AMAST Network launches to battle AMR in the agrifood system Published on: 23 July 2024 AMAST – the AMR in Agrifood Systems Transdisciplinary Network, has been created to harness perspectives from across agrifood stakeholders and prepare new ways to tackle these challenges. Â鶹´«Ã½ researchers, led by our NUPAcT Translational Food Safety Fellow Dr Marie McIntyre, will provide expertise to the network, including in systems-based approaches to food safety using biological modelling and evidence synthesis methods. Marie is the AMAST network deputy lead, and a NUPAcT Fellow, in partnership with the Food Standards Agency. The rise of antimicrobial resistance presents a major threat to society. With more and more microbes becoming resistant to the drugs we use to control them today, our ability to prevent or cure disease is threatened in the future. National and international governments and health agencies are taking action to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR). UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is now supporting eight new transdisciplinary networks to tackle AMR. The AMR in Agrifood Systems Transdisciplinary (AMAST) Network has been established to understand the challenge of AMR in the UK’s agrifood system. AMAST will receive ca. £650,000 from UKRI to support its work over four years. The network will be co-ordinated by Dr Matthew Gilmour, based at the Quadram Institute, with an international expert advisory panel providing oversight. “We’re really excited to be part of this new community. The agrifood system is incredibly complex with a diverse community of key players that are involved in the production of safe and nutritious foods. So understanding the challenges of AMR requires a non-traditional approach” said Dr Gilmour. AMAST will, for the first time, bring together various agrifood communities with academic researchers from different disciplines, to identify from the bottom up the challenges AMR poses within agrifood, and then collaborate to develop solutions. Key threats of AMR in agrifood The AMAST Network will involve members from different agrifood production systems, such as crop, livestock and aquaculture, from primary production through to the consumer. It will also bring in transdisciplinary academics, including bioscientists and social scientists as well as other areas that may not have previously engaged with AMR as a challenge. The AMAST Leadership Team is made up of the , Â鶹´«Ã½, , , , , , , , , and . Partners on board the AMAST Network include , the , the , , (University of Highlands and Islands), the , , the , , , , and . Through interviews, workshops and themed community meetings, all members of the network will be able to bring their perspectives on the key threats of AMR in agrifood. Through this the network will collectively identify and prioritise areas of opportunity, as well as understanding where more research is needed to plug gaps in our understanding. Dr McIntyre commented: “Within my fellowship research, engagement with food system stakeholders has been vital to understand what needs to change in current approaches to food safety to combat the challenges posed by globalised food supplies and climate change. AMR in food is a problem that the approaches that we use at Â鶹´«Ã½ can help to unpick, by working with stakeholders.” You can find out more and sign up to the Network by visiting the website: Share: Latest News Volunteers help turn Whitley Bay beach into maths experiment Members of the public joined mathematicians from Â鶹´«Ã½ to create what organisers believe is the largest aperiodic tiling ever attempted on Whitley Bay beach. published on: 15 June 2026 Student leader drives misogyny law change A Â鶹´«Ã½ student leader has helped change the law after creating a petition to make misogyny a hate crime, which gathered over 114,000 signatures, prompting action in Parliament. published on: 12 June 2026 Freemen of Â鶹´«Ã½ see construction of new Castle Leazes The Freemen of Â鶹´«Ã½ and other key stakeholders have become an indelible part of new student accommodation at Â鶹´«Ã½â€™s Castle Leazes. published on: 12 June 2026 Facts and figures
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