Research line
ERRAZE@WUR: being prepared for new pandemics
In the ERRAZE@WUR research and investment framework, researchers from various disciplines work together to help build the scientific foundation needed to prevent future pandemics and to limit their impact.
COVID-19 has hit the world hard. The crisis that virologists, epidemiologists and health authorities such as the WHO have been warning about for decades is now upon us: the disruption of society and the economy by 'Disease X', a new infectious disease that causes a global pandemic. What can we learn from COVID-19? How can we prevent outbreaks of new zoonoses and counteract the emergence of new pandemics? How can we prevent future pandemics from having consequences as dramatic as COVID-19?
ERRAZE@WUR is an ambitious WUR-wide research and investment framework, set up to help lay a solid scientific foundation for answering these questions. With ERRAZE@WUR (Early Recognition and Rapid Action in Zoonotic Emergencies), WUR aims to support policy makers and decision makers and thus society at large in preventing future pandemics and mitigating their impact.
Social responsibility
WUR is in a unique position to help build the broad and integrated scientific knowledge base needed to prevent future pandemics from having such devastating effects as the current one. With this initiative, we are fulfilling our social responsibility as a leading organisation in the field of health and sustainable food systems.
Four phases of crisis management
WUR brings together the necessary expertise in the areas of human, animal, plant and environmental health, the global agro-food system, economic and social developments, food safety and security, ethics and policy to find answers to the questions raised by new pandemic threats. With ERRAZE@WUR, WUR takes the initiative for an integrated global multi-stakeholder approach to the prevention and management of (potentially) pandemic diseases, in the four phases of crisis management:
- Prevention
- Preparedness
- Response management
- Recovery and learning lessons.
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News
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'Don’t blame zoonoses on animals if they are displaced from their habitat by humans'
- It is all too easy to blame sick animals for health issues, such as rats with the plague and bats carrying COVID-19. That is not fair, according to Dr Bernice Bovenkerk. Sustainable and equitable global health requires humans to take responsibility and learn to coexist with nature. -
How Lyme, ticks, mice and forests are interrelated
- Ecologists Helen Esser and Clara Köhler will travel to a Romanian primaeval forest this spring with game cameras and white sheets. They aim to map the relationship between ticks, rodents, and the forest’s structure. Esser: ‘We aim to discover how the forest’s structure affects the risk of diseases caused by ticks, including in the Netherlands.’ -
Global One Health approach connects food systems and health
- “A Global One Health approach is a necessary tool to enable preparedness for future pandemics or minimize the effects of them”, states Bieneke Bron. She is one of the authors of ‘The Age of Pandemics, Connecting Food Systems and Health: A Global One Health Approach’. The publication by Bron, Joukje Siebenga and Louise Fresco is part of the book ‘Science and Innovations for Food Systems Transformations’, based on the UN Food System summit held in 2021. -
Global One Health—Transformative Research Challenge Special Prize
- Wageningen University & Research is excited to host the Global One Health special prize within the Transformative Research Challenge of World Food Forum (WFF). Teams of young and young-at-heart researchers are invited to submit a two-page concept note proposing an innovative research idea to help end hunger and transform our agrifood systems. Shortlisted and selected participants receive expert mentorship and funding to help translate their concepts into sound research proposals or plans and present them at the WFF global stage in October 2023. -
WUR welcomes ‘National action plan on zoonoses’
- Wageningen University & Research (WUR) welcomes the National action plan on zoonoses as it was published today by the Dutch ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Safety. “The plan acknowledges ongoing research and sets new actions and goals,” concludes Joukje Siebenga, programme manager of ERRAZE@WUR. -
First round ERRAZE@WUR activities has started
- The first round of activities of the ERRAZE@WUR programme is launched. The investments and activities are aimed at strengthening WUR’s response capabilities and solidifying the base for future ERRAZE@WUR research projects. -
Being prepared for new pandemics with ERRAZE@WUR
- COVID-19 has had the world in its grip for more than a year. What lessons can we learn from the current pandemic? How can we better prepare for future health crises caused by zoonoses? With ERRAZE@WUR (Early Recognition and Rapid Action in Zoonotic Emergencies), WUR wants to help lay a solid scientific foundation for answering these questions. -
Never again do we want to be caught off-guard by a virus
- The 103rd Dies Natalis is to take place on 9 March. Online, this time, due to the global outbreak of COVID-19. Wageningen University & Research is also affected by the pandemic and is working on preventing future outbreaks in different ways. Experts discuss this topic on 9 March during the celebration entitled Pandemic Prevention, Prediction and Preparedness. One of these experts is Wim van der Poel, research leader ’Emerging and Zoonotic Viruses’. -
Rector on Dies Natalis: 'WUR has the expertise needed to tackle a pandemic'
- The 103rd Dies Natalis is to take place on 9 March. Online, this time, due to the global outbreak of COVID-19. Wageningen University & Research is also affected by the pandemic and is working on preventing future outbreaks in different ways. Experts discuss this topic with, among others, Marion Koopmans (Erasmus MC) and Henk Bekendam (formerly WHO) on 9 March during the celebration entitled Pandemic Prevention, Prediction and Preparedness. Rector Magnificus Arthur Mol sheds light on the choice for this topic and looks ahead at a Dies Natalis celebration that is far from traditional.
Projects
Documenten
- Interactive PDF: Early Recognition and Rapid Action in Zoonotic Emergencies (ERRAZE programma)
- Position paper: WUR Zoönosen en Global One Health (2022)
- Brief: In the age of pandemics, connecting food systems and health: a Global One Health approach (Food System Summit 2021)
