IMPRINT

IMPRINT is a network focusing on maternal and neonatal immunisation, funded by the UK’s Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) and coordinated by Network Director Prof. Beate Kampmann (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) and Co-Director Dr Chrissie Jones (University of Southampton). IMPRINT aims to establish a sustainable network of stakeholders from basic science, immunology, vaccinology, social science, industry, public health, and national and international policymakers to answer fundamental biological questions about antibody transfer across the placenta, how to induce the "best" antibody, and antibodies’ effect on the maturing newborn immune system.

IMPRINT has close to 300 members from 50 countries. Together, they aim to investigate if and how maternal vaccines interfere with the way babies respond to vaccines later in infancy and childhood. To ensure the optimal protection of vaccines in pregnancy and early life, IMPRINT’s members also look at how co-factors such as nutrition or other infections might change the way in which mothers and infants are protected by vaccines. To optimise the uptake of current and new vaccines, IMPRINT is also trying to find out why women decide to receive or not get vaccines in different countries. The network endeavours to work out how vaccine safety and effectiveness can be best monitored in a world where different countries' health care systems function very differently. Addressing these implementation challenges will provide a better understanding of the issues and site-preparedness in the many geographical areas and populations in which IMPRINT investigators work.

Title

Immunising Pregnant Women and Infants Network
Funder(s)

MRC UK, GCRF, BBSRC
Duration

1 June 2017 – 31 March 2023 (70 Months)
Total Funding

2.93 million GBP
Coordinator

Prof Beate Kampmann, LSHTM & Dr Chrissie Jones, University of Southampton
Steering Committee
  • Beate Kampmann (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine)
  • Chrissie Jones (University of Southampton)
  • Clare Cutland (University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg)
  • Sonali Kochhar (Global Healthcare Consulting)
  • Beth Holder (Imperial College London)
  • Kirsty Mehring-Le Doare (St George’s, University of London)
  • Alison Elliott (MRC/UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit)
  • Alexander Drakesmith (University of Oxford)
  • Ed Clarke (MRC Unit The Gambia at LSHTM)
  • Heidi Larson (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine)
  • Roma Chilengi (Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia)
  • Neil French (University of Liverpool)
Website

www.imprint-network.co.uk

LINQ’s support to IMPRINT

  • . Network Management
  • . Membership Management
  • . Networking & Stakeholder Engagement
  • . Management of Calls for funding and awarded sub-grants
  • . Dissemination & Communication
download fact sheet

Managing IMPRINT’s international network of nearly 300 members

As IMPRINT functions as a network, it is not a classic research project. With almost 300 members from 50 countries, IMPRINT is the most global project in the LINQ portfolio.

LINQ took on a plethora of roles to ensure that the network ran smoothly. Starting with network management, LINQ processed membership applications and our team was the main point of contact for IMPRINT members and coordinated network communication.

Further, we supported the IMPRINT Directors, Executive Board and Steering Group in planning network activities, and organised meetings (in the UK and Canada), webinars and training sessions.

Watch the video to get an introduction to the IMPRINT network.

network

Coordinating large-scale public engagement programmes

IMPRINT funded 11 pump-priming projects, 4 career fellowships, 10 public engagement projects as well as an industry placement in collaboration with Pfizer. LINQ was particularly involved in the coordination of IMPRINT’s public engagement grants and career development fellowships. These projects aimed at increasing public awareness about vaccines for mothers and infants in the UK and in IMPRINT’s partner countries, including Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda.

To ensure that all projects ran smoothly, LINQ worked closely with the financial and legal administrators at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). We were responsible for the entire project cycle, from issuing calls for proposals and communicating them to the network members to managing the peer review and selection process and from overseeing the contracts and financial management to managing the reporting. When the projects came to an end, LINQ collaborated with the LSHTM team on updating and expanding the IMPRINT intranet to include a Public Engagement Toolkit to ensure that the projects’ impact continues. We provide a more detailed overview of the interactive intranet and the toolkit in this article on our blog.

Coordinating large-scale public engagement programmes
“The complex processes required to run our network and administer grants for so many different countries all over the world have been expertly managed by LINQ. They have not only gone the extra mile, they have run a marathon with us- with smiles on their faces. Without LINQ we would not have achieved our functional network.” Prof Beate Kampmann,
LSHTM
Prof Beate Kampmann
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