30 Apr UGPN Conference March 2025: Global Collaborations in One Health
Between 23-26 March 2025, the annual UGPN Conference was hosted by North Carolina State University in Raleigh, USA
The 2025 conference theme was Global Collaborations in One Health, with two subthemes. The first, Food and Water Solutions, convened by Dr. Siddhartha Thakur, Executive Director, State Global One Health Academy, worked to address food and water challenges across the human, plant and animal dimensions. The second, Climate Change and Healthy Communities, convened by Dr. Kathie Dello, Director, State Climate Office of North Carolina, and Dr. Erin Seekamp, Executive Director, NC State Climate and Sustainability Academy, centred on protecting the health of human populations, animals, and the environment from the effects of climate change and avoiding widening health inequities among ageing adults and other vulnerable populations.
During the conference, attendees participated in thematic breakout discussions, toured NC State’s campus, and learned more about the opportunities such as the UGPN Research Collaboration Fund (RCF). The 2025 RCF, which provided seed-funding to foster innovative, high-quality and transdisciplinary research collaborations among the UGPN partner institutions, called for research projects around the conference themes. Breakout sessions focused on opportunities relating to research questions and areas of potential collaboration. Under the subtheme Food and Water Solutions, one key question involved ‘exploring the health impacts of cooking alternative proteins based on different cooking methods and cultural culinary practices’.
The conference also featured a keynote address ‘Wicked Problems, Collaborative Solutions‘ delivered by Dr. Rob Dunn, Senior Vice Provost for University Interdisciplinary Programmes. This was an inspirational talk about how universities play a critical role in tackling wicked problems facing our world-both in terms of the research we do and the students we educate.
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“The UGPN conference illustrates the impact of international academic collaboration in addressing our world’s most pressing challenges,” said Dr. Amy Conger, Vice Provost for Global Engagement at NC State University. “By leveraging the expertise of NC State, USP, and UoS researchers, we’re tackling complex ‘One Health’ issues and developing sustainable solutions for the benefit of communities worldwide.”