December 2020
On the 15th of December 2020, BiodivERsA organised the virtual kick-off of the research projects funded under its 2018-2019 Joint Call on ‘biodiversity and its influence on animal, human and plant health’.
10 projects were funded through this joint call for a total of 11.8M€, including 9 collaborative research projects and 1 synthesis research project.
These projects all address research questions and issues at the nexus between biodiversity and health; and appear to be very timely in the current COVID-19 crisis, in particular 2 projects addressing coronaviruses.
Introduced by a keynote speech of the President of EcoHealth Alliance (USA), Peter Daszak, and the Chair, Richard Kock, and Vice Chair, Simon Gardner, of the Evaluation Committee of the call, this kick-off gathered 91 unique participants with a broad range of profiles: researchers, stakeholders, representative of the European Commission and BiodivERsA Partners; ad allowed to get a better understanding of what the 10 projects are planning to do during their project.
The kick-off was closed with the award ceremony of the third edition of the BiodivERsA Prize for Excellence and Impact. The INVAXEN project won the 3rd BiodivERsA Prize for Excellence and Impact and was awarded the opportunity to present their work in an animated video.
