An ecocentric view of epidemics and pandemics: time for a fundamental shift in preparedness research?

The recent history of infectious diseases has shown that the number of epidemics and pandemics resul2ng from spillovers of animal viruses to humans is increasing. There is consensus that some of this increase is a direct result of human actions, although the drivers for such epidemics are complex, ranging from factors that increase the contact between humans and animals, (such as deforestation, climate-driven changes in ecosystems, and change in land use by development of high density farming), the rate of dispersal once humans become infected (for instance global travel and trade, migration), and the increased susceptibility of some part of the population (poverty, co-infections, ageing among others). This also implies that our current approach to epidemic research falls short, as it rarely includes the ecological perspective, thereby not looking at root causes of prevention and early detection. With colleagues from STIAS and beyond, I want to analyse which concepts from biomedical sciences, social sciences, environmental sciences and economics could potentially be brought together to address the complexity of emerging epidemics. Ultimately, this should result in a vision for an integrated new field of (pre)pandemic sciences in a changing world.