Oxford secures £118 million for AI-enhanced vaccine research programme
Funded by the Ellison Institute, Oxford’s CoI-AI programme merges cutting-edge AI and human trials to address diseases such as E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus.

In partnership with the Ellison Institute of Technology, Oxford University has received a £118 million grant to launch CoI-AI, Correlates of Immunity-AI, a five-year vaccine research programme.
Led by Professors Sir Andrew Pollard and Daniela Ferreira, the initiative will combine human challenge trials with AI analysis to explore how the immune system responds to antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli.
AI models developed at EIT will process vast human-derived datasets, including blood and tissue samples, to identify protective immune responses, profoundly accelerating vaccine discovery and design. CoI-AI pioneers a collaboration of biomedical science and advanced AI within a high-risk, precision-driven framework.
Orange funding will also support the creation of Oxford–EIT research infrastructure, including a new £1 billion campus opening in 2027, embedding AI-driven innovation into cutting-edge medical research.
Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!