IMPRINT

IMPRINT is a network focusing on maternal and neonatal immunisation, funded by the UK’s Medical Research Council (MRC) and coordinated by Network Director Prof. Beate Kampmann (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) and Co-Director A/Prof. Chrissie Jones (University of Southampton). Now in its second funding cycle, IMPRINT continuously 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 more than 400 members from 53 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 – 14 November 2025 (101.5 months)
Total Funding

4.213 million GBP
Coordinator

Prof Beate Kampmann, LSHTM & A/Prof Chrissie Jones, University of Southampton
Steering Committee
  • Beate Kampmann (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine)
  • Chrissie Jones (University of Southampton)
  • Paul Heath (City St George’s, University of London)
  • Clare Cutland (University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg)
  • Sonali Kochhar (Global Healthcare Consulting)
  • Beth Holder (Imperial College London)
  • Kirsty Le Doare (City St George’s, University of London)
  • Alexander Drakesmith (University of Oxford)
  • Manish Sadarangani (University of British Columbia)
  • Eve Nakabembe (Makerere University)
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 more than 400 members

As IMPRINT functions as a network, it is not a classic research project. With more than 400 members from 53 countries, IMPRINT is the most global project in the LINQ portfolio.

LINQ has taken on a plethora of roles to ensure that the network runs smoothly. Starting with network management, LINQ processes membership applications and our team is the main point of contact for IMPRINT members and coordinates network communication.

Further, we support the IMPRINT Directors and Steering Group in planning network activities and organising meetings (e.g., in the UK, Canada and Costa Rica), webinars and training sessions.

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

network

Coordinating calls for proposals for public engagement and research projects

So far, IMPRINT has funded 12 pump-priming projects, 4 progression projects, 4 career fellowships, 10 public engagement projects, as well as an industry placement in collaboration with Pfizer. LINQ has been involved in the coordination of all these activities, which aim at increasing public awareness about and deepen research into vaccines for mothers and infants in the UK and in IMPRINT’s partner countries, including Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, Thailand, The Gambia and Uganda.

To ensure that all projects run smoothly, LINQ works closely with the financial and legal administrators at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). We are supporting 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 guiding reporting. In addition, LINQ has served as part of the evaluation team for public engagement projects in the past. In collaboration with the LSHTM team a Public Engagement Toolkit was made available to our network members, ensuring that the public engagement projects’ impact continues after they have come to an end. 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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