Una Europa Summer School: Bridging Disciplines for One Health Solutions
In mid-June, we welcomed over 40 international doctoral candidates to the Düppel campus for this year's Una Europa Summer School, “Bridging Disciplines for One Health Solutions.” Under the direction of Prof. Jürgen Zentek, guests from all eleven Una Europa universities spent a week exchanging ideas with experts from the partner universities and supplementing this with practical applications, hands-on workshops, and excursions, including to the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment.
News from Jun 30, 2025
“This week has impressively demonstrated how beneficial collaboration between different disciplines is for the One Health approach,” summarizes Prof. Zentek. “International networking and critical engagement with global health issues form an important basis for future solutions.”
The following topics were in the spotlight:
- Human-animal interactions
- Soil health
- One Health in wildlife
- Digital health and data science approaches
- Food safety
- Agriculture
- Resilient ecosystems
- Historical contexts and perspectives of One Health
- One Health and ethics
Feedback and highlights
The high level of interaction between participants from a wide range of disciplines (including veterinary medicine, medicine, public health, natural sciences, and social sciences) was found to be particularly enriching by the doctoral candidates. They also highlighted the practical sessions and excursions, which promoted understanding of complex interrelationships, as particular highlights. The social and intercultural program also contributed to an intensive exchange. A very positive group dynamic quickly developed.
The participants particularly appreciated the interactive design of the program (workshops, discussions, practical components), the interdisciplinary exchange, and the opportunity to build networks across country and disciplinary boundaries. These aspects are essential for addressing complex global challenges in line with the One Health concept.
Thank you!
Special thanks go to the dedicated speakers, the organizers at Freie Universität Berlin Dr. Klaus Wiehl, Prof. Sigmar Stricker, Kirsten Schmiester, and Leila Al-Khalisi, as well as President Günter Ziegler and Vice President Petra Knaus for their very warm and appreciative welcome to the participants. Thanks also to all participating universities of the Una Europa Alliance. Without this close cooperation, it would not have been possible to hold the event at this level.
The next Una Europa One Health Summer School is planned for 2026 in Dublin.
Background Una Europa: Una Europa is a European university alliance consisting of eleven excellent and research-intensive universities that have set themselves the goal of shaping the university of the future. In addition to Freie Universität Berlin, the members of this university alliance are the Università di Bologna, the University of Edinburgh, the KU Leuven, the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, the Uniwersytet Jagielloński in Kraków, the Helsingin Yliopisto, the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, the Universiteit Leiden, the University College Dublin, and the University of Zurich.
Further information: https://www.una-europa.eu/