Conference: USA-UK-China-Israel Workshop on Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases

This award will fund travel by fifteen US researchers to a workshop to enhance international collaborations in among scientists from the US, UK, Israel, and China who work on the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases. The workshop will be held at the Wellcome Trust, London, UK, on May 22-23, 2024. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and other infectious disease outbreaks in recent decades have resulted in substantial losses of economy, human life, and the society. Emergence, transmission, spread, and persistence of infectious diseases in the pathogen - host (plant, animal, and human) - environmental systems (PHES) is complex and dynamic. In addition to pathogen evolution, most of these infectious diseases involve multiple hosts and transmission pathways that are affected by many rapidly changing socio-economic and environmental factors. This workshop will broaden and strengthen international collaboration among researchers and institutions. The participants will review, assess, and understand recent research progresses in infectious disease ecology and evolution. They will identify major gaps in data, information, and knowledge, discuss new and major research opportunities, identify research priority areas, and discuss possible mechanisms and pathways for joint research and education activities. The workshop will include a diverse groupe of researchers from a variety of institutions and career stages. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.