Combatting pandemics together: funding for pioneering „Leibniz Lab” with SOEP participation

News of March 27, 2024

The new Leibniz Lab Pandemic Preparedness: One Health, One Future links excellent inter- and transdisciplinary research from 41 Leibniz institutes. For the first time in Germany, pathogen-oriented sciences (virology, bacteriology, mycology and immunology) are collaborating with other life sciences such as ecology, health technologies, health economics, and educational research.

The Socio-Economic Panel is involved in the Leibniz-Lab through Prof. Dr. Sabine Zinn (Vice Director of the SOEP and Head of the Survey Methodology and Management Department). The starting point of the sub-project for which she is responsible is the fact that there is currently no comprehensive health database in Germany that could serve as a basis for policy advice in a pandemic situation. This is where the SOEP comes in: SOEP access routes and linkage methods with existing, decentralized health datasets will be investigated. “SOEP has broad expertise in the field of statistical methods and many years of experience in linking data from various external data sources, explains Sabine Zinn. “We want to make our contribution to ensuring that future pandemics can be countered efficiently and effectively.”

The “Leibniz Lab” is a new funding instrument of the Leibniz Association and will be funded for three years with three million euros. The aim is to pool research in these areas in order to prepare, to prevent, and to respond better to future pandemics and to make the knowledge gained available to policymakers in the form of evidence-based recommendations for action.

Press release of the Leibniz-Gemeinschaft

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