Visualising Pathogen & Environmental Risk (ViPER): an innovation platform to bridge science and decision-making in catchment microbial dynamics

可视化病原体

• 批准号: NE/M007812/1
• 负责人: David Oliver
• 金额: $ 8.34万
• 依托单位: University of Stirling
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2014 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FM007812%2F1
• 关键词: Visualising; Pathogen; Environmental; Risk; ViPER

Around the world the prediction of microbial water pollution is important for informing policy decisions in order to safeguard human health. However, modelling the fate and transfer of microbial pollutants, such as E. coli (& other pathogens) at different spatial scales poses a considerable challenge to the research and policy community. In the UK much research has focused on trying to understand the movement & survival of pathogens in environmental systems with a view that better knowledge and data on the behavioural characteristics of these micro-organisms will improve our ability to model and predict their interactions with, and responses to, the world around us. The NERC-funded project ReMOFIO (NE/J004456/1) provides an example of research undertaken in the UK to improve our understanding of the magnitude and spatial distribution of microbial risks in the landscape. In turn, this new knowledge has enabled the refinement of a simple modelling framework to allow for improved prediction of microbial risk on agricultural land, based on livestock numbers, farming practices and E. coli survival patterns under environmental conditions (e.g. rainfall and temperature fluctuations). While this model is useful, its current form makes it inaccessible to a wider audience and, most importantly, hinders its wider uptake by the regulatory community and those with a responsibility for catchment management and environmental decision-making. Indeed, models developed by the scientific community are rarely, if ever, designed in such a way to maximise their appeal to different end-users from the outset. Often what is required to effectively 'open-up' the access of sometimes rather complex science into a more user-friendly format is the development of an interface, or 'front-end', that promotes end-user interaction but keeps the underpinning science hidden from view. A common approach to enable this is the design of a Graphic User Interface (GUI) that allows end-users without specific modelling skills or knowledge of a modelling system to take advantage of existing science and modelling capability. A GUI essentially provides an effective means of translating scientific research into a practical tool for end-users.In response, this Innovation Project will promote engagement, deliberation and joint decision-making across a range of science providers (researchers) and science users (regulators, catchment managers and farm networks) in an effort to develop a GUI for the ReMOFIO model, and to explore the translation of this GUI into an App-based format too. This represents a critical step for ensuring that this NERC funded model and data delivers real-world impact through innovative conversion of the underpinning evidence-base into a format that is widely accessible by relevant end-users. The aim of the ViPER (Visualising Pathogen & Environmental Risk) project is to facilitate wider access and uptake of this NERC science, by stakeholders, in order to deliver that impact and to ensure that up-to-date insight and knowledge is transferred to the right people both in the right way and at the right time.

在世界各地，微生物水污染的预测对于为政策决策提供信息以保障人类健康具有重要意义。然而，对不同空间尺度上的微生物污染物，如大肠杆菌(和其他病原体)的去向和转移进行建模，对研究界和政策界提出了相当大的挑战。在英国，许多研究都集中在试图了解病原体在环境系统中的移动和生存，以期更好地了解这些微生物的行为特征和数据，将提高我们建模和预测它们与周围世界的互动和响应的能力。国家环境研究中心资助的项目ReMOFIO(NE/J004456/1)提供了一个在英国开展的研究的例子，以提高我们对景观中微生物风险的大小和空间分布的了解。反过来，这一新知识使一个简单的建模框架得以改进，以便根据牲畜数量、耕作做法和环境条件(如降雨和温度波动)下的大肠杆菌生存模式，改进对农田微生物风险的预测。虽然这一模式很有用，但其目前的形式使更广泛的受众无法接触到它，最重要的是，阻碍了监管界和负责流域管理和环境决策的人更广泛地采用这种模式。事实上，科学界开发的模型很少(如果有的话)从一开始就以这种方式设计，以最大限度地吸引不同的最终用户。通常，要将有时相当复杂的科学的访问有效地“开放”成更便于用户使用的格式，需要开发一个界面或“前端”，它促进了最终用户的互动，但使支撑科学的信息隐藏在视线之外。实现这一点的一种常见方法是设计图形用户界面(GUI)，该图形用户界面允许没有特定建模技能或建模系统知识的终端用户利用现有的科学和建模能力。图形用户界面本质上提供了一种将科学研究转化为最终用户实用工具的有效手段。作为回应，该创新项目将促进一系列科学提供者(研究人员)和科学用户(监管机构、流域管理人员和农场网络)的参与、审议和联合决策，以努力为ReMOFIO模型开发一个图形用户界面，并探索将该图形用户界面转换为基于App的格式。这是确保这一由NERC资助的模型和数据通过将基础证据基础创新地转换为相关最终用户可广泛使用的格式而产生实际影响的关键一步。Viper(可视化病原体和环境风险)项目的目的是促进利益相关者更广泛地接触和接受这项NERC科学，以交付影响，并确保最新的洞察力和知识在正确的方式和正确的时间传递给正确的人。