3rd PDPC Congress
– Navigating crisis –
Data and Decision-Making in Uncertain Times
We are pleased to invite you to the 3rd edition of the Pandemic and Disaster Preparedness Congress, which will be held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands on October 2nd, 2025. The theme of this year’s meeting is “Navigating Crisis – Data and decision-making in uncertain times” and we have an exciting program planned with interesting keynote speakers.
In an age of increasingly complex crises, how can we better harness data to detect early signals, guide smarter decisions, and build more effective, equitable systems for preparedness? What happens when scientific models meet the real-world messiness of lived experience, political urgency, and ethical trade-offs? How can we “hack” uncertainty—not eliminate it, but work with it—to navigate the unknown?
This year’s congress brings together researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and technologists to explore critical questions at the intersection of data, ethics, experience, and action.
Location
WTC Rotterdam – Postillion Hotel & Convention Centre
Beursplein 37
3011 AM Rotterdam
Website: https://www.wtcrotterdam.com/en
Program
Program is subject to changes.
Chair: Tom Emery
09:00 | Welcome and opening
Session 1: Dealing with uncertainty and complexity in crisis response
09:05 | Opening lecture
09:25 | Keynote – Disaster decisions: Confronting complexity and surprise
09:50 | PDPC Academy – Public health research for preparedness
10:30 | Coffee break with posters
Session 2: Signals and sense making
11:00 | Frontrunner 2 – Predicting, measuring and quantifying airborne virus transmission
11:30 | Frontrunner 5 – Translating mobility data and virus genomic data into early warning
12:00 | Frontrunner 1 – Climate adaptation in Rotterdam: a whole of society approach
12:30 | Lunch break with posters
Session 3: Realities of crisis response
13:30 | Keynote – When models meet reality: Early warning, early action in humanitarian response
13:50 | Frontrunner 3 – Community-driven patient logistics in disasters: Decisions and behaviors under uncertainty
14:20 | Keynote – Looking back on the Texas floods: AI for situational awareness in crisis
14:45 | PDPC – Reflections on crisis response
15:00 | Tea break
Session 4: Working together: Solidarity and preparedness
15:30 | Keynote – Interdisciplinary, process-based modelling: scenario analysis for microbial water quality and health risk
16:00 | Frontrunner 4 – The human face of crisis: Discovering blind spots in preparedness policy
16:30 | Keynote – Ethical resilience and ethics in crisis decision making
17:00 | Closing & Poster Awards
17:15 | Drinks
Registration
Online registration is closed for this event. Please send an e-mail to i.marks@erasmusmc.nl if you want to register on-site.
There are no registration fees or other charges to participate in the conference.
Contact
Questions about abstract submission and registration: i.marks@erasmusmc.nl
Questions about content: pdpc@erasmusmc.nl
We look forward to your participation.
On behalf of the PDPC Academic Board,
Marion Koopmans, Thom Bogaard, Anja Schreijer and Tom Emery