Stef Bronzwaer, European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Parma, IT
Webinar: Healthy People from the One Health perspective
Many recent global health threats are linked to zoonotic and (re)emerging infectious diseases (e.g. SARS, COVID-19, AMR, BSE, avian influenza), climate change and environmental sustainability. These health threats are complex and cannot be adequately addressed by any individual discipline acting alone. A comprehensive strategy and transdisciplinary collaboration on all aspects of health for people, animals and the environment is required: a One Health approach[1].
In the coming decade, Europe will dedicate billions of euros to the necessary research and innovation (R&I) to support a transition to safe and sustainable food systems. EU Agencies are knowledge centres, bringing together know-how to inform policy makers, and can support the European research agenda. EU Agencies that have traditionally dealt with aspects of human health, animal health, plant health and ecosystem health in silos, now need to take a broader perspective and move towards a One Health approach[2]. It is urgent to define transdisciplinary research needs and formulate a One Health research agenda. It is encouraging that EU Agencies have established a cross-agency task force on One Health that can support this.
[1] https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.2903/j.efsa.2021.e190501
[2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352771422000969
Annemarie Rebel, Wageningen Bioveterinary Research Institute, Wageningen University and Research, NL
Webinar: Healthy Animals from the One Health perspective
Global challenges, such as climate change, urbanisation, increase in food demand and international trade and travel give rise to challenges for society. These challenges can give serious risks to human, animal, and ecosystem health. Adequate response and preparedness for new and old challenges should therefore involve the development and implementation of research bridging different domains, integrating human, veterinary, wildlife and environmental expertise: One Health research.
In the Netherlands 3 academic partners started an initiative 7 years ago to combine human and veterinary science within the domain of One Health, the Netherlands Centre of One Health (NCOH). At this time 6 other academic partners have joined the NCOH. We work together in 4 interconnected themes: Tackling antimicrobial resistance, emerging infectious disease preparedness, Smart & healthy farming and Healthy wildlife & ecosystems. We have built an One health community that connect the different themes and professionals working in the different domains via for example science cafes and annual meetings. Most importantly we also encourage young researchers in the field to exchange experience via the Young NCOH PhD’ network.
WUR is working in a broad research programme Erraze@WUR (Early Recognition and Rapid Action in Zoonotic Emergencies) were water, environment and behavioral science are integrated in this zoonoses programme.
We aim at working in new large research programmes on the intersection of prevention, detection, and preparedness. As well as increasing health in livestock and humans. The fact is that in the Netherlands this research is really hard to get financed, so we are mostly doing research in pillars, and combining it because we as researchers acknowledge the importance of the work done in this field.
Raf Aerts, Part-time Professor, KU Leuven and part-time researcher Sciensano, Belgian One Health Institute
Webinar: Healthy Environment from the One Health perspective
One Health is the interconnection between human health, animal health, and the environment. From the perspective of an environmental scientist and epidemiologist, I will describe seven aspects that define a ‘healthy environment’ for plants, animals and people. I will conclude this keynote by highlighting the multiple benefits of exposure to nature and green space on mental, physical and social wellbeing.
Matthieu Laneuville, Program Manager AI, SURF Innovation Laboratory, Utrecht, NL
Impact of AI on Teaching and Learning now and in the next 5 years
AI is a hard to miss concept these days. It impacts our lives and societies, but it is sometimes hard to grasp what is really happening. What is hype, what has concrete implications? What is part of a marketing narrative, what are true capabilities? In this talk, I will present a way to understand the ongoing innovations and their impact on teaching and learning. I will present common use cases, how they interact with existing practices and potential scenarios for the coming years based on decisions made by the sector today.
Alistair Nolan, Senior Policy Analyst, OECD’s Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation, Paris, FR
Impact of AI on Research now and in the next 5 years
Accelerating the productivity of research could be the most economically and socially valuable of all the uses of artificial intelligence (AI). While AI is penetrating all domains and stages of science, its full potential is far from realised.
Based on recent OECD work, the following topics will be addressed:
- Why AI in science matters for science, society, and the economy.
- The rapidly growing scope of AI’s applications in science.
- What we know so far about AI and research productivity.
- The (future) importance of AI-enabled research assistants.
- The advent and use of large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, and the possible implications for science. Recent experiments on using LLMs and other forms of AI to aid research governance processes, for instance in supporting peer review.
- Possible impacts on the scientific workforce, including the impacts of AI on everyday scientific practice, such as human-AI teaming, work, and career trajectories.
- The narrowing thematic diversity of research on AI and implications for less well-resourced research centres.
- Developing specialised tools to enhance collaborative human-AI teams, and how to integrate these tools into mainstream science.
- Why broad multidisciplinary programmes are needed that bring together computer and other scientists with engineers, statisticians, mathematicians, and others to solve challenges using AI.
- Targeting areas of research where breakthroughs are needed to deepen AI’s uses in science and engineering, including in high-risk, speculative ideation.
- Possible dangers of the dual use of AI-powered discovery.
Robbert Boudewijns, One Health Institute, KU Leuven, BE
Report of the outcomes of the three webinars focusing on the science of the One Health Triad
Presentation is based on a reflection of the outcomes of the three pre-forum webinars. So no abstract is available.
Susanna Sternberg-Lewerin, Programme Director, SLU Future One Health, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, SE
The challenge to develop interdisciplinary education programmes focusing on One Health
Historically, the One Health concept focused on zoonotic diseases, then developed to encompass other challenges facing people and animals alike but considering the environment mainly as a backdrop. Today, the One Health Triad could be seen as consisting of four elements within an ecosystem, using the global quadripartite (WHO, FAO, WOAH and UNEP) definition of One Health as “an integrated, unifying approach… that recognises that the health of humans, domestic and wild animals, plants, and the wider environment are closely linked and inter-dependent”.
However, the variety of interpretations of One Health, as well as new similar concepts like One Welfare and Planetary Health makes it difficult to decide what to include in One Health education. As the concept inherently requires an interdisciplinary approach, the institutional host of such education programmes is not immediately obvious but usually influences the content of the programme offered. In addition, the interdisciplinary aspects may be challenging to students and researchers in their early career, before they have acquired skills and experience within one discipline.
A number of One Health educations are already available, ranging from short courses to longer programmes, on MSc or PhD level. Some focus on zoonoses and/or other health challenges shared by people and animals while others take a broader approach to also cover environmental aspects, biodiversity, welfare and sustainability.
The main challenges in developing One Health education lie in the wide number of subjects and disciplines that could be included, and how to achieve an appropriate level of in-depth knowledge in these so that a thorough understanding of their relatedness can be obtained.