IMPACT AMR is a transdisciplinary network of national and international researchers and stakeholders seeking to address key policy questions around antimicrobial resistance (AMR) mitigation investment priorities through the development of an evaluation framework to compare the impact and attributes of mitigation interventions. There is rising attention to the problem of AMR and political impetus to mitigate it, however currently there is little to guide decision-makers about which of the many interventions to address AMR, across multiple sectors and domains, will be best to invest in to reduce the AMR burden most effectively, feasibly, acceptably and economically. We address the need to establish consensus on key AMR impact metrics as a basis for developing intervention priorities across all One Health (i.e. human, animal, and environmental) settings. In methodological terms we draw on experience and learning in other complex policy spheres, and climate change mitigation in particular. The network will work with the AMR community and wider stakeholders to collate evidence to evaluate the technical, economic, behavioural, social and policy effectiveness, feasibility and acceptability of existing AMR interventions. A systematic approach to evaluate interventions with these criteria would not normally be possible, and requires the opportunity for transdisciplinary working, which extends beyond the boundaries of academia to bring science into conversation with policy, publics, civil society, industry, farmers, food manufacturers, water industry and health practitioners. The evaluations put forward by the multi-stakeholder groups and desk reviews will be set in an evolving appraisal framework that will cumulate data across different domains, including (a) optimising antimicrobial use, (b) managing infection without antimicrobial use, (c) preventing infection and (d) minimizing antimicrobial pollution. The network activities will take place across four workstreams which will serve as a basis for identifying impacts of AMR interventions, prioritising interventions, identifying data gaps and directing onward research in intervention development. The two tasks of defining impact and identifying priority AMR interventions form the central ambition of the IMPACT AMR network and will be tackled as Workstreams (WS) 1 and WS2, involving a range of consultative, review, mapping and framework development activities. WS3 will work across four domains of AMR intervention, each involving human, animal and environmental health, to map existing intervention evidence, evaluate impact, and to stimulate the development of new research to apply the IMPACT AMR framework and address emergent gaps. WS4 will provide a coordination and communication function within the network and with external stakeholders. This network presents a unique opportunity to drive forward answers to this critical challenge, filling a conspicuous gap in the AMR policy landscape and providing a framework to link in data and parameters from other networks, initiatives and organisations with a focus on reducing the AMR burden. The IMPACT AMR network presents value-for-money in both its approach to galvanising wide-ranging stakeholders around a tangible goal as well as for those tasked with making AMR expenditure decisions. Initially UK focused, the network is poised to support global efforts for AMR prioritisation in a second phase of funding.

Farmed Atlantic Salmon is the UK's biggest food export with an annual turnover exceeding £ 1 billion. This mainstay of our blue economy is principally located on the Scottish west coast and islands where it improves livelihoods, economic prosperity, social inclusion and wellbeing in remote communities, as well as providing a low carbon sustainable food. Elevated abundances of naturally occurring planktonic organisms (harmful phytoplankton, jellyfish and hydrozoans (hereafter collectively termed "plankton")) are increasingly understood to deteriorate the health of farmed salmon, negatively affecting fish welfare and the economic and environmental sustainability of the industry. Historically, most concern has been over harmful phytoplankton, but there is increasing evidence that hydrozoans and other jellyfish are also a major problem. The recent Scottish Government fish farm production survey (Munro, 2023) highlighted micro-jellyfish as the cause of a significant drop in salmon production. Harmful algal blooms (HABs) have long posed a risk to the survival of farmed fish (Bruno et al., 1989). Different taxa may be harmful through a) physical irritation of the gills, b) reduced levels of dissolved oxygen and hypoxia, c) toxicity, d) production of reactive oxygen species. Through modification of physical and chemical oceanographic conditions that drive blooms, climate change is influencing their spatial and temporal dynamics and increasing risk to aquaculture (Hallegraeff et al., 2021; Wells et al., 2020). The economic impacts of HAB events can be significant, e,g. a recent major farmed fish kill in Chile killed 29 million salmon at a cost of USD 800M (Anderson and Rensel 2017). Hydrozoans and jellyfish pose a great threat to aquaculture with effects including mass mortality events and damage to skin, eyes and gills, which in turn can trigger or exacerbate other infections, such as amoebic gill disease (Kintner and Brierley 2018). Ingestion can damage fish digestive systems and cause negative behavioural responses. The economic impacts of jellyfish blooms on marine finfish