Symposium Recap: Vector-borne Diseases in a Changing World

On September 25th, 2025, local and visiting researchers and professionals gathered in the historic Festauditorium at the University of Copenhagen for an international one-day symposium dedicated to the challenges and opportunities surrounding vector-borne diseases (VBDs) in a rapidly changing world.

The diverse programme featured keynote lectures, research presentations, and discussions, all focused on the global impact of diseases transmitted by vectors such as mosquitoes and ticks.

New regions in Denmark and Europa affected by vector-borne diseases

The day opened with a welcome from Head of the Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (IVH) Birgit Nørrung, and event coordinator Associate Professor Anna-Sofie Stensgaard from IVH’s Section for Parasitology and Pathobiology, who shares the main goal for the symposium here:

"Climate change and other environmental shifts are driving vector-borne diseases into new regions, including Europe and Denmark. It is urgent that we address these growing public and animal health threats through interdisciplinary research collaborations and global partnerships, to break traditional siloes and to strengthen our capacity to detect and respond fast to vector-borne disease outbreaks”.

Focusing on interdisciplinary collaboration and global partnerships

The keynote presentations included Professor Lawrence Mugisha (Makerere University, Uganda), who addressed vector-borne diseases from a One Health perspective, and Professor Uriel Kitron (Emory University, US), who spoke about the significance of avian hosts in West Nile Virus transmission.

Local researchers from the University of Copenhagen and partner institutions spoke on topics such as climate change impacts on vector-borne parasites, epidemic forecasting, and citizen science approaches to tick surveillance. They emphasized the urgency of addressing vector-borne diseases through interdisciplinary collaboration and global partnerships and highlighted the department’s long-standing commitment to One Health research and international engagement.

“IVH has a long-standing commitment to One Health Research and the growing challenge with vector-borne diseases emerging in Denmark very recently, such as Usutu virus and Blue tongue virus, certainly calls for a One Health approach. This is necessary to tackle the challenges posed by these diseases from a holistic perspective on health in animals, humans and the environment”, explains Birgit Nørrung.

The symposium also presented results from larger EU-funded projects on vector-borne diseases like PREPARE4VBD and ARBO-WATCH, and DANIDA-funded projects such as MBD-Free and PreVBD emphasizing cross-continental alliances and new diagnostic tools.

Diverse diseases and organisms call for efforts across research disciplines

Throughout the day, participants engaged in discussions about the challenges of North-South research partnerships, the need for integrated monitoring systems, and the future of VBD control in light of environmental change.

The successful event concluded with a networking session, giving participants the opportunity to exchange ideas and consider new collaborations.

“Vector-borne diseases and vectors are a very diverse group of diseases and organisms, but they are all influenced by similar global forces, such as climate change," Anna-Sofie Stengaard explains and continues:

"This symposium has made it possible to meet with an equally diverse group of researchers and other capacities working in this field, across scientific disciplines, diseases and countries, to discuss new tools and strategies for preventing and mitigating the burden of this group of diseases in future and, I hope, fostering new exciting national as well as international collaborations on this topic.”