Innovative Research in Epidemic Intelligence During a Time of Turmoil

Date: Tuesday 15th 16:00-20:00 Paris/Rome time 

For any questions or inquiries about attendance or contents of the event, please contact mood@cirad.fr

MOOD has just finished its first year of activity in the highly challenging context of the Covid-19 pandemic which started to spread at the same time as MOOD, in January 2020. Immediately after Covid-19 notification by the Chinese authorities, MOOD coordination was asked by the European Commission (EC) to participate in the global effort to fight the pandemic. Applied to MOOD scope, the goals were to provide disease surveillance methods and ready-to-use services and data to support the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC), as well as European Public-Health Agencies. Because MOOD was designed to also address previously unknown diseases, the reaction was quick and services were provided as from the very start of the pandemic. This was done while preserving the initial idea of co-designing and co-constructing MOOD output together with their end users, i.e. veterinary and human public health agencies.

As any human activity in 2020, MOOD was deeply affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, with the strange irony that mobility and social mixing are seen as essential for the success of innovative research in the field of epidemiology. Until the pandemic, scientists used to meet quite often to share ideas and experience. In addition, informal discussions in the evening are often more productive than academic meetings.

Sharing these ideas during a recent executive board meeting, MOOD coordination and its communication team decided to organize a festive MOOD Xmas event, to get rid of negative waves and restore the initial, energetic mood.

This event will happen on Tuesday 15th December from 4:00 to 9:00 pm, in a virtual conference facility. From 4:00 to 5:30 pm, Main MOOD results for 2020 will be exposed through a set of short, non technical talks. MOOD goals will be quickly exposed, as well as the sociological approach used to assess the needs of MOOD users (public health agencies). Then the floor will be given to the illustration of the three main activities implemented during this first year: (i) web mining for early detection of disease emergence and monitoring its spread and perception by populations (ii) providing standardized, ready-to-use data to public health agencies, (iii) modelling Covid-19 spread and assess disease control scenarios to support decision making. 

Finally, a festive and non-conventional view of life during Covid-19 pandemic time will be given by the French rock-and-roll band Raoul Petite, as a definitive remedy against melancholy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6cu2w3ES9c).

Agenda

SESSION 1: Introduction

16.00–16.10: (Europe/Brussels) Welcome! MOOD project in 2020 overview (R. Lancelot /E. Arsevska, CIRAD, France)

16.10–16.20: COVID orientations requested by the European Commission  and MOOD COVID-19 activities (R. Lancelot/E. Arsevska, CIRAD, France) 

SESSION 2:  Main achievements in 2020: focus on COVID-19

16.20–17.00: Main achievements in 2020: focus on COVID-19 (~ 40 min, W V. Bortel, ITM, Belgium)

• M Kraemer (Univ of Oxford) – Digital epidemiology
• M Gilbert (Free Univ of Brussels) – Preparedness and vulnerability of African countries against introductions of Sars-CoV-2
• G Guzzetta (Fondazione Bruno Kessler) and P Pezzotti (ISS Roma) – Impact of Nationwide Lockdown on SARS COV 2 Transmissibility in Italy
• S Valentin (Cirad / OFB) – Online media monitoring: opportunities for early detection of unknown disease in a One Health context

SESSION 3: Round table & conclusions of the meeting

17.00–17.30: * Round table with the panellists and the audience, addressing three main topics (~ 20 min., W V. Bortel, ITM, Belgium & E Arsevska, CIRAD, France):

1. Relations between science and decision makers  
2. Setting research priorities on the longer term
3. Lessons learnt for future disease emergence 

17:30–18:00 Raoul Petite band – Guest stars

18:00–21:00 Big Top festival organised by OpenGeoHub