), Denmark Kristian Moller, Head of Department, Center for Diagnostik, DTU, National Veterinary Institute, Kemitorvet, Bygning 202, 2800 Kgs, Lyngby, Denmark
2. National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA), France Jennifer Richardson, Head of European affairs (Animal Health Division of INRA), National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA), Jouy-en-Josas, France
3. The French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES), France Bruno GARIN-BASTUJI, Senior Research Director, Scientific Adviser Animal Health, Strategy & Programmes Department, Agence Nationale de Sécurité Sanitaire de l’alimentation, de l’environnement et du travail (ANSES), 14 rue Pierre et Marie Curie, F-94701 Maisons-Alfort, France
4. Ministry of Health, Italy Marina Bagni, Senior Officer of Research Unit, Ministry of Health, Italy
5. Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV), The Netherlands Francoise Divinach, Policy Officer, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Netherlands
6. National Institute for Agriculture and Food Research and Technology (INIA), Spain Marta Garcia Lopez, Head of Livestock and Aquaculture Area, National Institute for Agricultural and Food Research and Technologie (INIA), Spain
7. Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), UK Scott Sellers, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) Area 2B, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR, UK
8. Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council (BBSRC), UK Sadhana Sharma, Strategy and Policy Manager, Animal and Plant Health BBSRC Transition Lead, Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council (BBSRC), Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon, SN2 1UH, UK
9. Regional Consortium; Universiteit Gent (Ghent University), Université de Liège, the Federal Public Service Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment (unit Contractual Research) and CODA-CERVA (Veterinary and Agrochemical Research Centre) Hein Imberechts, Scientific Support Advisor & Biosafety Officer, Sciensano, Rue Juliette Wytsmanstraat 14, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
10. Kimron Veterinary Institute, Israel Michel Bellaiche, Deputy Director, Kimron Veterinary Institute, Bet Dagan, P.O.Box 12, Israel 50250
11. International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Kenya Vish Nene, Co-leader Animal and Human Health program, ILRI, P.O. Box 30709, Nairobi 00100, Kenya
12. World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) Gregorio José Torres Penalver, Head of the Science Department, World Organisation for Animal Health, 12, rue de Prony 75017 Paris, France
13. Tanzania Veterinary Laboratory Agency (TVLA), Tanzania Mramba Furaha, TTRI, Majani Mapana, Off Korogwe Road, 053 Tanga, Tanzania
14. National Institute of Animal Health, National Agriculture and Food Research Organisation (NIAH), Japan Takehiro Kokuho, Director, Division of Transboundary Animal Disease Research National Institute of Animal Health (NIAH) National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO)
15. Zoetis Olivier Martinon, VP External Innovation, Zoetis, Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA
16. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) Nick Juleff, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), 500 5th Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
17. Agriculture Research Services, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA ARS), USA Cyril Gay, Senior National Program Leader, USDA-ARS, 5601 Sunnyside Ave, GWCC-BLTSVL, Beltsville, MD 207055148, USA
18. National Institute of Agriculture Technology (INTA), Argentina Ariel Pereda, Coordinador (int.), Programa por Área Temática Salud Animal, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria, Buenos Aires, Argentina
19. Ministry of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation (MINCYT), Argentina Ariel Pereda, Coordinador (int.), Programa por Área Temática Salud Animal, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria, Buenos Aires, Argentina
20. HealthforAnimals (Global Animal Medicines Association) Alexander Rinkus, Executive Director, HealthforAnimals, 168 Avenue de Tervueren, Box 8, 1150, Brussels, Belgium
21. Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), Canada Primal Silva, Chief Science Operating Officer, Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), 1400 Merivale Road Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0Y9, Canada
22. Diagnostics for Animals (Veterinary Diagnostics Manufacturers) (formerly  EMVD) Stephen Hennart, INDICAL BIOSCIENCE GmbH, Deutscher Platz 5b, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
23. European Commission Jean-Charles Cavitte, Research Programme Officer, AGRI B2, European Commission, Rue de la Loi 130 / Wetstraat 130, 1000, Brussels, Belgium
24. Regional Consortium; Nigerian Animal Health Research Network led by National Veterinary Research Institute Vom Maryam Muhammad, Director/CEO (Research),National Veterinary Research Institute Vom, Plateau State, Nigeria
25. National Advisory Council on Animal Health (CONASA) and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics (FVMZ), Mexico Francisco Suarez Guemes, Director Facultad de Medicina Veterinariay Zootecnia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Circuito de la Investigacion Cientifica S/N, Ciudad Universitaria, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico 04510
26. CSIRO Geelong Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness, Australia Trevor Drew, CSIRO Geelong Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (formerly the Australian Animal Health Laboratory), 5 Portarlington Road, East Geelong Vic 3220, Australia
27. Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (LVRI, CAAS), China Hong Yin, (EXCO Chair) Team Leader of Ectoparasites and Vector-Borne Diseases Team, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, No.1, Xujiaping, Chengguan District, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, P. R. China
28. National Veterinary Institute of Sweden (SVA), Sweden Dolores Gavier-Widén, Head of Department, Department of Pathology and Wildlife Diseases, National Veterinary Institute (SVA), SE-751 89 Uppsala, Sweden

