Fellowships

General information on Fellowships

LEAD develops and supports science and policy champions to promote understanding and catalyse partnerships that propel antimicrobial drug discovery and development.

LEAD fosters next-generation leadership that emphasises transnational and cross-sectoral perspectives. This approach breaks down silos and promotes shared ownership across government, academia, and industry. Through leadership development, LEAD Fellows become system-level change agents equipped to navigate policy, build coalitions, and drive reform — enabling integrated antimicrobial R&D that responds to public health needs and local realities.

Building on this leadership foundation, LEAD Fellows act as vital connectors between discovery science, innovation, and policy. Through structured international exchanges and collaborative learning, Fellows gain insight into the anti-infective discovery ecosystem in both their home and partner countries, while actively contributing to science policy development.

Those with a research focus engage in hands-on drug discovery placements with leading UK institutions, accessing advanced infrastructure and mentorship. These exchanges involve multidisciplinary collaboration with teams at the Sir Howard Dalton Centre, Diamond Light Source Synchrotron, and partner laboratories working on structure-guided drug design, AI-driven screening, and early translational research.

LEAD UK-Japan Fellowships

The Professor Dame Sally Davies and Mr. Yasuhisa Shiozaki UK-Japan AMR Policy Fellowship programme develops future leaders who can champion and advance an antimicrobial discovery ecosystem enhanced by new technologies and new partnerships between government, academic research centres and private companies. The Fellowship is supported by the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation and the Sir Howard Dalton Centre, University of Warwick.

Dr. Alicia Demirjian, of the UK Health Security Agency, and Dr. Nobuaki Matsunaga, of the Japan Institute for Health Security, were named as the first fellows in July 2024. Through their fellowships they:

• deepened their understandings of the UK and Japan antimicrobial discovery ecosystems and options for reform.
• built collaborations with institutes specialising in policy - the Institute of Development Studies (IDS)/University of Sussex and Alliance for Reducing Microbial Resistance (ARMoR) in the UK and the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in Japan.
• and developed links between their agencies and other national stakeholders in support of measures to strengthen antimicrobial discovery and development.