Our research
The Fleming Initiative takes an impact-led, convergence approach to addressing antimicrobial resistance. By bringing together expertise across disciplines and sectors, as well as insights from the public, we focus on areas where we can drive the most meaningful change.
Our research portfolio spans the pathway from discovery to translation and implementation: harnessing emerging technologies, developing and testing new interventions, and generating evidence to inform practice and policy, and empower public action.
​​March 2026 – August 2028
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This project is delivered through a partnership between the Fleming Initiative and Cepheid, in collaboration with NHS partners including Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust.
Background: Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE) are bacteria highly resistant to broadest antibiotics available, which have become one of the most urgent threats in the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crisis. When CPE is transmitted in hospitals, outbreaks can be costly, disruptive, and difficult to control. Current screening methods can take up to 48 hours for a result, delaying infection control measures and impacting on individual patient care.
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Approach: The team will evaluate rapid screening tests for CPE at Charing Cross Hospital (Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust) and St Thomas’ Hospital (Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust) to understand whether faster results will improve patient care, reduce CPE transmission and lead to better use of hospital resources.
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The findings will help hospitals and policymakers decide how rapid screening can be implemented to improve patient safety, prevent outbreaks, and support more effective infection prevention and control.
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Impact: The findings will help hospitals and policymakers decide whether rapid screening can improve patient safety, prevent outbreaks, and support more effective infection prevention and control.
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Project leads:
Project: AMR education for behaviour change
​​January 2025 – December 2029​
Background: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health crisis driven in large part by human behaviours such as the misuse of antibiotics. Scientific innovation alone cannot solve AMR without long-term changes in public behaviour. School-age youth are a key audience to influence, but existing educational tools are not yet widely adopted and lack a strong evidence base.
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Approach: The team will develop and deliver an educational programme by:
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Mapping gaps in the current educational landscape and host focus groups with teachers and young people (aged 14–16) to identify target behaviours.
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Co-designing a new educational intervention together with students and educators.
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Launching the intervention locally in English schools and evaluate changes in knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours.
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Scaling the validated intervention across schools nationwide and advocate for its long-term inclusion in the UK school curriculum.
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Partnering with global networks to adapt, co-design, and pilot culturally tailored versions of the programme for international audiences.
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Impact: The project aims to create a programme that could empower the next generation to become lifelong stewards of antibiotics by improving awareness, behaviours, and confidence around hygiene and medicine use. The programme will also be an evidence-based model that can be scaled globally and embedded into school curricula to strengthen AMR awareness and help protect modern medicine for future generations.
Project lead:
