Hi all,

I forward you this message from the *CETAF-DiSSCo COVID-19 Task Force.* Apologies for cross-posting.

Kind regards, Wouter Addink

Dear Colleague

We are writing on behalf of a COVID Task Force, a CETAF-DiSSCo joint action (CETAF = Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities, https://cetaf.org/; DiSSCo = Distributed System of Scientific Collections, https://www.dissco.eu/).

As a group of researchers working in different fields, we recently established a COVID Task Force, with the aim to help clarify the links between biodiversity, human pressure and the origin and causes of coronaviruses and similar disease spill-over, as well as to identify the actions that should be put in place to complement the efforts made in other disciplines. This effort is equally important to anticipate and prevent the occurrence and propagation of zoonotic infectious diseases worldwide.

One of the first tangible actions we want to pursue is a horizon scanning exercise among stakeholders to identify priority questions that scientists should explore to reach a better understanding of pathogen origins, spill-over processes and their ecological correlates.

The answers to these questions are needed to clarify the role that certain animal species play with respect to the pandemics such as the current one, and the environmental conditions that may facilitate these phenomena, from wildlife trade and consumption to habitat loss or degradation. We aim to publish, in the peer-reviewed literature, a list of questions that would form the basis to steer future research work.

Given your expertise in the field, we would be most grateful if you could *supply questions that you see as priorities* for research funding. The form has space for up to twenty questions but feel free to send as many as deemed important. Many thanks in advance for your important contribution.

Participation in the survey is on voluntary base and you are not obliged to answer all the questions. Your answers to the survey will be treated anonymously. The contribution of respondents will be acknowledged in the publication only if you leave your name.

We would also greatly appreciate if you could circulate this message to colleagues who you think might be interested. We apologise in advance for any cross-posting.

This is the link to the Google form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfh7ZEPY60o0pByqYuoVtCt_eyeo6ikDXrN...

Best regards

For the CETAF-DiSSCo COVID Task Force

prof. Danilo Russo, University of Naples Federico II, Italy

prof. Sandro Bertolino, University of Turin, Italy

prof. Maarten Vanhove, Hasselt University, Belgium

Dr. Séverine Thys, Ghent University, Belgium