UCD One Health Annual Conference
The UCD One Health Conference took place in December 2024, bringing together an inspiring mix of experts, policymakers, students, and community leaders to address the critical challenges at the intersection of human, animal and environmental health. With a focus on interdisciplinary collaboration, the event celebrated One Health as a practical, impactful approach to creating a healthier and more sustainable future.
Opening the Dialogue
Prof Kate Robson Brown (UCD Vice-President for Research) set the tone, emphasising One Health as a tangible reality rather than a concept. The UCD One Health Centre team, led by Prof Tony Holohan, Dr Niamh McLoughlin and Dr Gerald Barry, highlighted the importance of events like this, helping the Centre to foster connections across disciplines and to drive innovative solutions.
Why One Health Matters
The conference’s first session explored the significance of One Health. Dr Chadia Wannous from the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) underscored the rising frequency of pandemics, linking it to environmental degradation, poverty and overcrowding. She emphasised that proactive prevention, enabled by a One Health framework, is cost-effective and essential to mitigating global health threats. Panellists Mr John Moran (Mayor of Limerick), Prof Patrick Paul Walsh (UCD) and Ms Laura Nati (Chair of the UCD One Health Student Society) shared personal and regional examples, demonstrating how interconnected One Health approaches can address issues such as the economic determinants of health, disease transmission, social inequality, antimicrobial resistance and mental health challenges.
Building Coalitions of the Willing
The second session delved into practical strategies for fostering collaboration. Prof Thilo Kroll highlighted trust, humility and the need for shared goals that transcend traditional silos. Insights ranged from the use of storytelling to inspire cultural change, as shared by Mr Sandy Dunlop (Alexander Dunlop Ltd.), to practical funding strategies outlined by Dr Amanda Daly (Health Research Board) and Dr Triona McCormack (UCD). The session reinforced that success depends on inclusive, adaptive partnerships combining academic, governmental and community efforts.
Defining Success in One Health
The final session focused on what success looks like for the One Health movement. The plenary speaker, Dr Pablo Sagredo Martín (United Nations Environmental programme) highlighted the importance of upstream prevention and integrating One Health principles into biodiversity and climate policies. The panel, consisting of Prof Eoin O'Neill and Prof Dympna Devine (both UCD) and Prof Archie Clements (Queen's University, Belfast) also stressed education, emphasising the role of schools, universities and communities in embedding One Health principles into everyday life.
A Vision for the Future
Closing reflections by the final panel of Dr Karl Conyard, Dr Maeve Louise Farrell and Ms Orla Byrne (all UCD) captured the conference’s spirit of optimism and determination. The event celebrated the potential of One Health to create meaningful change, provided we listen, collaborate and act. With its emphasis on breaking boundaries and fostering shared purpose, the UCD One Health Centre, a World Health Organization collaborating Centre, is helping to make it a reality and encourages everyone to get involved.
The organisers wish to thank Dr Barry McMahon, Prof Susi Geiger and Prof Mary Codd for excellently chairing the sessions and to UCD for hosting the event.
If interested to learn more about One Health, sign up to become a member of the UCD One Health Centre at https://www.ucd.ie/onehealth/join/
Pictured (left to right) at the UCD One Health Conference: Maeve Louise Farrell, Karl Conyard, Orla Byrne, Gerald Barry, Tony Holohan, Mary Codd, Chadia Wannous, Niamh McLoughlin and Barry McMahon