Regional Sub-Committees

In October 2025, VALIDATE established two Regional Sub-Committees (Latin America & the Caribbean, and Africa) to bring together members interested in growing science research in their region, to discuss and highlight their regional priorities and to identify how VALIDATE can better support regional members and priorities.

AFRICA RSC aims to: 

• Strengthen training and mentorship pathways for in vaccines and neglected diseases in Africa
• Build sustainable collaboration and resource-sharing networks 
• Address funding and infrastructure fragility in the region
• Improve career progression and reduce loss of talent 

Achievements 

• Organised a AFRICA RSC online symposium - 27 October 2026 .  The symposium served as a platform to showcase ongoing work across the region and to identify potential areas for collaboration among members — directly addressing several of the challenges raised in the discussion (e.g., building a community around vaccine development pipelines, increasing visibility of regional researchers, and encouraging cross-institutional resource sharing).
• Organising and Alternative careers seminar open to all VALIDATE members - 3 December 2026 

Latin America & Caribbean (LAC) Regional Sub-Committee

Chair: Dr Maria Adelaida Gomez (Colombia)

Co-Chair: Dr Luciana Balboa (Argentina)

The Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Regional Sub-Committee currently has seven members based in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Paraguay (plus a UK VALIDATE core staff member). The Committee will run for two years in the first instance.

The LAC RSC aims to:

• Advance collaborative research and innovation in vaccines and neglected diseases in the LAC region
• Build scientific and technical capacity across LAC institutions
• Promote career development opportunities for researchers, especially early-career researchers
• Strengthen regional coordination, resource mobilization, and knowledge exchange
• Ensure LAC perspectives and needs are represented in the broader VALIDATE Network strategy

Achievements:

• Members are giving a short talk introducing VALIDATE at regional meetings (where permitted) and when they are giving scientific talks, to expand knowledge about VALIDATE and to widen VALIDATE membership in the LAC region (where VALIDATE was underrepresented before the formation of this Sub-Committee). LAC RSC members also directly invited regional researchers to join VALIDATE. VALIDATE membership in the LAC region increased by 33% in the first nine months of the LAC RSC activities.
• Organised a LAC-focused online VALIDATE seminar, with speakers from the region talking about successes and challenges for vaccine development in LAC - watch this on the VALIDATE Hub here.
• Connecting with and inviting Viktoria Bodnarova (EURAXESS) to be a keynote speaker at the VALIDATE 2026 Annual Meeting, and to give an online seminar to VALIDATE members about EURAXESS funding opportunities in November 2026.
• Organising a VALIDATE-hosted symposium at the Latin American Parasitology 2026 Meeting in Colombia (Oct 2026) with three regional VALIDATE speakers - find out more here.