2050 is just around the corner. Organizations and scientific experts have been predicting what the world will look like in 2050. Said predictions have addressed a variety of topics like demographic trends, the health impact of ageing, infectious diseases, food availability and quality, and digital technologies.
Bioengineering is a cross-cutting area that interfaces with several scientific domains. Addressing the current global challenges requires an interdisciplinary approach, involving social sciences, ethics, biology, medicine, and engineering. However, the dialogue between experts from different areas is still lacking considering the magnitude and complexity of said challenges.
The symposium “The Bioengineering – One Health Alliance in 2050: A One-Day Voyage into the Future” aims to explore these issues, breaking artificial boundaries between scientific domains, and adopting the concept of One Health, perceived as the holistic view on Health, in its components of Human Health, Animal Health and Environmental Health.
The meeting will address four major societal challenges, structured in four panels. Each panel will be moderated by a science journalist and a summary of the discussion will be presented by Rapporteurs at the closing session. Based on the work of the Rapporteurs, a White Paper will later be published and presented to a wider audience, thus fostering public engagement.
PANELS
The rationale behind each panel and its objectives are the following:
Panel I - Ageing: living longer, healthier and socially active
Chair: Lino Ferreira | Moderator: Teresa Firmino | Rapporteurs: Júlio Borlido Santos and Begoña Cabezas
Ageing is a triumph of the contemporary society, but it also represents a great challenge for the upcoming generations. Although the life expectancy has grown significantly over the last century, healthy life expectancy, i.e., the number of years spent free of disabilities, has increased much slower than life expectancy. Reducing the gap between healthy life expectancy and life expectancy offers significant potential not only to individual health and well-being, but also regarding economic growth. Recent progress in understanding the biology of ageing suggests that designing interventions that can reduce gaps in healthy life expectancy is now technically feasible. This session will explore the demographics of ageing, ageing biology, and interventions to slow down ageing processes and regenerate tissues affected by age-related diseases.
Panel II - Infectious diseases: anticipating, preventing and treating
Chair: Fabíola Costa | Moderator: António Granado | Rapporteur: Joana Coelho
As we move into the third year of the global pandemic caused by COVID-19, it’s time to leverage this and other disease outbreaks lessons and anticipate and prepare to what lies ahead. For most of human history, infectious diseases have been the leading cause of death, and even the 20th century antibiotics breakthrough is coming to a stall with the rise of antimicrobial resistance. Also, the new challenges brought by increased demographics and climate change have introduced changes into ecosystems, affecting animals and humans alike, fostering the chances for new outbreaks. How can technology be used to monitor and minimize risks (surveillance), to support sanitary processes and policy making (prevention), to treat diseases while enhancing societal equity, and foster homeostasis in a sustainable way (control)?
Panel III - Digital health: improving healthcare
Chair: Daniel Marques de Vasconcelos | Moderator: Vanessa Ribeiro Rodrigues | Rapporteur: Isabel Lourinho
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is digitalising almost everything and health is no exception. Society is rapidly changing by a mutual influence, with many technological solutions deployed in the first decades of the 21st century.
Health is a fundamental dimension of life; not only the right to life, but a right to control life. Since health data is highly consequential to a person's life, it’s crucial to protect it, in a world where decentralisation enabled by cloud computing and cybersecurity risks are increasing. Conversely, healthcare innovators are reaching major scientific breakthroughs via powerful technologies combining Big Data and Artificial Intelligence, which demand significant health data flows. How can we balance societal risks with potential technological benefits? Can digital health empower patients? Can digital solutions make healthcare more affordable, thus easing access worldwide? Join us on this voyage into the future!
Panel IV - Food: striving for environmental sustainability and safety
Chair: Eduardo Silva | Moderator: Andreia Azevedo Soares | Rapporteur: Bárbara Silva e Sara Varela Amaral
In 2015, the United Nations endorsed a universal call to eradicate hunger, reduce malnutrition and accelerate climate action - The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Making our food systems more sustainable requires leadership and actions from all society’s actors, including science. Advances from bioengineering play a critical role. This panel seeks to examine how future Bioengineering efforts and advances could lead the way to increase food quality and nutrition, while protecting against plant and animal pests and diseases, improving and safeguarding agricultural yields, and making alternative food sources.
