Frontiers Policy Labs participated in Euroscience Open Forum 2022, the largest biennial interdisciplinary meeting on science and innovation in Europe, for and with society.

The pandemic has made us aware of the importance of institutional action to protect individual and public health not only in times of crisis. More importantly, the need for preparedness in view of possible future health emergencies. Over the past two years, awareness of the importance of prevention in healthcare has grown. We have realised that health begins before the onset of a disease and presumes the ability to prevent (and predict) the effects of the ecological crisis on our lives..

War has often been used as a metaphor for health and disease, as in the “war on cancer”. However, to my knowledge, the prevention of poor health and premature death has never been used as a metaphor for prevention of war. In this short article, I propose that the principles behind public health models can be useful for preventing and “treating” war.

The Covid-19 crisis has raised many questions about other infectious diseases and ailments that still lack appropriate medical treatments. Many of these questions involve drug discovery and development, both in the private sector and in academic settings. It is common to see questions on social networks and blogs such as, “Is it possible to develop affordable new drugs quickly?”, “Why do so many new drugs seem to come from non-EU countries?” and “What lies ahead?”

In the long term, the principle of solidarity in the accessibility of vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and essential medical supplies should drive the global reform of pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response protocols. The EU could play a leading role in this process, through the recently established European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA).

Professor Linqi Zhang,

School of Medicine, Tsinghua University
Chair of Comprehensive AIDS Research Center, School of Medicine, Tsinghua University
Chair of Global Health and Infectious Diseases Center

In this episode Jean-Claude talks to Danielle Cooper and Oya Rieger of Ithaka S+R about the cancellation of big deals between subscription publishers and university libraries. 

In this episode Jean-Claude talks to Graham Harrison about the need for a more formal structure for global science and research collaboration.

In this episode Jean-Claude talks to Heather Joseph, Executive Director of SPARC, about open science, its part in the pandemic, and what happens next.

Time will tell, but today, one and a half years after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the “gloom-and-doom” predictions of world-wide recession, major disruptions in international trade, and rapidly rising unemployment appear to have been exaggerated. As the International Monetary Fund pointed out, the 2008/2009 financial crisis had a much more negative impact on the economy than either a “typical” recession or past “modern” pandemics.

Frontiers Evidence Snapshots presents a unique data resource summarizing the results of seroprevalence studies in a broad range of countries and populations.

• 301 studies

• 600 separate population samples

• 69 countries

• Data for special populations (healthcare workers, elderly people, children, etc.)

• New studies added periodically

• Expert commentary from Dr. Milo Puhan, Swiss School of Public Health

In this episode Jean-Claude discusses the challenges of globalization with Professor Ian Goldin. They talk about how the COVID-19 pandemic revealed some underlying fault lines - but also some strengths - in the global system.

How effective are the vaccines we rely on to vaccinate the world’s population? How do they work for the elderly, children, and pregnant women? How well do they protect against infection, severe disease and death? We summarize some of the most important findings

• 67 studies

• 5.6 million participants

• Data for all major vaccines currently available

• Links to original articles

• Regular updates

• Expert commentary from Luc Debruyne

Robert-Jan Smits
President of the Executive Board
Eindhoven University of Technology

Prof. Jean Claude Burgelman, Free University of Brussels discuss the profound and radical change COVID-19 has brought to the science-policy nexus.

Sir Peter Gluckman
Chair, International Network
for Government Science Advice

Sir Peter Gluckman and Prof. Jean Claude Burgelman consider the impact of COVID-19 and the mechanics and interface between science and policymaking at an international level

Sir Peter Gluckman

International Network for Government Science Advice

Sir Peter Gluckman, Chair, International Network for Government Science Advice speaks to Prof. Jean Claude Burgelman, Free University of Brussels about scientific advice and policymaking in the context of the COVID-19 response

Jennifer Hansen
Microsoft

Microsoft’s Jennifer Hansen, and prof. Jean Claude Burgelman of Free University of Brussels, consider the critical challenge of increasing data literacy for data specialists, sharing the benefits of open science and open data with the public