Prof. Frederic Bartumeus

Can you share a little about yourself and your research?

I am Frederic Bartumeus, an ICREA Research Professor in Theoretical and Computational Ecology at CSIC, Spanish National Research Council, a State Agency for scientific research and technological development in Spain. I am the head of the Ecology and Complexity Department at CEAB, and at my lab we explore the ecology of disease vectors, the movement of animals (hosts), and the spread of mosquito-borne diseases. My work is centered on bringing modelling and innovative data streams (and collection methods) to disease ecology, aiming to generate insights that can improve evidence-based public health preparedness. I am particularly inspired by the intersection of science and society: by empowering citizens to contribute meaningful data through digital tools, we can build early-warning systems that have a tangible impact on the prevention of mosquito-borne epidemics.

Hoe does your research fit into the bigger picture of Durable?

DURABLE focuses on creating networks and infrastructures to anticipate and respond to outbreaks. My team’s work with Mosquito Alert (a citizen-based early warning system for mosquito-borne diseases across different countries) fits into this mission. By combining community-generated data, biases-correction and computational models, we can generate novel predictive insights that help anticipate disease risks. We can also fastly communicate early warning alerts to expert networks, and motivate behavioral changes towards risk minimization. Our approach emphasizes the integration of technology, citizen engagement, and data science, aligning perfectly with DURABLE’s vision of a modern preparedness network and lab infrastructure (in this casse digital labs).

What motivates you to be part of Durable?

Being part of DURABLE inspires me because it brings together outstanding researchers from multiple disciplines to tackle outbreak prevention collectively and multidisciplinarily, fostering common objectives and collaboration. Durable provides a base to enhance citizen-oriented surveillance, refine data-driven models, and explore new ways of communicating health risks effectively. Collaborating within such a multidisciplinary framework allows me to push the boundaries of how science can directly inform and protect public health. More specifically, we are transforming the Mosquito Alert platform into a toolkit that can be readily deployed in both routine surveillance and outbreak or crisis scenarios, while advancing our understanding of the potential of context-based, multi-channel community communication and engagement.

What do you expect to accomplish in the upcoming years within your own institute and by being connected to Durable?

I am an ecologist based in an aquatic ecology research centre, with a strong interest in the One Health framework as it relates to public health. My work focuses on developing novel technologies and data collection approaches to map and anticipate mosquito-borne disease risk. Within this context, my research spans disease ecology and predictive modelling, as well as the development of participatory, AI-enhanced real-time monitoring and early-warning tools. In parallel, I examine how different communication strategies—implemented through digital marketing and other channels—can be used to effectively reach specific population segments across diverse contexts and lifestyles, and how these strategies influence citizen engagement, data quality, the adoption of preventive measures, and behavioural change.

What do you expect from Durable in the upcoming near future?

Building from earlier EU funded research initiatives (VEO, AIM COST) that helped scale Mosquito Alert at continental scale, the ambition in DURABLE is to elevate the Mosquito Alert system into a mature, globally deployable public health asset, one that can be rapidly mobilised across diverse epidemiological, socio-environmental, and governance contexts, from emerging outbreaks to long-standing endemic settings. This includes enabling its expansion to regions such as Africa and Asia, where scalable, community-centred surveillance and early-warning systems are most urgently needed. Beyond deployment, a key vision is to secure sustainable, long-term hosting for these digital laboratories within a European network of research infrastructures and human capacity, ensuring continuity, interoperability, and resilience. In this way, DURABLE serves as a catalyst for transforming cutting-edge research into enduring, actionable capabilities that strengthen public health preparedness and response over the long term.