1. Sign up for the AMR Register and become familiar with the Data Challenge Resources
- Details on how to sign up for the AMR Register.
- Sign up for the dedicated Vivli AMR Surveillance Data Challenge Slack channel. Use this channel to reach out to Vivli with any questions.
- Read the FAQs.
2. Form a team
Interested parties are required to form a team of 2-5 individuals and to identify a Lead Applicant. The Vivli AMR Surveillance Data Challenge has two types of teams, non-student teams and student teams. The Lead Applicant is the main point of contact for communications, and if the team is a recipient of a travel award, the Lead Applicant will be responsible for the distribution of the travel funds to the remaining team members.
Student teams can only have one non-student member who cannot be the Lead Applicant. Student teams are eligible for Student Only Team awards and for the Global AMR R&D Hub Cross-Domain award (if applicable).
Individuals or teams who lack teammates or particular skillsets should sign up for the dedicated Vivli AMR Surveillance Data Challenge Slack channel and post a message in the #I-want-to- join-a-team channel to find other researchers interested in collaboration.
3. Learn about the datasets on the AMR Register
Once your team has been formed, learn more about the datasets on the AMR Register to craft your data challenge research proposal. For more information about the datasets that are available on the register, visit our surveillance program page.
There are 14* datasets that can be requested for the data challenge. The data are available in the form of Excel spreadsheets and contain information on minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs), plus country of collection, infection & specimen type, year, microorganisms and antimicrobial used, plus most datasets include basic demographics such as patient’s age range and gender. The available data was collected in 89 countries over 20 years and contains over one million isolates.
For the 2026 Vivli AMR Surveillance Data Challenge, Vivli is partnering with the Global AMR R&D Hub. Global AMR R&D Hub data can be used for data challenge research proposals as long as there is at least one eligible AMR Register dataset.
Please find more information regarding the data available at the Global AMR R&D Hub here.
*Merck datasets can still be requested via the AMR Register, but they are not included as eligible dataset for the data challenge.
4. Submit a 300-word Expression of Interest
Once your team has narrowed down a data challenge research proposal and know which datasets to request, the Lead Applicant submits an expression of interest through the data request process on the AMR Register. See the step-by-step instructions for submitting an expression of interest.
5. Complete the Team Form
After submitting the expression of interest, complete the Vivli AMR Surveillance Team Form.
The team form must be completed after submitting the expression of interest as the form requires the AMR Register Data Request ID number. After submission of the team form, your team can upload a copy to the chat of the AMR Register.
6. Access & Analyze the Data
If your team’s expression of interest is accepted, the Lead Applicant will be notified through the AMR Register that their data request has been approved. Your team can then download the data immediately and will have a 8-week period to analyze the data, and to upload the Final Submission.
7. Create and Upload your Final Submission Document
Upon completing the analysis of the data challenge research proposal, the results are to be written up into a 5-page Final Submission Document prior to the end of the 8-week analysis window.
The Final Submission Document is submitted through the data request chat on the AMR Register
The Final Submission Document has the following requirements:
- Successful Submission of the Cover Page Form
- Successful Upload of the Report (5 page maximum including figures; see this guide on how to upload a document)
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- Abstract
- Objectives
- Methods
- Results
- Impact of the work
- Tables/figures
- References (Any style; Not included in 5-page maximum)
The Final Submission Document may include external links if necessary – these links must be for posts on an open access repository such as GitHub, OSF or Zenodo.
Please do not include Appendices (these will not be reviewed).
Submission documents that do not comply with these conditions will not be considered for the challenge.
See the Data Challenge Overview for information about Judging Criteria and Awards.