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DURABLE IV Annual Meeting
Rotterdam, 28–30 September 2026

From 28–30 September 2026, the DURABLE consortium will come together at the Heineken Gebouw in Rotterdam for the fourth and final DURABLE Annual Meeting. 

Over three days, researchers, public health professionals, policymakers and project partners will share the latest insights and achievements from across the DURABLE network and reflect on four years of collaboration to strengthen Europe’s preparedness and response to emerging infectious disease threats. 

The programme brings together a broad range of topics at the heart of DURABLE, including therapeutics and vaccines, genomic and environmental surveillance, diagnostic preparedness, emerging arboviruses, modelling, capacity building and international cooperation. Scientific sessions, poster presentations and discussions will provide plenty of opportunities to exchange knowledge, share experiences and explore how DURABLE’s expertise can continue to contribute to pandemic preparedness beyond the lifetime of the project. 

Explore the full programme below and discover the sessions, speakers and activities of the DURABLE IV Annual Meeting.

Day 1

28 September
Monday

  • 12:00 – 1:00 pm

    Walk-in

  • 1:00 – 1:30 pm

    Welcome by Coordinators

  • 1:30 – 2:00 pm

    HERA – EUROPEAN COMMISSION

  • 2:00 – 2:40 pm

    Chaired by Johan Neyts

    Session 1 – Towards broadly applicable therapeutics

    • State of the art – Johan Neyts (KU LEUVEN) – Moving from pathogen specific to family specific compounds. Where are the developments 
    • Vanessa Correia (INSA) – Next-generation resistance-resilient antivirals: structure-guided prioritization of druggable sites and novel hits for Flavivirus NS5 polymerase (WP6) 
    • Discussion 

  • 2:40 – 3:30 pm

    Chaired by Mathilde Richard

    Session 2 – From specific to broadly reactive immune responses for emerging viruses: beneftis and risks

    • State of the art, Mathilde Richard (EMC) – Novel vaccine concepts 
    • Olivier Schwartz (IP) – Mpox immune evasion 
    • Marie-Anne Rameix Welti (IP) – Circulation of nirsevimab resistant
      HRSV 
    • Discussion

  • 3:30 – 4:00 pm

    COFFEE-BREAK

  • 4:00 – 4:30 pm

    POSTER SESSION 1 – Poster authors will have 1 minute to introduce their posters with 1 SLIDE. The posters will then remain displayed on boards for further presentation, discussion, and Q&A.

  • 4:30 – 5:30 pm

    Chaired by Pikka Jokelainen (TBC)

    Session 2 – From specific to broadly reactive immune responses for emerging viruses: beneftis and risks

    • State of the art, Terry Jones (CHARITE) – The relevance of ancient viruses to modern pandemic preparedness
    • Marius Brusselmans (KU LEUVEN) – Understanding H5N1 in the sub 
    • Vitor Borgers (INSA) – Bioinformatics Advances Supporting Clinical Metagenomics, and Pathogen and Outbreak
    • Xin Hou (IP) – Ten years of RSV genomic surveillance uncover transmission dynamics and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
      in France
    • Liva Mazure (BIOR) – Investigating the Occurrence and Genetics of Coronaviruses in the Bat Population in Latvia
    • Discussion

Day 2

29 September
Tuesday

  • 09:00 – 09:50 am

    Chaired by Miranda de Graaf

    Session 4 – Nothing to waste: state of the art on innovative aproaches to surveillance

    • State of the art, Miranda de Graaf (EMC) – Unveiling the Wastewater Virome: State of the Art in Metagenomic Surveillance
    • Lisa Cavillot (KU LEUVEN) – Emergency department indoor air sampling provides real-time continuous non-invasive surveillance of
      respira tory pathogen circulation
    • Janko van Beek (EMC) – Environmental surveillance Hantavirus on the Hondius
    • Discussion

  • 09:50 – 11:15 am

    Chaired by Jessica Vanhomwegen

    Session 5 – The expanding toolbox of fieldable syndromic detection methods

    • State of the art, Jessica Vanhomwegen (IP)
    • Erik Karlsson (IP Cambodge) – Avian influenza and bird markets in Southeast Asia

  • 10:15 – 10:55 am

    COFFEE-BREAK

  • 10:55 – 11:15 am

    • Nicolas Berthet (IP) Ebola virus detection in an Ebola treatment centre
    • Discussion

  • 11:15 – 11:45 am

    POSTER SESSION 2 – Poster authors will have 1 minute to introduce their posters with 1 SLIDE. The posters will then remain displayed on boards for further presentation, discussion, and Q&A

  • 12:00 am – 1:00 pm

    LUNCH BREAK

  • 1:00 – 2:10 pm

    Chaired by Christian Drosten

    Session 6 – Diagnostic preparedness in the evolving landscape of reference centres

