Rigi Workshop 2023: Infectious diseases as drivers of change

Infectious diseases (IDs) have shaped societies throughout the history of humanity. Their impact goes beyond the immediate loss of lives and livelihoods, to include major shifts in economy, demographics, labor policy, and social construction. The bubonic plague that swept through Europe several times from the 14th century, or the IDs brought by European colonizers that decimated the First Nations in the Americas (16-17th centuries) are two examples of many such events. Their destructive nature is often followed by profound changes, leading to innovations in science, technology and society, which may not have been possible without an ID-driven shock, thus illustrating the duality of epidemics and pandemics.

The Rigi workshop 2023 invited participants with various backgrounds on an interdisciplinary journey to explore the significance of IDs as drivers of change. They used primary source to explore how historical documents are significant to explore old epidemics, they explored and criticized papers related to ancient pathogens or the use of historical data and, during the last workhop, they had to face different scenarii where important decisions had to be make to counter emerging diseases.

Speakers

• Prof. Dr. Daniel Bausch, FIND Geneva
  Outbreak Response: From Colonialism to the Emerging Global Architecture
• Prof. Dr. Flurin Condrau, University of Zürich
  Why History of Medicine ?
• Dr. Leander Diener, Univerity of Zurich
  How to see the big picture: the role of medical history during a pandemic
• Prof. Dr. Johannes Krause, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig
  The genetic history of the plague and the origin of the Black Death
• Prof. Dr. Verena Schünemann, University of Zurich and University of Vienna
  Ancient DNA and pathogens: tracing disease through time
• PD Dr. Kaspar Staub, University of Zurich
  Connecting the past and present of infectious diseases: An interdisciplinary and quantitative approach via epidemiology, health history and digital humanities
• Dr. Danelle van Zyl-Hermann, University of Basel
  Global Health in historical perspective: The past in the present?
• Prof. Dr. Jing Wang, ETH Zurich
  Understanding airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2

Organizers
Prof. Dr. Carmen Faso, SSTMP, University of Bern,
Dr. Lucienne Tritten, SSTMP, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute,
Prof. Dr. Hubert Steinke, SSHMN, University of Bern,
Prof. Dr. Flurin Condrau, SSHMN, University of Zurich,
Prof. Dr. Pilar Junier, SSM, University of Neuchâtel,
Prof. Dr. Pascal Mäser, LS2, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute,
Caroline Reymond, SCNAT, Platform Biology