Welcome to ESWI Airborne: Shaping the Future of Respiratory Virus Research. In this episode, we speak with two outstanding researchers whose work is shaping the future of influenza and respiratory virus science. This conversation forms part of our three-part series on life as a scientist.

Our guests are two recent ESWI Conference prize winners:

Dr Kevin Ciminski, recipient of the Claude Hannoun Prize for Best Body of Work.

He leads an independent research group at the Institute of Virology, University Medical Center Freiburg in Germany, where he studies virus–host interactions of emerging zoonotic influenza viruses.

Dr Marios Koutsakos, awarded the Young Scientist Vaccine Innovation Award.

He is a Group Leader at the Doherty Institute in Melbourne, Australia, focusing on influenza B viruses, immune imprinting, and developing broader and more durable influenza vaccine strategies.

Together, they explore what it means to build a scientific career, define a niche, establish a laboratory and contribute to an international research community. They reflect on the pivotal moments that drew them into virology, the balance between specialised research and big-picture questions, and the skills that have mattered most in their professional growth. They also share lessons learned from mentors and consider where early career scientists can make the greatest impact in the decade ahead.

Tune in to this extraordinary conversation exploring the important interplay between respiratory viruses and non-communicable diseases like diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease. Why do people with chronic conditions face higher risks from infections? Could there be such a thing as "long-flu"? What are the long-term effects of viral infections? And why are viruses so tricky?

Join our three leading scientists as they unpack the bidirectional connection, clarify this unique opportunity to leverage awareness and the fundamental importance of joining forces across disciplines: Marco Goeijenbier(ESWI Board Member, intensivist at Spaarne Gasthuis and Senior Scientist at Erasmus MC), Tor Biering-Sørensen (cardiologist and Founding Head of the Center for Translational Cardiology in Copenhagen), and Kirsty Short (NHMRC research fellow, University of Queensland).

They will explain this pivotal moment to rethink disease prevention, reveal insights from the groundbreaking giga DANFLU trial, and show how the Interdisciplinary Disease Collaboration on Respiratory Infections and NCDs (IDC) is connecting the dots from lab bench to hospital bedside.

What are the causes for the steady and at times dramatic decline in vaccine confidence seen since the mid-90’s across certain age-groups and communities? Why has the public discourse changed? And how did the persistent and lingering myth linking vaccines to autism take hold?

In this insightful episode, a panel of accomplished experts tackle these pressing questions, offering astute explanations and powerful counter-strategies to combat misinformation and restore trust in vaccines.

Join Ted van Essen, TV doctor, GP and ESWI Board Member with many years of experience in public health work as chair of the Dutch Immunisation Foundation; Heidi Larson, Founder and Director of the Vaccine Confidence Project, author of “How vaccine rumours start”, and named one of the 100 most influential women in the world by the BBC in 2021; and, Sue Saville, former Medical Correspondent at Britain’s ITV News, now an independent health communications specialist bringing a wealth of experience as a speaker, writer, trainer and more.