Background & Rationale
The COVID‑19 pandemic exposed fundamental weaknesses across Europe’s disease preparedness and response systems, including surveillance fragmentation, governance bottlenecks, supply chain vulnerabilities, and surge capacity gaps. Since then, the European Union has signifi cantly reformed its health security architecture. This includes the creation of the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA), a strengthened mandate for the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), and major investments in surveillance, genomics, collaborative intelligence, and AI‑based early warning systems.
However, human history is punctuated by pandemics, each reshaping societies and exposing vulnerabilities that previous generations believed they had overcome. Europe today faces new realities: war on the continent, increasing geopolitical instability, weaponization of supply chains, rising misinformation, rapid technological transformation, and a growing need to link public health with national security. These circumstances, combined with the well‑known adage that “generals always prepare to fi ght the previous war,” invite a critical question:
Are Europe’s pandemic preparedness and response systems ready for the next outbreak or simply optimized for the previous one?
This webinar brings together leading voices from EU institutions, WHO, and academia for an honest strategic discussion.
Target Audience
The webinar is designed for public health professionals, policymakers, researchers, health security experts, civil–military preparedness stakeholders, and the broader European public interested in lessons learned and forward-looking pandemic readiness.
Preliminary Agenda
Save the Date: 6 of May, 11:00-12:30
15 min — Introductory overview Anja Schreijer, Medical Director of the Pandemic and Disaster Preparedness Center and co-chair of the Advisory Committee on Public Health Emergencies for the European Commission (The Netherlands)
15 min — HERA’s perspective on how has Europe’s health security architecture evolved since COVID‑19 Cornelius Schmaltz, Senior Expert of the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (Belgium)
15 min — ECDC’s perspective on Europe’s strengths and blind spots in early detection and pandemic preparedness Piotr Kramarz, Chief Scientist at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (Sweden)
15 min — WHO’s perspective on how AI-powered surveillance, collaborative intelligence, and genomics can improve decision-making in future pandemics
Catherine Smallwood, Public Health Surveillance Unit Head, WHO Hub for Pandemic & Epidemic Intelligence (Germany)
15 min — Academia’s perspective on lessons learned and new risks to be addressed to ensure better preparedness and response in the next pandemics Maria Gańczak, Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Zielona Gora (Poland)
15 min — Moderated discussion and Q&A
● How do war, geopolitical fragmentation, and new institutional mechanisms reshape crisis response?
● Has integration between health and security sectors meaningfully improved since COVID‑19 and war on the continent?
● What AI can and can not do to foster surveillance and collaborative intelligence in early detection and decision-making in future pandemics?
● To what extent have recent reforms improved operational performance, and where do critical strategic blind spots persist?
