Background: The level and nature of social contacts are important determinants of how fast an infectious disease such as SARS-CoV-2 spreads in a population. As part of the H2020 EpiPose project (GA N°101003688) which provides epidemic intelligence to minimize COVID-19's impact on society, economy and public health, social contact data was collected. The CoMix study was originally designed and budgeted for data collection in three countries (UK, NL, BE). Because CoMix provides a crucial way to understand a population’s behavior and response to control measures and offers valuable insights for data-driven policy-support, the European Commission increased the budget for EpiPose with an additional 1.6 million euro in order to expand data collection to other European countries and stimulate cross-country analysis and collaboration. Main activities: From a project management perspective, the following challenges were addressed: We extended the relevant tasks, work packages and deliverables according to the broader data collection and the more impactful insights and policy-support With the help of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, we established a network of academic and public health organizations across Europe who would support the implementation of the survey in their country with regards to ethical approval and translations of the questionnaire. We eventually extended the survey to a further 17 countries. We secured the supplementary funding through an amendment to the Grant Agreement taking into account the modified work description and new collaborators added as third parties We commissioned a subcontractor in charge of the survey field work, taking into account applicable procurement procedures We enabled GDPR-compliant data-access and analysis by third parties through collaboration agreements We coordinated ethical approval of the CoMix study in all participating countries through translated survey documents, shared study protocols and other ethical guidance documents We facilitated interaction and sharing of best practices in analysis (including software code) and interpretation of CoMix data through online stakeholder meetings We maximized visibility of CoMix-based outputs and policy-advice through output tracking, blogs, videos, social media content and press releases We maximized access and re-use of CoMix data through our open access data repository socialcontactdata.org Lessons learned: This ensemble of work was made possible thanks to a good understanding of the grant data amendment procedure. Regular interaction with project, legal and financial officers of the European Commission helped us to grasp the requirements and translate regulatory jargon into operational steps. Working with partners in various countries in Europe highlights the large variability in requirements and speed of ethical procedures as well as in the level of experience in working in the context of an EU funded budget. It has been important to take efforts to share best practices and communicate clearly about expected contributions, e.g. through guidelines for co-authored publications. Strong coordination of this cross-country network enabled the rapid dissemination of findings to policy makers across Europe both at a local level as well as at the level of the European Commission, other EU funded projects and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