29. National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), USA
30. Norwegian Veterinary Institute (NVI), Norway
31. Regional Consortium: Regional Consortium Switzerland, Switzerland
32. Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO), Kenya
33. Office National for the Sanitary Safety of Food Products (ONSSA), Morocco
34. National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO)

Scientific Committee

Scientific Committee: Composition

The Scientific Committee is composed of approximately 15 members with a balanced expertise and representation from academia, livestock and animal health industry, and risk assessment and regulatory bodies.

Scientific Committee members are appointed by the Executive Committee from a list of candidates nominated by:

• Funding bodies represented in the Executive Committee
• Industry organisations representing the livestock and animal health industries.

Current Member of the Scientific Committee:

1. Wim H. M. Van der Poel (Scientific Committee Chair), Research Leader, Central Veterinary Institute, Wageningen University and Research Centre, Wageningen, Netherlands

2. Stephan Zientara, Director of the Joint Research unit Virology, INRA/ANSES/Veterinary School Alfort; Deputy Director of the Animal Health laboratory, Maison Alfort, Paris, France.

3. Dieter Schillinger, Deputy Director General of Research and Development–Biosciences, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi, Kenya.

4. Jeremy Salt, Head of Research & Development, GALVmed, Edinburgh, UK

5. Clara María Marín Alcalá, Head of the Production and Animal Health Unit, Centro de Investigación y Tecnología Agroalimentaria, Aragon, Spain

6. Denis Kolbasov, Director, State Research Institution National Research Institute for Veterinary Virology and Microbiology of Russia, Russian Academy for Agricultural Science, Pokrov, Russia

7. Edwin Claerebout, Laboratory of Parasitology, Department of Virology, Parasitology and Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

8. Martin Beer, Director of the Institute of Diagnostic Virology, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Insel Riems, Germany

9. Irit Davidson, Professor, Dept. of Avian Diseases Institute, Kimron Veterinary Institute, Bet Dagan, Israel

10. Bruno Goddeeris, Professor, Faculty Bioscience Engineering, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

11. Gary Entrican, Honorary Professor, The Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

12. Isabelle Kinney Ferreira de Miranda Santos, Associate Professor of Immunology, Department of Biochemistry and Immunology, Ribeirão Preto School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, SP, Brazil

13. Ruth Zadoks, Professor of Production Animal Health at the Sydney School of Veterinary Science, Sydney, Australia

14. Volker Gerdts, Professor, Department of Veterinary Microbiology, Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

15. Cynthia Baldwin, Professor of Virology & Microbiology, UMassAmherst, 661 N Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003-9301, USA

16. Linfa Wang, Professor & Director, Emerging Infectious Diseases Program, Duke Global Health Institute, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore.

IRC Scientific Committee Members, April 2019

Scientific Committee: Mandate

The Scientific Committee:

• Considers the scientific merit of proposals from the Executive Committee and their possible implementation
• Acts as a scientific coordinating body
• Proposes research priorities for consideration by the Executive Committee (priorities assessment)
• Proposes policies and guidelines for adoption by the Executive Committee
• Identifies need for and proposes establishment of new Working Groups, or the closing of existing Working Groups
• Defines the missions of the Working Groups
• Supports Working Groups in organising gap analysis and research prioritisation activities in liaison with the IRC Secretariat.
• Assesses and reports to the Executive Committee on progress made by the Working Groups (i.e., projects funded)
• Addresses arising issues of a scientific nature
• Organises the scientific programme of STAR-IDAZ IRC conferences as they occur
• Encourages exchange of protocols and best practices, and agree on standard operating procedures, good research practice, roadmap to reach STAR-IDAZ IRC goals in their scientific area
• Promotes interactions between Workings Groups

Working Groups

Working Groups: Composition

The working groups are composed of experts within the scientific domain of the working group, including representatives from funded projects that contribute to STAR-IDAZ IRC, additional experts and representatives of livestock industries and other stakeholders that are nominated by the Executive Committee or the Scientific Committee. Composition of the working groups should have a geographically balanced representation.

