The European Partnership on Animal Health & Welfare (EUP AH&W)

The European Partnership on Animal Health & Welfare (EUP AH&W) intends to be a Research and Innovation Partnership set up in the context of Horizon Europe under a co-funding agreement. The project intends to run for seven years (2024-2031) and it comprises of joint internal proposal (JIPS) and external proposal calls later as well. 

University of Ghent, Belgium is the main coordinator of the partnership. Its general goals are to progress Europe towards healthy and sustainable livestock production systems (for both terrestrial and aquatic animals), including the new tools for disease diagnosis, novel vaccine platforms, reduction of anti-microbial usage, and to greatly improve production animal welfare, in line with the European Green Deal and farm-to-fork strategy. 

The EUP AH&W includes:

The RPO partners provide significant research-based advice to competent authorities in the EU and are the backbone of Animal Health & Welfare (AHW) research in Europe. The partners collaborated to transpose 16 actions from the EUP Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (EUP SRIA) into 17 Joint Internal Projects (JIPs). The overall coordination of the EUP AH & W is performed by the University of Ghent, Belgium.

As the EUP AH&W aims to improve public health and well-being through fostering cross-sector collaboration from a One Health standpoint, its agenda seamlessly aligns with EMU's dedication to fostering and advocating for a One Health approach in Estonia. During the first JIP call under the partnership, a team from COMBIVET and OH-BOOST researchers (Suranga Kodithuwakku, Alireza Fazeli, Toomas Orro) from the Institute of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences at the Estonian University of Life Sciences collaborated with a consortium of prominent EU RPOs and successfully secured co-funding for three sets of actions (SOAs), which are as follows:

Through the EU co-funded aforementioned initiatives, we will mainly engage in the creation of new diagnostic tools for high-priority foodborne and infectious pathogens, alongside the development of innovative vaccine candidates. The research endeavours across all three initiatives will foster enhanced collaboration between EMU and prominent EU research counterparts, granting access to essential resources between partners, facilitating human resource development through training in cutting-edge tools and technologies and will foster future joint grants applications as well. Subsequently, research findings will be disseminated in reputable journals within the field, while outcomes with commercial potential will undergo further refinement. Additionally, our official partnership status now qualifies EMU for the forthcoming JIPs call for proposals, offering opportunities to expand research in animal health and One Health at EMU. 


Additional information on the EUP AH&W: https://eupahw.eu