OHC Speakers and presentation

 

Home Plenary Speakers Programme Organisation Sessions

First Plenary introductory speakers (+ background information) (Thursday: 9:00- 10:15):

chair: Thierry Van Den Berg

 

Ms. Aline Van der Werf welcomed the participants to the Belgian Federal Public Planning Service Science Policy (BELSPO) where the meeting was hosted, emphasizing the importance of community building on this important topic for science, policy and practice.

 

Cristina Romanelli (Convention on Biological Diversity - United Nations University International Institute for Global Health - University College London):

She was principal lead coordinating author of the 2015 WHO-CBD State of Knowledge Review Connecting Global Priorities: Biodiversity and Human Health and has co-authored and contributed to various reports, book chapters and journal articles including the recent report of The Rockefeller Foundation–Lancet Commission on planetary health. Prior to joining the CBD in 2010, she worked as a senior sustainability consultant specialized in sustainability policy and climate change, representing clients from the public, non-governmental and private sectors in over 35 energy regulatory proceedings, expert consultations and committees. She holds a Master of Science in Environmental Assessment, a Master of Arts in International Relations and is currently a doctoral researcher at University College London, UK. Her doctoral research focuses on the science-policy interface of biodiversity conservation, human health and sustainable development.

 

 

Serge Morand (Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (ISEM) University of Montpellier-II - Animal and integrated risk management CIRAD):

His main research interests are the evolutionary ecology of host - parasite interactions and population biology of parasites and pathogens. His current research aims to apply recent results of biodiversity science to understanding the emergence of pathogens linked to global change, including climate change and biodiversity changes.

 

 

Richard Kock (Royal Veterinary College of the University of London

Richard Kock is a dedicated wildlife veterinarian, researcher and conservationist. From 1983 to 2010 he was attached to the Zoological Society of London (ZSL); working in zoological medicine from 1983-1990 in the UK, then seconded abroad from 1991 to 2006. He worked on free-ranging wildlife health with the national wildlife management authority (Kenya Wildlife Service KWS) in Nairobi, Kenya 1991-1998 to start a new Veterinary Department. This initiative is now a model in the region with 12 vets and 72 permanent staff. Throughout this time he was involved in research, management and conservation initiatives in the region and built networks and wildlife health capacity. From 1999 – 2005 he was seconded to a regional body, African Union Inter African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) to work on rinderpest and other transboundary animal diseases at the wildlife, livestock and human interface. This involved the organisation and implementation of epidemiological research (sero-surveillance and outbreak investigation) in wildlife species throughout eastern, central and western Africa based out of Nairobi. In 2001, he detected and ensured diagnosis of the last globally known epidemic of rinderpest, which occured in wild buffalo in Meru National Park, Kenya. He also worked on a range of other infectious diseases including Pestes des Petits Ruminants, Rift Valley Fever, anthrax and other wildlife diseases. He returned to the UK in 2006 and worked until 2010 as a Programme Manager at ZSL, running regional conservation projects in deserts and rangelands in Africa, Middle East and Asia with a wildlife health perspective. This included overall responsibility for management of the King Khalid Wildlife Research Centre near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In 2011 he took up a chair in Wildlife Health and Emerging Diseases at the Pathology and Pathogen Biology  Department, Royal Veterinary College, Hawkshead Campus, London, UK. He has been engaged closely with the evolving One Health initiative and in promoting wildlife and environment in the health agenda. He has led the development and implementation of a new One Health Masters in Science course run jointly by the Royal Veterinary College and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine launched in 2013 and of which he remains co-Director.

 

 

Ms. Birgit Van Tongelen (EU – DG Research and Innovation) presented Fighting Infectious Diseases and Advancing Public Health - Emerging epidemics, introducing the EU activities related to One Health research.

 

 

Second Plenary introductory speakers (+background information) (Thursday: 16:30 - 18:30):

Experiences on OneHealth practice and integration challenges 

Chair: Sue Welburn

We will bring together people from different communities in science, policy and practice to exchange experience and views, and discuss opportunities and challenges for integration and practice. Experienced OneHealth/EcoHealth experts, networks and projects from different countries within Europe but also beyond, like developing countries in the South, will contribute to the workshop, as will representatives from the CDB-WHO State of Knowledge review. Participants will jointly discuss experiences, opportunities and challenges surpassing more restricted topical foci. This will also build upon a survey that will precede the workshop in which a wide range of relevant experts from science, policy and societal practice will be consulted to give their perspective on the One Health ambition. Together we aim to raise awareness and formulate key lessons learned and key steps forward messages.

This part of the program is developed in close collaboration with the Network for Evaluation of One Health (NEOH). NEOH aims to enable future quantitative evaluations of One Health activities and to further the evidence base by developing and applying a science-based evaluation protocol in a community of experts.

The One Health and related approaches have been gaining momentum. However it is not clear if and how the One Health concept is addressed conceptually and certainly in practice in many countries. A leading generic issue during this plenary session will be to reflect on what science and policies include in the One Health concept and how scientific knowledge and policy strategies can go from theory to practice. Through case studies from Europe, Asia and Africa, the first part of this session will therefore highlight and discuss the complexity (social aspects, social process) of knowledge operationalization and management.

 

 

Introductory presentations by

Barbara Haesler from the Royal Veterinary College, London (Field experiences from COST action NEOH in Europe) 

 

 

Aurélie Binot from the Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD) (Field experiences from CIRAD in S-E. Asia) 

 

 

Hans Keune from the Belgian Biodiversity Platform: Presentation of the workshop survey results

 

 

Commenting on the outcomes of the workshop:

 

Lucette Flandroy (Belgian Federal Public Service Public Health, DG Environment):

 

 

Ladislav Miko (EU DG Sanco):

 

 

Sofie Vandewoestijne (EU DG Research and Innovation):