Innovations to face disease emergence in the era of climate change: from research to technological development

This one-day scientific program will examine the current stakes and future research initiatives and collaborations needed to address epidemic intelligence for emerging infectious diseases from a data perspective. The event will offer a broader view of the future challenges for Public Health, focusing on the need to implement a “One Health” approach and exploring the innovations to improve the surveillance of emerging infectious diseases in a changing climate.

The conference will be a key opportunity to deepen the discussion around the demands of public and animal health epidemic intelligence given the rapid global changes and multi-source Big data. 

The conference is the flagship event of the MOOD project, funded by the Horizon-2020 program, organized by its leading partner CIRAD and the hosting partner THL – Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare on June 27th, 2023.

The event program will feature scientific talks from the MOOD partners, as well as presentations from related projects and initiatives, to explore the new frontiers of research and technological innovations, networks, and collaborations relevant to the early detection of signals of disease emergence and rapid risk assessment using multi-source Big data and data on drivers of disease emergence including human movements and climate change.

Main topics of the conference:

1. Future great challenges for Public Health
2. New frontiers for early pathogen detection and rapid risk assessment integrating genomic data
3. Improving epidemic intelligence through data mining, sharing, and modeling in the context of global change
4. The future of disease surveillance and pandemic preparedness in a One Health framework

More details about the program and registration will follow as soon as they become available.

Keynote speakers:

Hilppa Gregow

Hilppa Gregow is head of unit at the Finnish Meteorological Institute. Her presentation will be part of the Session A of the MOOD Scientific Conference, Future great challenges for Public Health.

Prof. Frauke ECKE

Professor Frauke Ecke works at the University of Helsinki in the Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Program. She is the project manager of the Horizon EU project BE-PREP (Identification of best practices for biodiversity recovery and public health interventions to prevent future epidemics and pandemics). At the MOOD Scientific Conference, she will go over the topic of Rewilding – mitigating or amplifying zoonotic disease risk during Session A, Future Great challenges for Public Health, the first session of the day.

Dr Serge Morand

Dr Serge Morand is the research director of the French National Centre for Research (CNRS). He has coordinated several international projects on the interlinkages between biodiversity and zoonotic diseases involving intensive field studies. He is a member of the One Health High-Level Expert Panel (OHHLEP) and a representative of the CNRS to the PREZODE initiative. At the MOOD Scientific Conference, he will host a remote talk during Session A, Future great challenges for Public Health.

Prof. Olli Vapalahti

Professor Olli Vapalahti is a Haartman Institute Virology Professor at the University of Helsinki. He is the project manager of the Viromit project (Viruses and their zoonotic potential), Veclimit and of the EU-funded DURABLE EU project. His presentation will be part of the Session B of the MOOD Scientific Conference, New frontiers for early pathogen detection and rapid risk assessment integrating genomic data.

Alex Richter

Biologist and scientific communicator, Alex Richter works in the field of evolutionary ecology. He combines fieldwork, laboratory experiments, and genetics to unravel the local adaptation processes of animal populations. He is part of the CEAB and CREAF communication team and the Mosquito Alert citizen science project. During the MOOD Scientific Conference, he will host a talk as part of Session B, New frontiers for early pathogen detection and rapid risk assessment integrating genomic data.

Chiara Poletto

Chiara Poletto is an associate professor at the Department of Molecular Medicine of the University of Padova. She works in the field of network epidemiology and computational epidemiology, with special attention to outbreak analysis, emerging diseases (MERS, Ebola, Chikungunya, Zika, COVID-19) and multi-pathogen/multi-strain interaction. During the MOOD Scientific Conference, she will host a talk, together with Esther van Kleef, during Session C, Improving epidemic intelligence through data mining, sharing and modelling in the context of global change.

Esther van Kleef

Esther van Kleef is a Senior Epidemiologist within the department of Public Health at the Institute for Tropical Medicine (ITM), Antwerp, Belgium. Within the MOOD Project, Esther is working, together with MOOD partners, on identifying how to improve the integration of the threat of diseases in existing procedures of epidemic intelligence. During the MOOD Scientific Conference, she will host a talk, together with Chiara Poletto, during Session C, Improving epidemic intelligence through data mining, sharing and modelling in the context of global change.

Dr Mathieu Roche

Mathieu Roche, PhD, is a senior research scientist at CIRAD (Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement) and TETIS research unit (Territoires, Environnement, Télédétection et Information Spatiale) in France. Currently he is involved in 3 European projects (H2020 MOOD, H2020 LEAP4FNSSA, Desira ASSET) dealing with One Health, Food Security and Agroecology domains. On the occasion of the MOOD Scientific Conference, he will host with Luca Busani a talk on AI in disease information detection and classification, as part of Session C, Improving epidemic intelligence through data mining, sharing and modeling in the context of global change.

Luca Busani

Luca Busani is an Epidemiologist within Istituto Superiore di Sanità, in the Centre for Gender-specific Medicine. On the occasion of the MOOD Scientific Conference, he will host with Mathieu Roche a talk on AI in disease information detection and classification, as part of Session C, Improving epidemic intelligence through data mining, sharing and modelling in the context of global change.

Dr. Tamara Giles-Wernicke

Tamara Giles-Vernick is a Doctor of Philosophy and a member and head of structure of the Pasteur Institute, working on anthropology and ecology of disease emergence. Involved in the EU-funded Sonar-Global Project, she will cover the topic of Challenges in scaling qualitative data: Experiences from Sonar-Global’s COVID-19 Vulnerability Assessment, during Session C, Improving epidemic intelligence through data mining, sharing, and modeling in the context of global change, of the MOOD Scientific Conference.

Cat McGillycuddy

Cat McGillycuddy, One health, Epidemic Intelligence and Risk Assesment Specialist, currently working at the UK Health Security Agency. During the MOOD Scientific Conference, she will present a One Health Intelligence Scoping Study, within Session D, Future of disease surveillance and pandemic preparedness in a One health framework.

Paula Cáceres

Paula Cáceres is Chief Data Officer within INRAE and the PREZODE initiative (Preventing Zoonotic Disease Emergence), and part of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), working in the World Animal Health Information and Analysis department. During the MOOD Scientific Conference, she will focus on  climate change scenarios and the impact expected on the risk of zoonotic diseases emergence and spread, as part of Session D, Future of disease surveillance and pandemic preparedness in a One health framework.

Laura Espinosa

Laura Espinosa is an Epidemic Intelligence Expert at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). She is a public health veterinarian specialised in food safety, public health and One Health at the Complutense University of Madrid and University College Dublin. ORCID id. Linkedin page.She has experience in epidemiology, microbiology and preparedness and response of public health threats at national and international level. She has been involved in ECDC activities related to multi-country foodborne outbreaks in the European Union, Zika epidemic in the Americas, Ebola virus disease outbreaks in West Africa and Democratic Republic of the Congo, and COVID-19 pandemic, among others. She is currently leading the digitalisation of early detection of threats through artificial intelligence and new technologies.

Welcoming session:

Advisory board members and chairs:

Audience:

MOOD project’s partners, end-users, and parallel projects.

Contact details:

• mood@cirad.fr
• Press contact: media-office@opengeohub.org