Working Group: Mandate

The Working Groups:

• Map and report on major ongoing national, regional or international initiatives in its field of interest to maximize worldwide awareness of these projects.
• Point out the problems and difficulties in the scope of the WG that ultimately prevent or delay the development of new diagnostics, vaccines/therapies and/or key information/tools for risk analysis and disease control strategies (gap analysis)
• Recommend prioritised research objectives, actions or solutions to resolve gaps, problems and difficulties in the scope of the WG
• Cooperate to ensure synergies of all research projects within the scientific area of the working group, by exchanging results, expertise, experiences and information
• Agree on good research practice to be adopted (e.g. standard operational procedures, performance indicators) for animal health research
• Promote scientific excellence and enabling environment, including human resource development and capacity building
• Liaise with other working groups as appropriate
• Adopt and report back on the implementation of STAR-IDAZ IRC policies and guidelines in animal health research projects and propose changes where necessary
• Report to the Scientific Committee at least twice a year
• Working groups may organise in collaboration with the IRC secretariat, scientific conferences in their domain

SIRCAH

Secretariat for the International Research Consortium on Animal Health (SIRCAH)

SIRCAH is funded by the European Commission through Horizon 2020 and is run by a partnership including Defra (UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), CAB International (CABI), UKRI-BBSRC (Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council), and AnimalHealthEurope (European animal health industry).

The mandate of the IRC secretariat is to provide organisational and communication support to STAR-IDAZ IRC and its various members and thereby contribute to the IRC policies and guidelines aimed at coordinating research at international level to contribute to new and improved animal health strategies. The Secretariat also plays an important role in advocacy for the consortium and bringing in new members.

It supports the work of the STAR-IDAZ IRC by:

• Organizing meetings of the STAR-IDAZ IRC Executive Committee, Scientific Committee and working groups
• Maintaining the STAR-IDAZ website and databases and keeping all members updated
• Assuring secretarial work for STAR-IDAZ IRC
• Assisting the Scientific Committee and Working Groups in organising research gap analysis meetings and running periodic foresight exercises
• Conducting, upon request, the preparation of any document necessary to the STAR-IDAZ IRC committees and working groups, such as assisting bibliographic searches or literature reviews
• Collecting and diffusing pertinent information and results to the researchers funded by STAR-IDAZ IRC members
• Disseminating results of STAR-IDAZ IRC projects with different means of communication: website, newsletters, communication materials, conferences.

SIRCAH: Contacts

Alex Morrow         (a.morrow@cabi.org )
Valeria Mariano   (v.mariano@woah.org)
Johannes Charlier (j.charlier@animalhealtheurope.eu)
Gareth Dicks    (g.dicks@cabi.org)
Georgina Grell (g.grell@cabi.org)
Sadhana Sharma (sadhana.sharma@bbsrc.ukri.org)
Madeline Newman (Madeline.Newman@defra.gov.uk )

SIRCAH Partners

Kreavet – scientific support in animal health

https://kreavet.com/ 

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-environment-food-rural-affairs

www.woah.org/

https://bbsrc.ukri.org/

https://www.cabi.org

Contact Us

If you believe, like us, that networking is the key to enhance research coordination and speed up the delivery of effective tools to control animal diseases, consider joining our STAR-IDAZ network!

There are several ways you can get involved to help progress the sector of animal health research:

Are you interested in our activities?

Sign up for our newsletter, LinkedIn and Twitter pages to be updated on our activities and publications.

Are you a funder or a programme owner for animal health research?

Join one of the STAR-IDAZ Regional Networks (Europe, Africa & Middle East, Asia & Australasia), think tanks to discuss regional animal health research priorities, set up joint activities and identify opportunities for sharing resources. 

Are you a funder or programme owner with an animal health research budget over $ 10 Million in a 5-year period?

Join as an IRC partner to steer the global discussion on animal health research needs and set up joint activities. 

To contact us, please email g.dicks@cabi.org with as many details as possible below and we’ll get back to you ASAP!