The Pandemic Institute launches £225k Aviva-sponsored funding call

Aerial shot of the Spine building (Pandemic Institute host) overlaid with The Pandemic Institute logo

Today (Monday 26th September 2022), The Pandemic Institute (TPI) launches its second funding call, thanks to a generous donation from Aviva to fund research into how we recover from pandemics and emerging infections.

This investment by Aviva aims to build strong, sustainable, resilient communities that are better prepared for future crisis events on the scale of COVID-19 pandemic. The work to be supported will sit within the Recover pillar, one of five strategic themes of focus for TPI.

Applications for projects with budgets between £10,000 – £50,000 are invited from investigators based at TPI founding partner institutions. These include the University of Liverpool, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool City Council, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and Knowledge Quarter Liverpool. Applications from other external partners are also welcomed, as long as they include co-applicants from TPI founding partners

Specifically, this funding scheme is seeking to support activity that covers the following four topics:

  • Resilience planning with local communities, for example ‘What was the real impact of the pandemic through the experience of communities, including sections of the community whose voices are often ignored or not heard?’
  • Understanding the impact of mortality and morbidity in crisis situations, for example ‘Did the pandemic create a mortality jump or cause a mortality shift in different countries?’
  • Sustainable business models in a post-pandemic world for example ‘What is the effect of the pandemic on insurance market sustainability?’
  • Pricing pandemics: new mathematical models for insurance for example ‘How can we estimate medical costs during a pandemic or catastrophic event?’

Applications for this funding call are welcomed from all founding partners of the Pandemic Institute (subsequent external partners are welcomed). The application portal and further supporting information can be accessed via this link.

About the funding call, Professor Tom Solomon CBE, Director of The Pandemic Institute (TPI) said: “Liverpool showed tremendous resilience during recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Through our unique academic-civic partnership, we led the way, for example hosting the “First Dance” party as part of the Events Research Programme. We will build on this, through our partnership with Aviva. We need to better understand the social, environmental and economic impacts from emerging infections and pandemic threats, so that we can support businesses and the economy in the future.”

David Schofield, Group Sustainability Director at Aviva said: “As the UK’s leading insurer, Aviva exists to be there for our customers when it really matters, and we also have a wider responsibility to help invest in the big challenges our customers and communities face. Part of Aviva’s Sustainability Ambition is to make 10 million people more resilient by 2025. which is why funding this kind of research into how we can build stronger communities is so important. We are delighted to be able support The Pandemic Institute and look forward to the outcomes of this work.”