THE University of Dundee has joined a global group of leading academics and research institutions to solve the world’s most serious health issues at record speed.
The Scottish University joined the US based non-profit organisation Wellcome Leap, founded by the Wellcome Trust, to accelerate innovations that benefit global health.
The group today announced the first participants in the newly established leap Health Breakthrough Network with Dundee being among 21 world-class institutions taking part.
The agreement signed by the institutions of over 150,000 researchers across six continents sets a bar for fast paced research and development.
The COVID-19 pandemic underlined the importance of tackling large scale health challenges quickly and across disciplines and organisations.
Currently it can take as long as a year to finalise a research funding agreement, and when collaboration is required, work frequently cannot begin until all parties have signed – further prolonging the delay.
The Leap Health Breakthrough Network aims to eliminate barriers to progress after getting research from the Master Academic Research Funding Agreement (MARFA), which equitably addresses all terms and conditions, including IP, ownership, and publication.
Now that the University has signed the MARFA, it will need to negotiate only the statement of work and cost before funds can be transmitted and work can begin, often in days, shaving months or more from development timelines.
Professor Iain Gillespie, Principal & Vice-Chancellor at the University, said: “Dundee is proud to be a charter signatory of Leap and to realising the collaborative advantage of this incredible network to accelerating health breakthroughs and transform lives.”
Dr Regina E. Duga, Leap CEO said: “Wellcome Leap has removed traditional obstacles to build a network that can mobilise and synchronise to solve problems in human health faster than has ever been possible.”
