Dashboard for WHO Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence Research Funding Tracker Launched on Pandemic PACT Website

We are pleased to announce the launch of the WHO Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence Research Funding Tracker on Pandemic PACT’s website. This is the second research agenda webpage in Pandemic PACT’s series of interactive data dashboards, which enable users to explore funding across priority areas in global health research. 

Pandemic and epidemic intelligence is essential for strengthening global capabilities for preventing, detecting and responding to current and future public health threats. This dashboard includes visualisations of research funding award data mapped against key research priorities outlined in the 2024 Technical Brief published by the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence. The WHO Hub had coordinated the prioritization process in collaboration with the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness (GloPID-R), Charité University Hospital Berlin and the WHO Science Division and with a financial contribution and observer role of Wellcome Trust. The 23 ranked research priorities named in this brief are categorised under three pillars: Better Data; Better Analytics; and Better Decisions, and aligned to eight themes for enhancing public health responses: AI and Technological Advances; Data Preparedness; Quality Standards; Analytical Frameworks; Multisectoral Approaches; Community Centres Approaches and Evidence to Policy. 

To facilitate the tracking of research funding award progress and identification of persistent research gaps in the research priorities, the Pandemic PACT programme has developed this live Research Funding Tracker dashboard in collaboration with the WHO Hub to monitor investments in research on the priority areas. This page includes publicly-available, downloadable datasets and interactive visualisations of the award details and can be filtered by theme. 

Dr. Oliver Morgan, Head of the WHO Hub, welcomed the launch of the funding tracker, saying “Research is the foundation for preventing, detecting, and responding to health threats. Understanding where investments in pandemic and epidemic intelligence research are going, and where gaps remain, is essential for improving surveillance systems and enabling evidence-based decision-making. Our collaboration with Pandemic PACT helps funders make smarter, more targeted investments in priority research, ensuring decision-makers have the evidence they need to keep communities safe from health threats.”

 Prof. Alice Norton, Principal Investigator of the Pandemic PACT research programme at the Pandemic Sciences Institute, University of Oxford and Scientific Director of GloPID-R, also celebrated the launch of the page. She added “Research prioritisation roadmaps, such as the Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence Roadmap, take a huge global collaborative effort to develop to ensure effective identification of research gaps. Pandemic PACT enables visibility of relevant research portfolios at the earliest stage of funding awards. Our close collaboration has ensured this dashboard provides the necessary live evidence to support better decisions on investments for these vital areas of research for pandemic preparedness.” 

You can explore the WHO Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence Funding Tracker page and its associated data here.