Strengthening Swedish research into antibiotic resistance

Antibiotic resistance has an impact on many parts of society: Patients become sicker, and healthcare becomes more expensive and more risky when infections caused by resistant bacteria cannot be treated. To avoid unnecessary use of antibiotics, which drives the development of resistance, we need new methods in healthcare, animal husbandry, food production and trade. Policies and regulations also need to interact so that resources are targeted at where they are most needed.

To create a basis for initiatives against antibiotic resistance, we need knowledge about every single part of the system, and about how they all fit together.

“We need more knowledge about prevention, diagnostics, monitoring and providing the right therapy, but also about how resistance is transferred between bacteria, between individuals and via different parts of the environment. Here, theories and methods from other scientific fields can contribute important knowledge,” says Madeleine Durbeej Hjalt, Secretary General of Medicine and Health at the Swedish Research Council.

In spring 2024, the Swedish Research Council will allocate 50 million SEK via the national research programme in antibiotic resistance for a call for undirected research funding: Project grant for research in antimicrobial resistance – from biological mechanisms to societal aspects. The call gives researchers from different scientific fields the opportunity to apply for funding for projects where they formulate their own research concepts, methods and implementation. The purpose of the grant is to support research in antimicrobial resistance from one or several perspectives: human and veterinary medicine, pharmaceutics, public health science, social sciences, humanities, natural sciences, engineering sciences or environmental science.

“By widening the call to also include social sciences, we may obtain knowledge about the effects, costs and feasibility of strategies against antibiotic resistance, and therefore broaden our understanding of how antibiotic resistance can be prevented and managed,” says Ulrica Dohnhammar, Programme Manager for the national research programme in antibiotic resistance.

The national research programme in antibiotic resistance supports both basic research and applied research. By supporting researchers at differing career stages, the programme contributes to Sweden having an active researcher corps in this field. A further two calls will be issued under the programme next year: Grant to graduate schools and grant for proof-of-concept studies, where research results are further developed for implementation or commercialisation.