EPIZONE Overview 2017

Looking back at 2017:

11th Annual meeting EPIZONE 2017

More than 230 delegates, EPIZONE scientists, partners from industry and animal health policy makers met from 19 to 21st of September 2017 at the Cité des Science et de l’ índustrie (Science Centre) located in the friendly Parc de la Vilette, in the North of Paris. The 2017 scientific meeting provided plenty of opportunity to exchange the latest outputs of research on epizootic diseases and was very well organized by our host ANSES: 128 abstracts presented, 11 key note lectures, 48 oral communications, 80 poster presentations and a young EPIZONE ‘Workshop on communication skills’. For an overview of the meeting, please visit the EPIZONE website.

International Research Consortium for Animal Health

Several key researchers from EPIZONE partners have become member of the scientific board of the IRC Animal Health. The IRC Animal Health builds on the success of the EU-funded STAR-IDAZ Project (Global Strategic Alliances for the Coordination of Research on the Major Infectious Diseases of Animals and Zoonoses) and aims to deliver measurable advances in the control of animal diseases through the alignment of both public and privately funded animal health research programs around the world. Supported by leading researchers of EPIZONE partners, the EPIZONE coordinator has been appointed to chair the scientific committee of the IRC Animal Health. Herewith a close collaboration between the IRC and EPIZONE will be guaranteed.

Horizon 2020

EPIZONE and its partner have participated in a number of EU Horizon 2020 proposals. Several were not awarded but others were successful: For example TRANSVAC2, VetBioNet and the EJPOneHealth (see below). Joint research proposals on EU level are an important collaboration instrument and therefore EPIZONE will continue to support such efforts, also including partners outside EU.   

Looking forward to 2018:

Start of European Joint Program One Health (EJPOneHealth)
At least seven EPIZONE partner Institutes are involved in this recently granted One Health European Joint Program. (SFS - 37[2017]: Co-fund on "One Health". This very large project will start at the beginning of 2018 with a kick-off meeting on 30 and 31 January EPIZONE partner ANSES will be the coordinator of this network of 41 Institutes, reference laboratories or research centres, allocated in 19 member states. This is another important project in which EPIZONE partners collaborate.

The 12th AM EPIZONE with ESVV in Vienna

The next and 12th EPIZONE Annual Meeting will be held in Vienna, Austria, 27-30st of August 2018, together with the ESVV meeting (like in 2015). A first announcement will be circulated in January 2018 and will be on the EPIZONE website as soon as possible. The venue will most likely be the veterinary faculty of Vienna University. The new organizing committee and scientific committee are currently being installed. Like we had during our previous annual meetings we will also organize a Young EPIZONE meeting and an EPIZONE coordinating forum meeting in Vienna.

EAVLD Congress with EPIZONE session

Besides the regular annual meeting in 2018, also an EPIZONE session will be organized during the 5th EAVLD congress in Brussels 14-17 October 2018. The provisional title of this session is: ‘Diagnostics for epizootic diseases’. The Contact person for this meeting will be Thierry van den Berg. Several EPIZONE key scientists are involved in the EAVLD scientific committee.

Workshop risk assessment

Since less risk assessment research was presented in the last EPIZONE meetings it has been decided by the EPIZONE coordinating forum to try to organize a workshop on risk assessment in 2018. The EPIZONE admin office will explore this together with EPIZONE key scientists in this field and the Young EPIZONE group. Please keep an eye on the EPIZONE website for more information about this workshop.   

On behalf of the whole admin office I wish the whole EPIZONE community a very beautiful Christmas and a very good 2018!

Wim van der Poel
Coordinator of Epizone