The European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) has funded an Action grant for the interdisciplinary Pan-European One Health Network for Infectious Diseases Detection, Monitoring and Prevention, led by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. The network will respond to the growing threat of infectious diseases by harmonising the European response to infectious disease threats. 

Major barriers for response to infectious diseases that currently limit translation from research to practice include fragmented surveillance frameworks; poor interoperability of datasets; limited predictive modelling; slow regulatory pathways and uneven diagnostic capacity across regions.

This Action addresses these gaps through six interlinked Working Groups: harmonising frameworks and surveillance protocols (WG1); developing interoperable data pipelines (WG2); advancing AI-driven predictive models and diagnostic tools (WG3); building capacity and ensuring knowledge dissemination (WG4); aligning innovation with regulatory, ethical, and policy frameworks (WG5); and embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion (WG6).

The COST-Action involves PDPC’s Luc Coffeng, who will work on WG3: predictive modelling, AI and diagnostic innovation together with PDPC PhD researchers Tim Florschutz and PingPing Song.

Together with 70 collaborators from 21 countries, Luc, Tim and PingPing will help establish a unique pan-European, multi-stakeholder pipeline bridging discovery, validation, and deployment of innovative tools for detection, monitoring, and prevention of infectious threats. The Action will accelerate translation of research into market-ready tools, strengthen Europe’s resilience, and enhance preparedness for future infectious disease threats.

Read more about the COST-Action here.