On September 28th, 2021, 15:00-16:00 BST (19:30-20:30 IST), Dr. Jamie Shutler, Associate Professor, University of Exeter, UK, will present his work on the Rapid Assessment Of Sars-Cov-2 Transmission Risk For Fecally Contaminated River Water. He will explain its basis and how it can be used in both advising public health and guiding further research, and will describe the story behind its publication, including the people and the whales that compelled us into action.

The human-health is constantly influenced by sociodemographic and environmental parameters. The applicability of geotechnologies into healthcare problems is a great alternative fordetermining risk sites – areas that are deemed of higher vulnerability. This presentation shows the use of geotechnologies (smartphones, GNSS, GIS, Remote Sensing, etc.) applied to the study of waterborne diseases, focusing mainly on Brazilian study cases, though applicable anywhere else. The presentation is divided into the following topics: databasesdefinitions and usage (primary and secondary data); georeferencing/geocoding approaches; sociodemographic, environmental and remote sensing variables acquisition (vector and matrix data types); socio-epidemiological profiling; regression analysis; spatial and temporal analysis (spatial distribution, kernel, buffer, scan, kriging, risk, models, etc.). The 30 minute presentation will be followed by 15-minute discussion session.

Speaker

Jamie Shutler

Rapid Assessment Of Sars-Cov-2 Transmission Risk For Fecally Contaminated River Water

Jamie is an ocean and atmospheric scientist with a wide range of interests that exploit satellite Earth Observation, in situ observations and models to study and monitor land, water and atmosphere environments and interactions, particularly in relation to climate. This includes studying atmosphere-ocean exchange of climatically important gases, carbon accounting, bacterial, biological, viral and chemical water quality, and land-water continuum interactions. His work has covered novel in situ monitoring methods to support aquaculture, through to global analyses of carbon to support policy, through to the design of satellites for the European Space Agency. He was an invited scientific reviewer for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on the Oceans and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC), and he was a lead author in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and International Oceanographic Commission (IOC) decadal vision for integrated ocean carbon research. Jamie’s research has been featured in the Guardian Environment, BBC news, Al Jazeera, Forbes, Higgs, The Daily Mail, The World Economic Forum, contributed to UK parliamentary enquiries (Ocean Acidification, 2017; Sustainable Seas, 2018) and guided international and inter-governmental agencies and research programmes.

About Open Network on Water-Related Diseases (ONWARD):

ONWARD (Open Network for Water-Related Diseases) is dedicated to developing a network of scientists and stakeholders sharing a common interest in better understanding of environmental controls on outbreaks of water-related diseases; the role of societal engagement in countering it; and in forecasting, early warning and risk mapping of water-associated diseases through the use of remote sensing, field observations and mathematical modelling. Our vision is to enable cost-effective, regularly updated, geo-referenced early warning for areas vulnerable to water-associated diseases, which in turn will enable preventive measures to be deployed in a timely manner to minimise the probability of epidemics. It is an open network committed to promote better dialogue and collaboration among experts from all relevant disciplines and with stakeholders, including the general public. Through the project, we intend to bring together experts from fields related to water associated diseases such as microbiologists, remote-sensing scientists, medical practitioners, and social scientists. A series of webinars are being organised as part of the activities of ONWARD.

If you are interested in joining ONWARD, please write to onward.gcrf@gmail.com with “ONWARD Membership” in the subject line.

We will continue with the ONWARD Webinars during the next months. Expect some very exciting afternoons, or mornings or evenings, depending on where you are…

If you need any additional information please send an email to Jose Luiz Moutinho.