The PLANET4HEALTH team was a prominent contributor at the EGU General Assembly 2025, actively engaging in vital discussions on climate change and health. This highly successful event welcomed 20,984 registered attendees, of which 18,646 made their way to Vienna from 120 countries and 2,338 joined online from 104 countries. With 18,934 presentations given in 1,102 sessions, and 56% of abstracts identified as contributions from Early Career Scientists (ECS), EGU25 provided a significant platform for our work.
Our partner Milica Tosic from Institute for Medical Research, represented PLANET4HEALTH and gave a talk on: “Modeling climate drivers of the current and future spread of sand flies in Europe and neighboring countries with the use of wavelet transform analysis”.
Milica said: “Presenting at EGU 2025 on behalf of the Planet4Health team was a rewarding and engaging experience. At EGU 2025, we presented our method for modeling sand fly distribution using climate data, focusing on identifying time lags between environmental changes and increases in sand fly numbers. We applied wavelet transform cross-correlation analysis to historical datasets, linking sand fly monitoring data with temperature, precipitation, and soil moisture. This approach allows us to detect climate-driven patterns and improve predictions of vector population dynamics. The feedback we received emphasised the relevance of such methods for anticipating disease risks under climate change. It was encouraging to see strong interest in our work and its potential to support early warning systems across Europe.”
Erlend I. F. Fossen From CICERO – Center for International Climate Research gave a talk on: “Using machine learning to predict vector-borne diseases in a changing climate“.
Erlend shares: “Attending EGU25 was a good experience that offered valuable insights into diverse research approaches and methodologies. It also gave a good overview of other groups and projects working on related topics within planetary health. I particularly appreciated the opportunity to learn from other studies and engage in meaningful networking. Following my short presentation, there was a lively and engaging discussion around my digital poster. Many attendees expressed interest in the P4H project, especially in the methodology we plan to implement, which led to insightful questions and valuable feedback.”
A talk was also given by our partners from the Institute for Medical Research and Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) on:“Towards proactive disease control: predicting sand fly population dynamics over Europe for enhanced public health outcomes”
The active participation of the PLANET4HEALTH team at EGU25 reinforced the project’s commitment to advancing crucial research at the intersection of climate change and health. The engaging discussions and strong interest received highlight the increasing relevance and impact of our work within the scientific community and beyond.
