CERI Research Focus Areas One Health
06

One Health
Research

One Health

Examining how human, animal, and environmental systems interact to shape disease emergence, antimicrobial resistance, and outbreak risk — identifying early warning signals and supporting multisectoral strategies for epidemic prevention.

Zoonotic Diseases
AMR
Ecological Drivers
Early Warning
Multisectoral
One Health Interface
Integrated Approach
Human
Health Systems
Animal
Veterinary & Wildlife
Environment
Ecology & Climate
Zoonotic Spillover
·
AMR Spread
·
Eco-epidemiology
Zoonotic Risk Monitoring
84%
AMR Cross-Species
76%
Environmental Surveillance
68%
3
Domains Integrated
15+
African Countries
80+
Publications
// Research Focus

What the Team
Investigates

FOCUS · 01
Zoonotic Transmission

Studying how pathogens cross from animals to humans, characterising spillover events, and identifying the ecological and behavioural drivers of zoonotic emergence.

Spillover Wildlife Livestock
FOCUS · 02
AMR Across Species

Investigating the spread of antimicrobial resistance genes across human, animal, and environmental reservoirs through integrated genomic surveillance.

AMR Genes Plasmids Agriculture
FOCUS · 03
Ecological Drivers of Epidemics

Examining how land use change, deforestation, climate variability, and biodiversity loss create conditions for pathogen emergence and epidemic risk.

Land Use Climate Biodiversity
FOCUS · 04
Environmental Pathogen Surveillance

Monitoring pathogens in water, soil, and food systems as early warning signals for outbreak risk and antimicrobial contamination.

Wastewater Water Quality Soil
FOCUS · 05
Early Warning Systems

Developing integrated surveillance frameworks that combine animal, environmental, and human health signals to detect outbreak threats before they escalate.

Surveillance Early Warning Preparedness
FOCUS · 06
Multisectoral Strategies

Engaging veterinary, agricultural, environmental, and human health sectors to co-develop sustainable epidemic prevention and AMR response strategies.

Policy Intersectoral Prevention
// Research Workflow

From Ecosystem
to Intervention

STEP · 01
Field Surveillance

Collecting samples from humans, animals, and environments across diverse ecosystems including wildlife habitats, farms, and water sources.

STEP · 02
Genomic Characterisation

Sequencing pathogens and AMR genes from multi-species samples to identify shared strains and track cross-species transmission events.

STEP · 03
Integrated Analysis

Combining genomic, ecological, and epidemiological data to map transmission networks across the human-animal-environment interface.

STEP · 04
Risk Assessment

Identifying high-risk interfaces, hotspots, and sentinel species that signal emerging threats for human populations.

STEP · 05
Prevention & Policy

Translating findings into multisectoral prevention strategies, early warning systems, and evidence-based policy for epidemic preparedness.

// Research Themes

Key Areas of
Investigation

Zoonotic Emerging Viruses Spillover Detection & Characterisation
Monitoring wildlife, livestock, and human populations for novel zoonotic pathogens with pandemic potential at high-risk interfaces in Africa.
Active
AMR in Agriculture Livestock, Soil & Water Contamination
Surveying AMR gene reservoirs in agricultural settings including livestock, poultry, aquaculture, and soil to understand environmental spread.
Active
Wastewater Epidemiology Environmental Pathogen Monitoring
Using wastewater surveillance as a community-level early warning system for infectious disease outbreaks and AMR circulation.
Active
Climate & Outbreak Risk Ecological Change & Disease Emergence
Modelling how climate change, deforestation, and habitat fragmentation alter vector ranges and zoonotic spillover risk across Africa.
Emerging
Wildlife Surveillance Sentinel Species & Hotspot Monitoring
Using wildlife as sentinel species to detect novel pathogens and monitor AMR at the human-animal interface in high-risk ecosystems.
Active
// Working With

Research &
Partner Network

AMR Research

Joint surveillance of AMR genes across human, animal, and environmental reservoirs using integrated genomic approaches.

Genomics Unit

Sequencing pathogens from multi-species samples to identify shared strains and track zoonotic transmission events.

Agricultural Partners

Collaborating with veterinary and agricultural institutions to survey AMR and pathogen circulation in food production systems.

FAO / WHO / WOAH

Contributing to tripartite One Health frameworks and continental AMR action plans through shared surveillance and policy support.

// The People

Meet the
Team

Prof Carla Mavian
Prof Carla Mavian

Senior Researcher and Programme Director: One Health Research

// Research Output

Latest
Publications

2026
CholeraSeq: a comprehensive genomic pipeline for cholera surveillance and near real-time outbreak investigation

Tagliamonte M, Sharma A, Riva A, Moir M, Salemi M, Baxter C,…

Bioinformatics 42

2025
FUNIN – a fungal glycoside hydrolases 32 enzyme database for developing optimized inulinases

Palmeira L, Quintanilha-Peixoto G, da Costa A, de Carvalho Cardoso E, Uetanabaro…

International Journal of Biological Macromolecules 318:145050

2025
CholeraSeq: a comprehensive genomic pipeline for cholera surveillance and near real-time outbreak investigation

Tagliamonte M, Sharma A, Riva A, Moir M, Salemi M, Baxter C,…

Bioinformatics 42

2025
Genomic Surveillance of Climate-Amplified Cholera Outbreak, Malawi, 2022–2023

Chabuka L, Choga W, Mavian C, Moir M, Morgenstern C, Tegaly H,…

Emerging Infectious Diseases 31(6):. doi: 10.3201/eid3106.240930.