Coronavirus Roadmaps
in collaboration with STAR-IDAZ IRC
Research roadmaps support researchers and funders to overview large amounts of data and focus research efforts into prioritised areas. As part of our project, we have worked in collaboration with STAR-IDAZ IRC to produce an animal coronavirus focused research roadmap, drawing on the expertise globally. These findings will be presented to the STAR-IDAZ executive committee and UK funders to bring forth future funding opportunities.
International Conference on Livestock, Companion Animals and Wildlife coronaviruses
(sponsored by Ceva Sante Animale)
25th May 2023 at Queen’s University Belfast
Leveraging the World Cafe method, UK-ICN facilitated a four-hour workshop at the international conference to initiate discussion around three major themes; vaccines, diagnostics and control strategies.
A total of 62 global coronavirus experts participated in this exercise across academia, government and industry.
Video credit to Ceva sante animale (sponsors of the LCAW workshop)
STAR-IDAZ Virtual Workshops
Research roadmaps were further developed through a series of virtual workshops that throughout October 2024. Over 40 coronavirus experts participated in the virtual workshops, providing a holistic overview of the global gaps in research and capabilities, with an emphasis on livestock and agricultural contexts. A full list of participants can be found within the roadmap report. A very special thanks to our facilitators who contributed their time and efforts to support the continuation and completion of these workshops.
Vaccines development: Dr Dalan Bailey and Dr Elma Tchilian (both from The Pirbright Institute)
Diagnostics development: Professor Linfa Wang (Duke Global Health Institute) and Dr Alessio Lorusso (IZS Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale Teramo)
Control strategies: Professor Wim van der Poel (Wageningen University) and Dr Karl Stahl (Swedish Veterinary Agency)
Research Road Mapping: A UK-Centric Prioritisation
29th May 2025
Following the publication of the global CoV roadmaps, we gathered 31 experts from 15 different UK institutions to disseminate findings with key CoV stakeholders including funders, government workers, decision-makers and active researchers, and identify areas of overlapping interests for collaboration. This was an opportunity to re-introduce CoV relevance in companion animals as well as agriculture, livestock and wildlife, and feedback our findings directly to funders.
During this workshop, optional preferential voting was used to rank roadmap topics by urgency/prioritisation in the context of the UK capabilities. We identified three priority topics per research theme as recommendations for short-term funding strategies, and several medium-priority topics with a longer-term focus. Full findings are enclosed in the UK CoV Roadmap report below.