aquaculture were brought into public awareness by a massive bloom of Pelagia noctiluca that killed more than 100,000 farmed fish in Northern Ireland in 2007. The bloom extended into Scottish waters, covering hundreds of square kilometers (Doyle et al. 2008). In addition to such high-profile events, mortalities are a recurrent problem with the literature indicating that jellyfish blooms are increasing in frequency and size (Richardson et al., 2009) due to a range of factors including climate change (Richardson and Gibbons 2008), food-web changes caused by over-fishing (Lynam et al., 2006), changing nutrient profiles (Arai, 2001) and increases in marine litter, which may provide settlement sites for benthic stages (Holst and Jarms, 2007). Industry observations indicate that the problem has been acute in recent years (https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/23748545.tiny-jellyfish-big-threat-salmon-farming/). To achieve sustainable development in a changing climate (Scottish Government, 2023) the aquaculture industry urgently requires better understanding of the environmental conditions that promote plankton blooms, and enhanced methods for monitoring, forecasting and rapidly disseminating the occurrence of these events to allow sufficient time to undertake mitigation. Our consortium will therefore address plankton impact on aquaculture through 1) The combination of farm-based microscope plankton monitoring with novel automated imaging approaches, 2) AI based classification and enumeration of automatically imaged plankton, 3) Mathematical model-based assessment and forecast of plankton risk 4) Data synthesis, interpretation and real time web-based reporting to the aquaculture industry of plankton risk.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a multifaceted, wicked problem. Evolution of resistant microbes can arise anywhere along agrifood chains, leading to diseases that cannot be treated by currently used medicines. Human, animal, plant and environmental health are interconnected; actions such as antimicrobial use (AMU) in one sector, may influence AMR arising in another. National and global movements of people, animals and goods therefore creates a web of factors that influence AMR, necessitating systems-based approaches to effectively tackle problems. AMR transcends disciplinary boundaries, requiring collaboration amongst human and veterinary healthcare professionals, researchers from multiple disciplines, policymakers, regulators and the agriculture sector. The benefit of the AMAST (AMr in Agrifood Systems Transdisciplinary) Network is that it brings together, for the first time, actors from diverse backgrounds across agrifood systems to co-develop solutions to AMR challenges through collaboration, dialogue and action. Our aims are to CREATE a transdisciplinary community that bridges the range of research expertise, working together and directly with industry and policymakers, to collectively consider complex configurations in agrifood systems. We will HARNESS the collective strength of experience and expertise of our members to fully understand the challenges and opportunities to mitigate AMR in agrifood including across production systems, such as crop, livestock and aquaculture. From this understanding, and the collaborative resolve established amongst the AMAST membership, we will PREPAREnew systems-level frameworks for transdisciplinary research and partnership that acknowledge the dynamic interactions between actors within those agrifood systems. These frameworks will be used to guide understanding on (new) interventions on AMU and other AMR-promoting practices, that will lead to reductions in AMR in targeted agrifood subsystems, whilst minimising unintended consequences in others to achieve holistically beneficial outcomes. AMAST has been initiated by researcher coalition and partners from across the United Kingdom, representing agrifood-related trade and farming associations, agrifood research and innovation institutes, business development consultants, food-sector networks, government-led AMR surveillance initiatives, and other AMR-focussed networks. The formation and progression of AMAST will be guided by an expert panel, sharing their perspectives on AMR and connections related to infectious disease, aquaculture, livestock, food systems, food safety and transdisciplinary research partnering approaches. Core activities encompassed in 11 objectives at the outset of AMAST will be driven by meaningful engagement between industry, policy and academic researchers in a series of directed-events to understand varying perspectives, expertise and accompanying evidence on current food production processes that exacerbate AMR; and the challenges of moving away from current practices to mitigate AMR without compromising yield, quality and welfare. These events will include stakeholder interviews, workshops, and horizon-scanning activities, knowledge synthesis and authentically focused knowledge-exchange outputs such as perspective ('white') papers. These activities will inform subsequent programming to be developed within AMAST, including use of AMAST Flexible Funds supporting collaborative activities such as targeted researcher and industry short-term-scientific-missions, an AMAST Fellowship training that is authentic to AMR challenges, and further knowledge synthesis activities. Visibility of AMAST outputs and capacity building within and outside the network will occur using a tailored communication strategy and creative multimedia.