WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence Speaker Series N°12
Season II - Protecting the World: Moving Rapidly Together
Bridging Research and Practice to Strengthen Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence
Insights from the Inaugural Research Fellowship in Public Health Intelligence
Co-hosted by the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence (“WHO Hub”) and the Charité Center for Global Health, the Speaker Series is a regular event series, with in-person and digital elements targeting public health communities in Berlin, Germany and globally. The series aims to convene multidisciplinary and cross-sector discussions around challenges and emerging opportunities in global pandemic preparedness and response that stem from the complex nature of public health emergencies.
Launched in 2022, the first season of the Speaker Series was themed around “Complexity of Pandemics” and convened six sessions to unpack the complexity of pandemics from the perspectives of human, animal and planetary health, social sciences, innovative technologies, data preparedness, open source, and climate change.
The second season was launched in 2024 under the theme of “Protecting the World: Moving Rapidly Together” to explore how to protect the world from future health emergencies through more rapid and collaborative approaches. Topics featured so far include leveraging diversity, contextual insights, the role of research, genomic data and artificial intelligence to enhance pandemic and epidemic intelligence.
Bridging Research and Practice to Strengthen Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence
Effective pandemic and epidemic intelligence depends on the ability to connect research, data, and decision-making across disciplines and sectors. Yet, despite major advances in data generation and analysis, many health data systems remain fragmented—divided between research, surveillance, and service delivery streams. These silos limit how rapidly evidence can be transformed into actionable insight during health emergencies. Strengthening the bridges between these domains is essential to building public health systems that are more integrated, equitable, and responsive.
This speaker series session builds on the collaborative work of the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence and the Charité Center for Global Health through the Inaugural Research Fellowship in Public Health Intelligence. The Fellowship was established to advance research that addresses critical gaps identified in the WHO–Charité Technical Brief on Research Prioritization for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence. These priorities include improving data governance, interoperability, analytical capacity, and the translation of evidence into policy and practice.
Drawing on insights from the Fellowship’s five research projects, this session explores the “data journey” of public health intelligence—from data generation and governance, through integration and analysis, to translation into policy and practice. Each Fellow’s work addresses one link in this continuum: from mapping diagnostic readiness and operationalizing equitable data governance, to integrating cross-sectoral health data, improving analytical tools, and strengthening evidence uptake in policymaking. Together, these contributions illustrate how bridging research and practice can generate the actionable intelligence needed for more effective pandemic and epidemic preparedness and response.
Participation:
Participants can join the event either in person in Berlin or online via WHO YouTube Livestream.
Due to space limitation in the event venue, on-site registration is on a first come, first served basis. You are encouraged to register for the event here at your earliest convenience.
