Health researchers awarded funding to forge new international partnerships

Two City St George’s researchers have received new funding from The Academy of Medical Sciences to accelerate global collaborations.

Professor Paul Heath and Dr Rebecca Webb from the School of Health and Medical Sciences have each been awarded a Networking Grant from the Academy, providing £25,000 seed funding over one year.

The grants are designed to stimulate new research networks across borders at a time when international cooperation is increasingly recognised as essential for tackling shared global challenges and to accelerate progress.

Improving healthcare for mothers and newborns

Professor Paul Heath will work alongside Dr Suraj Bhattarai at Global Health Research and Medical Interventions for Development in Nepal. Together, they will co-lead the creation of the Asia-UK Maternal-neonatal Infection and IMmunity Network (AMMUNet) to tackle deadly infections that pose a major risk in pregnancy for the mother and baby.

The AMMUNet is a collaboration between City St George’s Centre for Neonatal and Paediatric Infection and Paropakar Maternity and Women’s Hospital in Kathmandu, the oldest and largest public referral maternity hospital in Nepal, with collaborators spanning the USA and India.

Professor Paul Heath said: “We are delighted to receive this Network Grant from the Academy of Medical Sciences. The AMMUNet aims to strengthen North-South academic partnerships to improve healthcare for mothers and their newborns. Our initial focus will be on Group B streptococcal infection - one of the major killers in any healthcare setting. We hope to fill in key data gaps in Nepal  and Asia, and strengthen research capacities across the region to prepare it for the roll out of new maternal vaccines.”

INTERSECT Africa

Dr Rebecca Webb will work alongside Professor Genesis Chorwe-Sungani from Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, Malawi. They will co-lead the development of INTERSECT Africa – a network of researchers working in African countries who have conducted the INTERSECT survey in their country or are potentially interested in doing so. This network provides an opportunity for researchers, clinicians and policy makers to get involved in international collaboration, support with grant applications, and mentoring for career development.

The INTERSECT survey is an International Survey of Childbirth Related Trauma, which examines childbirth-related PTSD in an international context by collaborating with researchers across the world.

Dr Rebecca Webb said: “We are thrilled that we have been offered this networking grant. It has given us a fantastic opportunity to develop academic partnerships with researchers in multiple different African countries. With the aid of this grant, in June 2025 we held an online meeting where collaborators met to discuss their research interests and form new academic partnerships. In September 2025, we will be holding an online meeting in Malawi where there will be multiple opportunities for networking, support with grant applications and the development of a mentor scheme. We are all really looking forward to it, and the opportunities it will bring!”

Addressing tomorrow’s health crises

Professor Tom Solomon CBE FMedSci, Vice President (International), Academy of Medical Sciences, said:

“International collaboration isn’t just beneficial for science – it’s absolutely essential. By investing in these relationships now, we’re building the research infrastructure that will be vital for addressing tomorrow’s health crises. The UK has always been strongest when it leads through collaboration, and these grants help ensure UK researchers remain influential and connected on the international stage.”