    • State of the art, Christian Drosten (CHARITE) – DURABLE´s coordinated DMCM responses in the Andes and Bundibugyo crises (online) 
    • Ron Fouchier (EMC) – the EURL for respiratory viruses 
    • Till Best (CHARITE) – Causes of menigoencephalitis identified in a very large academic laboratory setting (TBC)
    • Corine Geurts van Kessel (EMC) – Laboratory requests as a sentinel for clinical syndromes
    • Discussion

  • 2:10 pm – 3:05 pm

    Chaired by Tyra Grove Krause

    Session 7 – Linking public health and research: emerging arbovirus work as a showcase

    • Tyra Grove Krause (SSI) – Introductory overview
    • Luisa Barzon (UNIPD) – Insights from ecological studies for countermeasure development
    • Corinna Patina-Mehling (CHARITE) – West Nile virus disease ecology in a European metropolitan area: Fine-scale heterogeneity and local amplification of West Nile virus in urban environments in Berlin
    • Muriel Aguilar Bretones (EMC) – The evolving immunological landscape in relation to diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines 
    • Discussion 

  • 3:05 – 3:20 pm

    SHORT COFFEE-BREAK

  • 3:20 – 4:30 pm

    Chaired by Simon Cauchemez

    Session 8 – Not all models are wrong…..future directions based on the DURABLE experience

    • State of the art, Simon Cauchemez (IP) – From data to policy assessment: Modelling to analyse complex data and support policy making
    • Frederic Bartumeus (CSIC) – From participation to action: modelling and citizen science for optimized vector control across public and private spaces
    • Fabien Filaire (EMC) – Impact of pre-existing Immunity on Influenza A Virus Replication and Infectious Airborne Shedding in Ferrets
    • Catherine Decouttere (KU LEUVEN) – Impact of the network model for research implementation or decision making
    • Discussion

  • 5:00 – 6:00 pm

    GUIDED TOUR AT HEINEKEN GEBOUW

  • 6:00 – 8:00 pm

    SOCIAL EVENT – DINNER

Day 3

30 September
Wednesday

  • 9:00 – 09.30 am

    Chaired by Renaud Vautrinet, Kathleen Victoire, Rebecca Grais

    Session 9 – DURABLE capacity building

    DURABLE in practice: transversal mechanisms and examples
    2 case studies illustrating how expertise is mobilised across the consortium

    1. Renaud Vatrinet (PN) DURABLE Outbreak training module
    2. Aleksandra Milewska (JU) – The Poland cat experience

  • 09:30 – 10:00 am

    Chaired by Renaud Vautrinet, Kathleen Victoire, Rebecca Grais

    Experiences from travel grant recipients

    • Alexandre Bouffier (EMC) – Establishment of mink organoids to study coronavirus infection
    • Demetrios Christos Tremoulis (Hellenic Pasteur Institute) Development of a computational tool for the detection of known and novel pathogens in human metagenomic data
    • Chittaphone Vanhnollat (IP Laos) – Generation of VSV-based pseudovirus expressing bat-borne hantavirus glycoprotein
    • Laura Van Dijk (EMC) – Screening for Nirsevimab-resistant HRSV strains using state-of-the-art organoid-based platforms
    • Victoire Perraud (IP) – Development of methodological tools dedicated to viral surveillance in bat colonies
    • Christina Merakou (ISS) – From training to implementation: the DURABLE Fellowship advancing arbovirus genomic surveillance at
      the Italian National Reference Laboratory
    • Nina Mickiewicz (JU) – Development of a CRISPRa and Organoid- Based Platform to Study Sarbecovirus–Host Interactions
    • Johanna Laura Heinz (SSI) – From Birds to Brain: In Vitro Models for the Phenotypic Assessment of Avian Influenza in Denmark
    • Discussion

  • 10:00 – 10:45 am

    Chaired by Marion Koopmans and Roberto Bruzzone

    Session 10 – From genotype to phenotype intelligence Durable in the landscape of emerging diseases

    • Martin Beer (FLI) – DURABLE and H5 avian influenza / Introduction of Shamonda-Virus in EUROPE
    • Bas Oude Munnink (EMC) – DURABLE and mpox
    • Jordi Rodon (CHARITE) – DURABLE and MERS

  • 10:45 – 11:00 am

    SHORT COFFEE-BREAK

  • 11:00 – 11:30 am

    Chaired by Marion Koopmans and Roberto Bruzzone
    • Olli Vapahlathi (UH) -Hantaviruses and Europe
    • Massimo Palmarini (EMC) – Pathogenesis and transmission of ANDV(2026) in hamsters
    • Discussion

  • 11:30 am – 12:00 pm

    INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

    • Michel Pleschette, European Vaccine Hub (EVH) – EVH Vaccine Readiness Plan
    • Quentin Gaday (BeReady)
    • Short discussion

  • 12:; pm

    Wrap up of the meeting