Emilia Antonio

I am a Research and Policy Advisor with the PSI Policy and Practice Research Group which undertakes applied research on the design and implementation of policy and practice for pandemic preparedness and response.

I primarily work on the Pandemic PACT Programme - a database that curates global funding and evidence relating to research on epidemic-prone infectious diseases. It currently tracks over 20,000 awards from more than 300 global funders, supporting the identification of research needs and informing action in collaboration with global health stakeholders such as the WHO and major funding organisations.

I also work within the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness (GloPID-R) Secretariat at the PSI, where I contribute to research and policy development supporting the activities of the GloPID-R network (a group of 35 global research funders investing in research for preparedness and response to infectious disease outbreaks). I currently support the activities of the GloPID-R Clinical Trials Working Group, and previously contributed to GloPID-R's Low- and Middle-Income Country (LMIC) Working Group and its Regional Hubs. I have also worked as a Research and Policy Assistant with the COVID-19 Research Coordination and Learning (COVID CIRCLE) Initiative and as a Research and Policy Officer with the GloPID-R Research and Policy Team at the University of Oxford.

My research examines how research funding can be mobilised more effectively during health crises, with a particular interest in equitable international collaboration in low- and middle-income settings. I am a medical doctor with experience in public and private practice in Ghana, and  hold a DPhil in Clinical Medicine and an MSc in International Health and Tropical Medicine (IHTM) from the University of Oxford. Alongside my research, I coordinate the Pandemic Sciences module and serve as a writing tutor on the MSc IHTM course.