In this reflective video, Professor Sally Theobald from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine joins the GEAR Up project to spotlight the urgent need for gender equity in addressing antimicrobial resistance (AMR). She explains that AMR research has traditionally been dominated by biomedical, laboratory-based approaches – often missing the broader social and gendered realities that shape people’s access to care and responses to treatment.

The video captures a creative workshop where participants explore collage as a method for communicating across languages, cultures, and disciplines. This environmentally sensitive and accessible medium encourages a slower, more embodied way of thinking – sparking emotional engagement as well as intellectual reflection.

As one participant notes, “collage lets us design with intent,” giving visual form to complex ideas about progress, fragility, and hope.

Throughout the workshop, visuals like symbolic cars, heart icons, and pill shapes emerge, each representing key elements of research, resilience, and evolving health systems. Participants describe their work as a shared visioning process, using art to express a theory of change that can be tested and co-developed with global partners, such as community-based researchers in Kenya.

“The Journey to Equity” ultimately becomes more than just a title – it captures the spirit of GEAR Up: a collective journey toward more inclusive, intersectional, and grounded responses to AMR.

This approach moves beyond narrow data and siloed health systems, aiming instead to understand the social drivers of infection and create space for diverse voices in shaping solutions.