University launches new emergency fundraising campaign to help fight against COVID-19
In response to the current COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Liverpool has launched the ‘COVID-19 Emergency Fundraising Campaign’ to support its world-leading research programme into combatting the disease as well as providing necessary support for the NHS and the Liverpool City Region.
The current COVID-19 pandemic presents an unprecedented global challenge, and one for which University of Liverpool researchers, working at the forefront of innovation and discovery are striving to find a global solution.
The ‘COVID-19 Emergency Research Fund’, joins government and existing rapid-response philanthropic contributions, to raise urgently-needed funding to support the University’s research programme that is looking at both treatments and a vaccine as well as providing vital supplies to the NHS.
Research
Currently 150 researchers are leading on the University’s response to this global pandemic. University scientists are undertaking research to better understand the nature of the virus and how it spreads, and to develop effective drug treatments including the development of a vaccine. Our research resources have been redirected to urgently support the study of COVID-19 and, given the restrictions currently in place in the United Kingdom, these are currently the only research programmes operating from the University campus in Liverpool.
Teams of researchers from diverse fields that range from pharmacology, clinical infectious diseases, immunology, social science, molecular biology and virology have coalesced around a single virus and disease. Liverpool has unique strengths, which are significantly enhanced by teamwork and collective purpose.
Professor Calum Semple, Professor of Outbreak Medicine at the University of Liverpool (link), who is leading a team of specially trained scientists working to tackle coronavirus described the pandemic as “the greatest pathogenic threat to humanity for over 100 years”.
NHS support
University academics and staff are also working closely with our local NHS hospitals and supporting them in a variety of ways. From offering NHS colleagues free car parking at our campus to contributing vital equipment for use in hospitals and, of course, providing the support of our research community, the University community, including our medical students and staff volunteers, is doing all it can to help health services deliver the best possible care to communities throughout Liverpool at this time of extraordinary need.
Liverpool at the forefront
Professor Dame Janet Beer, University of Liverpool Vice-Chancellor, said: “In these unprecedented times the University of Liverpool has placed itself at the forefront of addressing the global COVID-19 pandemic. In a matter of days, the University has responded to the challenges presented by the pandemic.
“Now we’re calling on our local and global communities to come together to help us find the solution to the biggest global health challenges facing us today. By supporting this Fund, you will be joining a global community of staff, alumni, students and friends, united in managing, mitigating, and eventually stopping this virus.”
Professor Louise Kenny, Executive Pro Vice Chancellor of the University of Liverpool’s Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, said: “As a global community, we have never faced anything like this. The challenges, both for society as a whole and for us personally are unprecedented.
“During all of this, the University of Liverpool is committed to working with partner organisations to find the solution to COVID-19 and to developing effective drug treatments and vaccines. Join the fight now and help speed up our work to tackle this global pandemic.”
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