NCOH-Ready project builds research infrastructure for rapid response
- prof.dr. QA (Quirine) ten Bosch
- Full Professor / Chair Infectious Disease Epidemiology
A new infectious disease jumps from animals to humans. The first signals appear, but key questions remain unanswered. Which animal species are involved? How is the pathogen spreading? And how can further transmission be prevented? In those first days, time matters. With the new NCOH-Ready initiative, a broad consortium of researchers is building a research infrastructure that can be rapidly deployed during future zoonotic outbreaks.
Researchers from Wageningen University & Research, Erasmus MC, Utrecht University, UMC Utrecht and partners within the Netherlands Centre for One Health (NCOH) are joining forces to strengthen the Netherlands’ preparedness for future health threats. “Our aim is to ensure the right infrastructure and tools are in place before an outbreak begins,” explains project leader professor Quirine ten Bosch.
Understanding outbreaks
Many infectious diseases emerge where humans, animals and the environment meet. COVID-19, avian influenza and Q fever all showed how diseases can move across species and affect society on a large scale. Responding effectively requires a One Health approach: looking not only at people, but also at animals, their surroundings and the connections between them. However, in practice rapid collaboration remains challenging. Research protocols are often spread across institutions, responsibilities can be unclear, and data from different sources are difficult to combine. As a result, important investigations may be delayed precisely when speed is essential.
One coordinated roadmap
NCOH-Ready is developing a practical roadmap for outbreak investigations. It brings together established and innovative approaches, ranging from epidemiological analyses and genomic sequencing to environmental sampling and advanced modelling techniques that integrate diverse data streams.
The approach functions as a toolbox with different levels of complexity. Depending on the characteristics of an outbreak and available resources, researchers can select the most appropriate protocols. This creates a flexible system that can scale when situations become more complex.
Practising before the next crisis begins
A roadmap developed on paper alone is not enough. That is why the consortium will test the approach through table-top exercises and pilot studies in real-world settings. Researchers will simulate outbreak scenarios and bring together experts from different disciplines to test processes, collaboration and decision-making.
Field studies will also be carried out in environments where humans and animals closely interact, such as agricultural systems. These studies help researchers test logistics, sampling approaches and analytical methods under realistic conditions and refine them before they are urgently needed.
Ready before it becomes urgent
The challenges posed by infectious diseases do not stop at disciplinary boundaries or national borders. That is why NCOH-Ready is not only about technologies and protocols, but also about building lasting collaborations. By connecting expertise across human, veterinary and environmental health, the consortium aims to create a network that can rapidly mobilise when new threats emerge.
“We believe preparedness starts before a crisis becomes visible. The faster we understand how diseases spread, the better we can protect both people and animals,” states Ten Bosch. The NCOH- Ready project starts on June 1, 2026 and will serve as the national scientific backbone for One Health research readiness for zoonotic outbreaks in the Netherlands.
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