Discovering epidemiology and One Health: for scholars joining the new health collaboration
Discovering epidemiology and One Health: for scholars joining the new health collaboration
In late 2025 the Rule-based Epidemiological Modelling Group began to con-sider the wider context of their work. On the one hand, the techniques of epidemiology save lives at scale, but on the other, emerging diseases and newer health-related epidemics are accelerating. We asked: ”How can a scholar quickly grasp epidemiology basics?” Beginning with what epidemiology is not, we see how disease management saved millions of lives from about 1950. Epidemiology matured through the 20thcentury but stalled in the early 21st. It became clear that epidemiology was in-sufficient, so political consensus was found to expand the scientific scope to One Health. One Health treats ecology, animals and humans as a system of systems across dozens of science fields, using the language of epidemiology. The newly-refocused World Health Organisation is committed to get 2030 global health goals back on track with a One Health approach, with further millions of lives at stake. Many new One Health scientists and scholars are not epidemiologists, and this paper is for them.
Epidemiology, One Health, UN goals and targets, Modelling, science communication
Shearer, Dan
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Waites, William
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Shearer, Dan
160e3f93-3d96-4ed6-9108-9a1ee05d716d
Waites, William
a069e5ff-f440-4b89-ae81-3b58c2ae2afd
[Unknown type: UNSPECIFIED]
Abstract
In late 2025 the Rule-based Epidemiological Modelling Group began to con-sider the wider context of their work. On the one hand, the techniques of epidemiology save lives at scale, but on the other, emerging diseases and newer health-related epidemics are accelerating. We asked: ”How can a scholar quickly grasp epidemiology basics?” Beginning with what epidemiology is not, we see how disease management saved millions of lives from about 1950. Epidemiology matured through the 20thcentury but stalled in the early 21st. It became clear that epidemiology was in-sufficient, so political consensus was found to expand the scientific scope to One Health. One Health treats ecology, animals and humans as a system of systems across dozens of science fields, using the language of epidemiology. The newly-refocused World Health Organisation is committed to get 2030 global health goals back on track with a One Health approach, with further millions of lives at stake. Many new One Health scientists and scholars are not epidemiologists, and this paper is for them.
Text
discovering-epidemiology
- Author's Original
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e-pub ahead of print date: 15 April 2026
Keywords:
Epidemiology, One Health, UN goals and targets, Modelling, science communication
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 510798
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/510798
PURE UUID: 97b15e65-319e-451d-86c4-dd2a83f5f915
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Date deposited: 22 Apr 2026 16:37
Last modified: 24 Apr 2026 02:17
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Contributors
Author:
Dan Shearer
Author:
William Waites
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