Description Led by Dr Charlotte Hammer, the IDEA Lab focuses on understanding where and how epidemic and pandemic risks arise, particularly in complex socio-ecological systems influenced by converging global stressors such as climate change, biodiversity loss, political instability, and violence. By integrating multimodal, high-dimensional data across quantitative and qualitative domains, we develop novel approaches to identify early warning signals and inflection points where outbreaks are most likely to emerge and escalate. A key aim of our work is to improve the detection and control of outbreaks at their source to prevent local events from becoming large-scale epidemics or pandemics. Drawing on interdisciplinary methodologies and applied epidemiology, we contribute to strategies that strengthen health security in fragile environments, especially in resource-limited and crisis-affected settings.

Approach 1.⁠ ⁠Methodological: integration of multimodal, high-dimensional data across quantitative and qualitative domains fusing field epidemiology and systems thinking 2.⁠ ⁠Thematic: early detection of infectious disease risks in destabilised complex socio-ecological systems 3.⁠ ⁠Translational: support for outbreak investigations and capacity building worldwide