Una Europa's One Health community (UNAOH) has worked on a special scientific seminar to mark this year's rather extraordinary One Health Day, which unfortunately happens to coincide with the height of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Six scientists and their teams and colleagues from across the Una Europa universities have asked themselves: "What have we learned from the COVID-19 pandemic so far?".

Dear Academics,

Una Europa's One Health community (UNAOH) has worked on a special scientific seminar to mark this year's rather extraordinary One Health Day, which unfortunately happens to coincide with the height of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Six scientists and their teams and colleagues from across the Una Europa universities have asked themselves:

"What have we learned from the COVID-19 pandemic so far?".

The seminar will be streamed on 3 November from 14.00 to 16.00 CET, in the fringes of the 6th World One Health Congress hosted by the University of Edinburgh from 30 October to 3 November. COVID-19 has clearly shown why the One Health approach, which focuses on the interconnectedness of humans, animals and their shared environment, is key to ensuring a healthy and sustainable future. In their Una Europa seminar, scientists from Finland, Italy, Poland, Spain and the UK share their scientific insights on COVID-19 and free time in their busy diaries for a short Q&A. Mirroring the holistic One Health approach, the session will cover the perspectives of veterinary medicine, simulation modelling, general practice, hospitals and social psychology.

Programme & speakers:

Una Europa's joint seminar will be hosted and chaired by Professor Lisa Boden, co-chair of the 6th World One Health Congress and member of UNAOH.

Confirmed line-up of contributions:

1. Factors driving the emergence of pathogens from wildlife – can we prevent the next pandemic? (Tarja Sironen, Associate Professor in the Department of Virology, University of Helsinki).
2. Psychological and contextual determinants of performing WHO recommended and placebo actions in the face of a COVID-19 pandemic: preliminary evidence from Poland and Italy. (Joanna Kłosowska, Assistant Professor, Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University & Katia Mattarozzi, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Bologna).
3. General practice in times of COVID-19 - challenges and lessons learned (Adam Windak, Head of Department for Family Medicine, Jagiellonian University).
4. Simulation modelling of COVID-19 with the Scottish COVID-19 Response Consortium (Paul Bessell, Veterinary epidemiologist, University of Edinburgh).
5. How to surf the COVID waves in a University Hospital (Julio Mayol, Medical Director of the Clinical Hospital San Carlos and Professor of Surgery at Complutense University, Madrid).

Hosted by the University of Edinburgh, one of Una Europa's partners, the 6th World One Health Congress has been turned into a fully virtual event this year. From 30 October all the way through One Health Day on 3 November, the Congress will bring together about 2,000 One Health scientists from around the world.

One Health Day is an international campaign to increase global awareness of the need for One Health interactions. It aims to gives scientists a voice for moving beyond narrow approaches to emerging zoonotic infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance, climate change, environmental pollution, food safety, comparative/ translational medicine and many other problems, to a holistic default way of doing business. It is co-coordinated by the One Health Commission, the One Health Initiative Autonomous pro bono Team and the One Health Platform Foundation.

All access details can be found under: https://www.una-europa.eu/calendar/special-scientific-session-on-one-health-day