STICHTING AMSTERDAM INSTITUTE FOR GLOBAL HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Their core work

AIGHD is an Amsterdam-based research centre focused on global health challenges, particularly infectious diseases in low- and middle-income countries. They combine social science research with clinical trial expertise to address HIV vaccine development, antimicrobial resistance, and primary healthcare system strengthening. Their work bridges laboratory science and community-level health interventions, with a strong emphasis on understanding the social and anthropological dimensions of disease management. They also contribute to public engagement with science and health innovation through museum-based and community outreach activities.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their early H2020 period (2015–2017), AIGHD engaged in science communication (SPARKS), HIV vaccine platform development (EHVA), and public engagement around frugal health innovation — a broad, outward-facing portfolio. From 2019 onward, their focus shifted decisively toward applied global health challenges: scaling clinical interventions in sub-Saharan Africa (WHO-PENatScale), building social science networks for antimicrobial resistance (SoNAR-Global), and zoonotic disease genomics (PIGSs). The trajectory shows a clear move from science engagement and platform-building toward operational health research in resource-limited settings.

AIGHD is moving toward integrated infectious disease research that combines social science, antimicrobial resistance, and health system strengthening in low-income settings — a profile well-suited for upcoming Global Health EDCTP3 and Horizon Europe calls.

How they like to work

AIGHD operates exclusively as a participant or third-party expert — they have never coordinated an H2020 project, which suggests they bring specialized expertise to consortia rather than leading them. With 107 unique partners across 40 countries, they maintain an exceptionally wide network relative to their project count, indicating they join large, internationally diverse consortia. This makes them a reliable, well-connected partner who can contribute global health expertise and field-level implementation capacity without competing for the coordination role.

Despite only 5 projects, AIGHD has collaborated with 107 unique partners across 40 countries, reflecting their participation in large global health consortia. Their network spans Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia, with particularly strong connections to institutions working on infectious diseases and health systems in developing countries.

What sets them apart

AIGHD occupies a distinctive niche at the intersection of social sciences and infectious disease research — they don't just study pathogens, they study how communities experience and respond to health threats. Their combination of clinical trial expertise (adaptive randomised trials), social anthropology, and One Health thinking makes them especially valuable for projects that need to bridge laboratory findings and real-world implementation in resource-limited settings. For consortium builders, they offer the rare ability to handle both the social science work packages and the field-level clinical components in a single partner.

Highlights from their portfolio

• WHO-PENatScale
  Their largest funded project (EUR 459,335), running a nationwide adaptive randomised trial for diabetes and hypertension management in Swaziland — rare operational research at national scale.
• SoNAR-Global
  Built a global social sciences network specifically for infectious disease threats and AMR, combining vulnerability analysis, One Health, and community engagement models.
• EHVA
  Part of the European HIV Vaccine Alliance — a major EU-wide platform for HIV vaccine discovery and evaluation, positioning AIGHD within top-tier immunology research networks.