The ongoing increase of the human population accompanied by growing numbers of livestock to feed this population, as well as human invasion into natural habitats of wild animals makes humans progressively vulnerable to animal pathogens. Global trade as well as climate changes can contribute to pathogen transmission, e.g. through import of infected vectors or expansion of habitats for arthropod vectors such as mosquitoes and midges. Examples for this include recent European outbreaks of the arthropod-borne Dengue, West Nile, Schmallenberg and Usutu viruses in humans, ruminants and birds. Infectious disease outbreaks in animals are often unexpected, but we should be prepared for immediate identification of the causing agent and the evaluation of its pathogenic potential for animals and humans. Preparedness needs expertise in many areas. At surveillance sites early detection and identification of viruses involved in outbreaks is crucial. Screening of different animal species and humans who have been in close contact with (diseased) animals for known or yet undiscovered viruses will also help to be prepared for future outbreaks. Novel viruses in these populations will have to be evaluated for their pathogenicity in susceptibility studies. The HONOURs network will generate new health and scientific knowledge with the aim to locate, identify, characterize, contain, and control infections that are caused by zoonotic agents. The aim of HONOURs is to provide top-quality cross-disciplinary and supra-sectorial training to 15 promising young researchers at the interface of veterinary and human health, virology, biostatistics, and pathogen discovery. These early stage researchers will become “preparedness- experts”.

We aim to contribute to the European Green Deal, the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Horizon Europe objectives through the development of a Geological Service for Europe, which focuses on the planet itself: the earth beneath our feet. The subsurface holds indispensable resources for European industries and opportunities to decarbonise our economy, but also requires careful management to preserve a healthy and safe living environment for Europe’s citizens. Structurally addressing the EU dimension in geological services is needed because the scale of many societally and economically relevant geological features exceeds that of individual countries. Addressing transnational and continental-scale problems requires innovation, standardisation, harmonisation as well as a shared vision. We aim to build the Geological Service for Europe based on Europe’s best practices and implement the Service with the backing of the Union. Existing geological surveys, the national custodians of geological information, have amassed huge legacies of data and information that are difficult to merge. This project will continue the harmonisation and standardisation effort initiated in earlier projects. We aim to create joint services that can support acceleration of the energy and climate transitions, as well as a larger critical mass of intra-European cooperation through convergence of our research agendas, as key steps to increase the amount and quality of results we are aiming for. A common thread in this project is innovation in ways in which subsurface information is conceptualised, organised, visualised, delivered and translated to the needs of a wide range of audiences, and the methodologies to achieve this. Building on the groundwork laid in the GeoERA program, we will scale up and out, not only scientifically, but also in involving national stakeholders in the network, in order to create support and eventually obtain a mandate for a European Service on a permanent basis.

Emerging infectious diseases (EID) do not respect borders. They rank as global catastrophic risks for humanity, along with climate change and biodiversity loss. The COVID-19 pandemic showed how coordination of global research, through cooperation, and sharing of data and expertise, are crucial for efficient and effective preparedness to EIDs, and vital for a rapid response. Nevertheless, there are still major challenges limiting global cooperation among high containment laboratories (HCLs). HCLs are critical infrastructures for the development of medical countermeasures (e.g., vaccines and therapeutics) against high consequence pathogens. In order to fulfil its role, and given the global threat of EIDs, the European Research Infrastructure on Highly pathogenic Agents (ERINHA), together with its partners, proposes to establish and reinforce interactions with HCL research infrastructures (RI) worldwide, to strengthen pandemic preparedness and response capacities. INTERCEPTOR (INTERnational Cooperation of high containment research infrastructures: from Epidemic Preparedness TO Response), a consortium with key HCLs from Europe and across the world, will focus on access provision to HCLs, enhancement of the human capital of HCL, including in biorisk management, critical resources sharing, harmonisation and interoperability. The proposed actions will help ensure broader access to state-of-the-art HC facilities, while respecting the necessary biosecurity and biosafety constraints, and promote the establishment of a sustainable global network of HC RIs. By expanding access to HC RIs, strengthening the human capital base, promoting sharing of knowledge, skills and experience, and providing opportunities for common training programmes and staff exchanges, INTERCEPTOR will reinforce the next generation of HCL researchers and facility managers, and extend the opportunities for access to HCLs, required to push the boundaries of science and innovation in the field of EIDs.

The proposal, VSV-EBOVAC, directly addresses the topic 1 of the IMI2 call on Ebola by supporting the clinical development of a highly promising new Ebola vaccine candidate, the vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV)‐ vectored Zaire Ebola vaccine (VSV-ZEBOV). In non-human primates, a single dose of VSV-ZEBOV elicited a strong (100%) and long-lasting protective efficacy against Ebola Zaire infections. Developed by Public Health Canada and manufactured by NewLink Genetics, VSV-ZEBOV was thus selected by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of the 2 most promising vaccine candidates. To accelerate its clinical development, the WHO has organized a consortium and supported the organization of parallel first-in-man Phase I/II clinical trials, both in Europe and Africa. The primary objectives of these trials, initiated mid-November 2014, are to study the safety and antibody-inducing capacity of various doses of VSV-ZEBOV in European and African populations. We propose to build upon this asset to acquire new and critical knowledge of the innate and adaptive immune responses elicited in humans by VSV-ZEBOV vaccination, with specific emphasis on trancriptomics and metabolomics signatures. To this aim, we have constructed a consortium including representatives from the vaccine manufacturer, scientists of the 3 main clinical sites (Switzerland, Gabon, Kenya) and world-leaders in immunology and partners of ADITEC, a large FP7- supported collaborative research programme aiming to accelerate the development of novel, powerful immunisation technologies for next-generation vaccines. We propose an ambitious program using cutting-edge technologies to perform an in depth characterization of the clinical samples harvested before/after VSV-ZEBOV immunization of 200 volunteers in Switzerland, Gabon and Kenya, and to extend the recently initiated clinical studies up to 12 months to identify the signatures and determinants of persistent immune responses.