The UCL Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies (dPHE) has been designated a World Health Organisation (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Digital Public Health and Pandemic Preparedness.
The designation was celebrated at a launch event on 25 March, hosted at UCL. This event brought together senior representatives from WHO Europe, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) and UCL.
Dr Chris Lewis OBE, Dr Nick Johnson, Dr Ihor Perehinets, Professor Patty Kostkova, Aron Aregay and Professor Sam Janes.
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Presentation by Professor Patty Kostkova, Director of the UCL Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies.
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Panel discussion with Dr Chris Lewis OBE, Professor Patty Kostkova, Dr Ihor Perehinets, Dr Nick Johnson and Aron Aregay.
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The new WHO Collaborating Centre recognises UCL dPHE’s leadership in digital public health research. And its capacity to translate innovation into operational tools for preparedness and response.
UCL dPHE’s interdisciplinary work spans digital disease surveillance, AI‑enabled analytics, mobile and IoT (Internet of Things) tools, antimicrobial‑stewardship interventions and maternal‑health digital programmes.
The centre will work with WHO to scale digital approaches for surveillance, strengthen data stewardship and support capacity building across the European region and beyond.
I am thrilled by the WHO designation – this is a major milestone for the UCL Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies (dPHE) and a recognition of our research achievements and world leadership in digital public health and pandemics preparedness.
UCL dPHE will collaborate with WHO and regional partners to translate research into operational guidance, pilot digital solutions for early warning and response, and support training and capacity building for public‑health agencies.
Priority areas include One Health surveillance, climate‑sensitive risk monitoring, antimicrobial resistance interventions and trusted public communication during health emergencies.
This new Collaborating Centre strengthens our ability, across the WHO European region, to prevent, promptly detect and respond to health emergencies by using digital public health tools more effectively and responsibly — from stronger surveillance and early warning, to better analytics for decision-making, to ethical use of AI that support public health action.
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