Joining the
STAR IDAZ community

STAR IDAZ IRC is the "Global Strategic Alliances for the Coordination of Research on the Major Infectious Diseases of Animals and Zoonoses - International Research Consortium”. It is a global consortium that brings together funders and programme owners for research on animal health to maximise funding for coordinated animal health research. To achieve its aim, STAR IDAZ facilitates networking among funders, researchers, industry experts, policymakers and other stakeholders to collaborate on research and innovation in the field of infectious animal diseases.

Facilitating Collaboration: By bringing together funders and programme owners for research in animal health researchers and stakeholders from diverse backgrounds and regions, STAR IDAZ IRC aims to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing to address the challenges posed by infectious animal diseases.

Prioritising Research: STAR IDAZ IRC works to identify priority areas for research and innovation in the field of infectious animal diseases, ensuring that resources are allocated effectively to address the most pressing issues.

Delivering Innovations: Through partnership and fostering calls for relevant research projects, STAR IDAZ IRC aims to support the development of innovative solutions, including vaccines, diagnostics, therapeutics and key scientific information to control infectious animal diseases.

Coordinating research on animal health optimises research funding and accelerates the delivery of key knowledge and tools to improve animal health on major infectious diseases of livestock and zoonoses. These efforts enhance One Health (SDGs 2, 3, 14 and 15) and sustainability in livestock productions (SDGs 1, 8,12 and 13).

No, there is no fee to join STAR IDAZ IRC. STAR IDAZ aims to foster networking and collaboration in the animal health research field and does not charge any fee to its members. If you are a researcher belonging to either a public or private organisation, you are welcome to join, share your research project, and allow other researchers and funders to know about your research interests and expertise.

No, membership is free. STAR IDAZ aims to foster networking and collaboration in the animal health research field and does not charge any fees to members. Benefits of joining as an organization include participating in regional network meetings, contributing to discussions on common research priorities, staying updated on global STAR IDAZ IRC activities, exploring resource-sharing opportunities, and accessing international funding opportunities.

Partnership is free of charge, and joining the Executive Committee of STAR IDAZ IRC offers several benefits. Committee members have the opportunity to create a critical mass to drive change in the animal health sector. Benefits include biannual meetings with other research funders/programme owners, exchanging the latest information on animal health research capacity and opportunities globally, contributing to priority research recommendations, improving consultation with international organizations, and collaborating on research priorities for future funding.

No, partnership is free of charge. The only commitment request for partners is to participate in bi-annual meetings and sponsor participation of their Executive Committee Delegate at one annual in-person meeting. Partners are not requested to fund joint activities (e.g. support joint workshops or calls for projects) but are welcome to do so based on their funding capacity.

Partners are members capable of agreeing to invest a minimum of US$ 10 million in research over a five-year period on shared priorities and can participate in the decision-making body of STAR IDAZ IRC, the Executive Committee. As Executive Committee members, partners shape the global research priorities, decide to open or close working groups, adopt governance policies and guidelines, coordinate funding strategies on agreed priorities, share results to facilitate research coordination (respecting intellectual policy rights), select members of the Scientific Committee, and monitor the progress of the consortium.

Partners are not required to share funding with other organisations unless they choose to do so voluntarily. The US$ 10 million budget over five years, invested in agreed research priority topics is only an eligibility criterion for partnership.

Organisations that meet these criteria are welcome to join the decisional body of the IRC (Executive Committee). If organisations do not meet the threshold individually and are willing to participate in the decision making, they may join as part of a regional consortium and have one delegate in the Executive Committee for their consortium.

If you are uncertain about your organisation’s capacity, you can engage with existing members of STAR IDAZ IRC to learn more about our way of working. Additionally, you may contact the STAR IDAZ IRC Secretariat directly to request a tailored meeting and receive all the information needed. Please contact: Valeria Mariano (v.mariano@woah.org) or Maddy Newman (Madeline.Newman@defra.gov.uk).