Antimicrobial resistant (AMR) bacteria pose serious, increasing threats to human health and clinical practice in Ireland. The circulation of AMR bacteria between environment and patients – part of “One Health” – is now a cornerstone of national AMR control policies. However, the public has misconceptions about what AMR is, how it spreads, and how antibiotic usage influences this.
To engage the public with One Health/AMR and linked health research, we will run an event in partnership with young adults from rural Ireland (over-18s), who have fewer chances to engage with health research than city-dwellers.
Working with local stakeholders, we will invite young adult participants to observe and contribute to environmental sampling for AMR bacteria in Central/West Ireland. Participants will learn how AMR bacteria are naturally present in Irish ecologies, and how AMR can spread, including in hospital/clinical settings. We will also explain how genome sequencing is used to study and track spread of AMR bacteria in clinical settings.
We will process and genome-sequence isolated bacteria at TCD. Later in 2026, participants will be invited to TCD, to observe labwork used to study AMR bacteria, and to use computational genomics to study the bacteria which they helped to isolate. We aim to report our findings in a preprint/manuscript, and to involve participants collaboratively in the writing process.
The event will be co-created with participants; sampling close to local communities makes the event relevant to participants’ interests and lived experiences. Other outcomes include participants learning how AMR can spread from environment to patients, understanding how genomics and “big data” support Irish health research, and engaging in research on AMR bacteria with infection potential.
We will disseminate outcomes through local media, the TCD communications/civic engagement teams, and local stakeholders. We will also invite the HRB to support dissemination, raising visibility of participants’ experiences/engagement.