The University of St Andrews announces two new Global Research Centres

The University of St Andrews has announced the creation of two new Global Research Centres to focus development and understanding around global health and changing climates. 

The Centre for Neonatal Sepsis will focus primarily on the global issue of neonatal sepsis – a serious medical condition that occurs when a baby younger than 28 days old develops a life-threatening infection. 

It is a leading cause of infant mortality worldwide, resulting in approximately 5.1 million cases and over 800,000 deaths each year, mostly in newborns under 28 days old. 

These deaths occur predominantly in low and middle-income countries, where infections are often healthcare-associated and linked to antimicrobial resistance.

The new interdisciplinary Global Research Centre will address neonatal sepsis in Scotland and Africa, bringing together established experts from across the UK and Africa to develop innovative healthcare solutions to improve survival rates and health outcomes for vulnerable newborns. 

The Centre’s lead, Professor Nicholas Feasey, who holds the Sir James Black Chair in Medicine at the University of St Andrews, said: “Collaborating with local healthcare providers and leveraging expertise across Schools including Medicine, Geography and Sustainable Development, Mathematics and Statistics and Philosophy, this GRC will foster sustainable solutions to the prevention of neonatal sepsis. This initiative aligns with St. Andrews’ commitment to global health equity by creating equitable international partnerships that enhance knowledge and practice.” 

Also announced today is the creation of the Global Research Centre for Changing Climates at the University of St Andrews. Climate change is one of the world’s most pressing existential issues. The centre will take an inter-disciplinary approach to better understand the diverse array of challenges posed by a changing climate, and the solutions required to address them.   

As the impacts of climate change are increasingly felt across Earth’s environments and human society, the centre will bring together researchers spanning the natural sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities, both at St Andrews and from global partners.   

It will address topics falling at the boundaries of different disciplines, including climate extremes and their impact on health and migration, the philosophy of climate science, and the impacts of climate change on ancient and historical societies.   

This holistic approach will establish the University of St Andrews as one of the world’s foremost centres of novel and deeply interdisciplinary climate research.  

The centre’s lead, Dr James Rae, Reader in the school of Earth and Environmental Sciences, said: “The next 600 years of St Andrews’ history will be set against a radically different climate. St Andrews is uniquely well positioned to pull together research on the plurality of changing climates – physical, economic, social, cultural – to better understand how we can address this critical global challenge. ”