(Vienna, 14-03-2022) MedUni Vienna is involved in the international research network ISIDORe that provides services for the study of infectious diseases in Europe. The goal of the project is to make the EU more responsive to epidemics. It is funded by the current EU research framework programme Horizon Europe. MedUni Vienna will contribute to the "Epidemiology and Social Sciences" work package with Ruth Kutalek from the Center for Public Health as an expert.
The new EU-funded ISIDORe project consists of a multidisciplinary consortium of 17 European research infrastructures from 32 countries and a total of 154 partners. The meta-infrastructure project is coordinated by ERINHA, a pan-European research infrastructure, and runs from February 2022 to January 2025.
The ISIDORe consortium, composed of the infrastructure capacities of the European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) and coordinated networks, forms the largest and most diverse research and service tool for the study of infectious diseases in Europe, ranging from structural biology to clinical trials. By giving scientists with a common goal access to the entire range of scientific facilities, services, advanced equipment and expertise, its intention is to enable or accelerate the extraction of new knowledge and intervention tools to ultimately contribute to fighting SARS-CoV2 in particular and high-consequence pathogens in general, while at the same time preventing fragmentation and duplication of European initiatives.
MedUni Vienna, as part of the SoNAR Global network also funded by the EU, is a project partner and will contribute to work package 16 "Epidemiology and Social Sciences". Specifically, this provides services concerning the analysis of vulnerable groups (i.e. which individuals are particularly vulnerable to which type of epidemic) and the acceptance of public health measures (e.g. vaccinations). As Principal Investigator, medical anthropologist Ruth Kutalek from MedUni Vienna's Center for Public Health will provide her expertise on social behaviour in epidemics gained from her involvement in countries of the Global South.
Horizon Europe
Horizon Europe – das EU-Programm für Forschung und Innovation – ist das größte transnationale Forschungsförderungsprogramm der Welt. Es ist mit über 95,5 Mio Euro dotiert und läuft von 2021-2027. Es ist im Wesentlichen die Fortführung des 8. Rahmenprogramms Horizon 2020 und unterstützt weiterhin den gesamten Bogen von der Grundlagenforschung bis zur Anwendung von Ergebnissen.