2026 Workshop: Kilpisjärvi, Finland
Overview
The 2026 RBZD Workshop will bring together researchers working across diverse ecological, cultural, and disciplinary contexts to compare rodent–human–environment systems, share methodological approaches, and strengthen interdisciplinary networks.
By placing different systems and disciplines into conversation—from Lapland’s boreal zone and subarctic tundra to African agro-ecosystems—we aim to build a more integrated understanding of rodent-borne zoonoses, focusing on the three interrelated pillars of disease ecology, synanthropy, and rodentation.
- Dates: 17 – 21 June 2026
- Venue: Kilpisjärvi Biological Field Station, Lapland, Finland
Organising Committee
- Prof. Heikki Henttonen (Natural Resources Institute Finland)
- Prof. Tarja Sironen (University of Helsinki)
- Dr. Sagan Friant (Penn State)
- Prof. Peter Hudson (Penn State)
- Dr. David Simons (Penn State)
- Dr. Lina Moses (Tulane)
Scientific Programme
Day 1: Thursday, 18 June
Welcome Remarks
Session 1: Finnish Boreal–Arctic Rodent Disease Systems
- Purpose: Establish a sense of place and introduce key themes for comparative thinking. Focuses on ecological dynamics, long-term datasets, and open questions in boreal–arctic rodent disease ecology, including host behavioural ecology (e.g., bank vole behaviour and dispersal dynamics) in relation to Puumala hantavirus transmission.
| Presenter | Title |
|---|---|
| Heikki Henttonen | 1) Long-term patterns of arvicoline dynamics in Lapland. 2) Aspect of bank vole behaviour related to PUUV transmission. |
| Janine Mistrick | Transmission heterogeneity of Puumala hantavirus in wild bank vole populations |
| Eva Kallio | Does rodent dynamics in urban boreal forests increase zoonotic hazard? |
| Mert Erdin | Diverse viral threats in rodents. |
Session 2: Rodentation — Landscape Change and Rodent Systems
- Purpose: Examine how landscape change reshapes rodent populations and disease systems. Focuses on land-use change, habitat disturbance, agriculture, and urbanisation. Discussion will also consider rewilding and nature-based solutions.
| Presenter | Title |
|---|---|
| Flora Robertson | Landscape dynamics and Lassa fever transmission. |
| Joby Razzelliot | Using Neural Networks to Predict Land Use from Drone Imaging. |
| Voahangy Soarimalala | Rodent Zoonoses in Madagascar: Risk Assessment and Control of Introduced Rodents. |
| Guilia Ferrai | Ecological consequences of extreme climatic events: From small mammals community composition to population dynamics and tick infection risk in the Italian alps. |
| Angie Luis | Beyond Diversity: The Role of Community Composition in Rodent-Borne Zoonoses. |
Day 2: Friday, 19 June (Midsummer Eve)
Session 3: Human-Rodent Interfaces
- Purpose: Introduce human dimensions and socio-ecological contexts. Examines how land use, livelihoods, food systems, housing, mobility, and everyday practices mediate contact between people, rodents, and pathogens. Will highlight emerging approaches like human movement data and citizen science.
| Presenter | Title |
|---|---|
| Sagan Friant | Scaling Lassa Virus Dynamics within Anthropogenic Ecosystems (SCAPES) Study Protocol: a mixed-methods observational cohort study of humans, rodents, and landscapes in Nigeria. |
| Christina Harden | Mixed-methods approach to mapping the human-reservoir interface in Lassa-endemic Nigeria. |
| Charles Nunn | Network Science, One Health, and Disease Transmission. |
| Abigail Smith | Rodent-Movement Model. |
| Emilia Johnson | Linking rodent-borne zoonotic virus exposure to human mobility and rodent ecology in degraded forest landscapes. |
Session 4: Public Health, Interventions, and Translation
- Purpose: Examine how ecological insights are translated into public health action. Reflects on how intervention strategies are shaped across contexts and historical/funding landscapes.
| Presenter | Title |
|---|---|
| Kelly Schenk | Human-Rodent Interactions and Risk Mediation. |
| Lizzie Ortiz Cam | The cost of spillover: estimating the economic burden of Lassa virus exposure in Nigeria. |
| Hussein Khalil | Pharmaceutical contamination: an overlooked driver of zoonotic transmission and risk. |
| David Simons | The Socio-economic Shield Limits Lassa Virus Spillover in Urban West Africa. |
| Olga Perski | Using Behavioural Science Frameworks to Develop and Evaluate Interventions to Reduce Risky Human-Rodent Interactions. |
Day 3: Saturday, 20 June (Midsummer Day)
Session 5: Comparative Rodent Disease Ecology
- Purpose: Share perspectives from diverse systems and interrogate core assumptions in spillover science. A focal topic will be “multi-host” systems and what pathogen detection across species reveals about host competence and spillover risk.
| Presenter | Title |
|---|---|
| Kaitlyn Baker | Does the source of a spillover outbreak matter? Comparison of zoonotic infections and spillover from Bats and Rodents. |
| Mert Erdin | Beyond the Reservoir: Do we truly understand the spillover dynamics of rodent-borne RNA viruses? |
| David Redding/Abigail Smith | Towards general models of rodent borne disease. |
| Madeline Rowland | Sin Nombre hantavirus interacts with helminth parasite co-infections in Montana deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus). |
| David Simons | Viral reservoir status in small mammals emerges as a predictable life-history trait after correcting for surveillance bias. |
| Isabella Cattadori | Reassessing the virulance transmission trade-off and pathogen fitness strategies. |
Session 6: Workshop Synthesis and Wrap-up
Purpose: Integrate themes across the three pillars to identify shared priorities and potential outputs.
Outputs
Anticipated outputs for the 2026 workshop include the consolidation of cross-cutting research priorities and the formulation of future collaborative outputs grounded in the three pillars of rodent-borne zoonoses.
Confirmed Attendees
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Heikki Henttonen | LUKE |
| Sagan Friant | Pennsylvania State University |
| Peter Hudson | Pennsylvania State University |
| Lina Moses | Tulane University |
| Lizzie Ortiz Cam | Tulane University |
| David Simons | Pennsylvania State University |
| Olga Perski | Stockholm University |
| Christina Harden | Pennsylvania State University |
| Kelly Schenk | Pennsylvania State University |
| David Redding | Natural History Museum, London |
| Joby Razzelliot | Natural History Museum, London |
| Emilia Johnson | University of Glasgow |
| Abigail Smith | Natural History Museum, London |
| Eva Kallio | University of Jyväskylä |
| Hussein Khalil | Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences |
| Charles Nunn | Duke University |
| Voahangy Soarimalala | Association Vahatra/University of Fianarantsoa |
| Andy Dobson | Princeton University |
| Valentina Tagliapietra | Fondazione Edmund Mach |
| Francesca Dagostin | Fondazione Edmund Mach |
| Giulia Ferrari | Fondazione Edmund Mach |
| Isabella Cattadori | Pennsylvania State University |
| Mert Erdin | University of Helsinki |
| Kaitlyn Baker | Pennsylvania State University |
| Angie Luis | University of Montana |
| Madeline Rowland | University of Montana |
| Janine Mistrick | University of Arkansas |
| Flora Robertson | Natural History Museum, London |