SEPTEMBER 2026 NEWS 

Message from Alex Lloyd, SAAFE CRC CEO

Thank you to our partners and stakeholders who contributed to the success of EDAR8, including those who were able to join us in person during the week - your engagement is what makes SAAFE's work possible. 

THIS MONTH

• READ: Key reflections from EDAR8
• LEARN: a recent white paper examines the evidence and gaps around integrating microbial endpoints for AMR into water quality guidelines
• MEET: SAAFE UQ Scholar Robert Spencer
• EXPLORE: recent AMR news, scientific publications and upcoming event

As always, we love to hear from you. If you have news, achievements, or exciting projects to share, please get in touch. Your stories are what keep our AMR community connected and inspired.

SAAFE REFLECTIONS ON EDAR8

EDAR8 brought more than 430 researchers, industry leaders, regulators and policy makers from over 40 countries to Brisbane. Across an intensive week-long program of keynote and scientific presentations, workshops and masterclasses, some key messages emerged:

• Environmental AMR is firmly on the global agenda: Policy is moving quickly, with EU requirements for pharmaceutical manufacturing and wastewater front and centre. This creates an urgent need to strengthen the evidence base and develop practical approaches to assessing and managing environmental AMR risk.
• We need to move from detection to risk assessment: Falling sequencing costs and better lab methods mean AMR and its drivers can now be detected more cheaply across a much wider range of samples. Detection alone is not enough, though. A risk-based approach is needed to identify the most important points for intervention, and this is unfortunately missing from the EU wastewater requirements.
• Collaboration is what turns knowledge into action: EDAR8 showed the value of researchers, industry, government and regulators working together to build evidence that informs decisions and improves practice. Collaboration is key to building the trust needed across the complex network of stakeholders who must act together on AMR.

These messages reinforce why SAAFE exists. Our role is to bring the right people together across research, industry and government to develop solutions that protect Australia's food systems, environment and communities.

EDAR8 has strengthened that network, and the connections made in Brisbane will be an important part of SAAFE's legacy — helping to translate knowledge into action well beyond 2032.

DERIVING WATER QUALITY GUIDELINES VALUES FOR AMR

Building on work initiated by CSIRO and supported by SETAC and DCCEEW, a recent SAAFE project brought researchers, regulators, consultants and other experts together to explore what needs to change to enable better use of microbial endpoints in guideline values.

The resulting white paper examines the evidence and gaps around integrating microbial endpoints, including those relevant to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), into environmental guideline values, and sets out a 2026–2032 Action Plan and Roadmap for moving from evidence to action.

SAAFE SCHOLAR IN FOCUS: Robert Spencer

EDUCATION AND TRAINING NEWS

INTERESTED IN DOING A PhD?

Quantifying Ecological Risks from Flood-borne Contaminants in Nonurban Landscapes

Want to work with a multidisciplinary team at the The University of Queensland and collaborate with the Environmental Protection Agency Victoria and Northern Arizona University? This project will see you working to quantify ecological risks from flood-borne contaminants in non-urban landscapes in a project which combines fieldwork, modelling, and ecological risk assessment.

Leveraging near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) techniques and artificial intelligence (AI) to detect AMR organisms in water

Are you looking for a project which combines your knowledge of molecular biology and clinical bacteria with your skills in sequencing and machine learning? The University of Queensland's Centre for Clinical Research is home to this project which will use state-of-the art tools and technologies to test infrared light techniques for rapid detection of the most common bacteria related to AMR. 

SAAFE PhD Scholarships are supported by a $45k per annum living allowance and tuition fee waivers.

Successful candidates will also benefit from engaging with SAAFE's extensive research, industry and regulator networks, and receive a dedicated $21k professional development fund.

AMR OPPORTUNITIES 

PhD proposal applications 

SAAFE PhD proposal applications are now open. The SAAFE funding package offers:

• A top-up living allowance scholarship of up to $15k per year for 3.5 years FTE
• A professional development funding package of $21k per candidate for 3 years

Like SAAFE projects, PhD proposals should be driven by an identified industry need. Projects can be submitted under 3 categories:

• Student-proposed project
• University-proposed project
• Co-designed project with university and industry partner 

Please contact SAAFE's E&T Program Manager Dr Lisa Kirkland for more information.

AMR NEWS

Keeping you informed of recent national and international announcements including the latest AMR policy and regulatory news. 

• The Quadripartite collaboration – between the FAO, WHO, WOAH and UNEP – has extended the implementation period of its One Health Joint Plan through to 2029. The 3-year extension will make it easier for countries to plan, implement and scale their national priorities under the global framework.
• In a new report on the financial and economic returns to investing in One Health, the FAO, WHO and WOAH make a case for integrating a One Health approach into health-related activities.
• Guidance from the WHO on integration of equity into national action plans on antimicrobial resistance provides recommendations on how countries can strengthen equity-responsive AMR action.
• The UK Government has published guidance on engagement and communication approaches that can be used to raise awareness of AMR and promote behaviours that prevent infection and reduce resistance.
• “One Health, One Action: Prevent AMR now” is the theme for World AMR Awareness Week, which takes place from 18 to 24 November. This annual campaign aims to raise awareness and understanding of AMR, as well as promoting action to tackle the emergence and spread of drug-resistant infections.

AMR SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS

SAAFE's research team has curated a selection of recent publications that may be of interest to our AMR community. 

• Yiallouris A, Pana ZD, Marangos G, Tzyrka I, Karanasios S, Georgiou I, Kontopyrgia K, Triantafyllou E, Seidel D, Cornely OA, Johnson EO, Panagiotou S, Filippou C. Fungal diversity in the soil Mycobiome: Implications for ONE health. One Health. 2024 Apr 16;18:100720.
• Zhen-Zhen Yan, Qing-Lin Chen, Chao-Yu Li, Bao-Anh Thi Nguyen, Yong-Guan Zhu, Ji-Zheng He, Hang-Wei Hu, Biotic and abiotic factors distinctly drive contrasting biogeographic patterns between phyllosphere and soil resistomes in natural ecosystems, ISME Communications, Volume 1, Issue 1, December 2021, 13.
• Mingming Du, Peipei Xue, Budiman Minasny, Ho J Jang, Alex McBratney, Macroecological processes impact Australian soil resistomes and climatically stable regions with anthropogenic activities serve as ARG hotspots, The ISME Journal, Volume 20, Issue 1, January 2026
• N.J. Ashbolt, C Hayward; Rethinking secondary disinfection in direct potable reuse: a risk perspective on opportunistic pathogens and antimicrobial resistance. Water Reuse 1 March 2026; 16 (1): 153–169

UPCOMING EVENTS 

Please visit our conferences and meetings page for more details about the below industry and partner events.

• IWA World Water Congress - 4 - 8 October, Glasgow

• National Water Week - 19 - 25 October, Australia-wide and online

• CEAStAR Conference: One Health, Multiple Solutions - 18 - 20 November, Brisbane

• World AMR Awareness Week - 18 - 24 November, online

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