On 26 May 2026, GloPID-R convened a roundtable on social and behavioural sciences research for the Ebola Bundibugyo virus outbreak, bringing together experts, researchers, and response partners to identify urgent evidence gaps and research priorities. The report and related support documents from this meeting are now available.
The roundtable was organised as part of the actions from the special GloPID-R member meeting held on 21 May 2026, in response to the evolving Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak. The discussion was proposed in recognition of the vital role that social and behavioural factors play in outbreak control. The actions from these discussions aim to help contribute to a research agenda for the current response in support of the CORC Filovirus Research & Development Roadmap and Continental preparedness and response plan. The meeting was co-chaired by representatives of Africa CDC and WHO, and championed by the GloPID-R member, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). It was attended by 71 representatives of the research community, frontline responders and research funders.
National priorities
The meeting was opened with presentations from national technical experts from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda, to set the scene in terms of the priorities for response. They noted that the outbreak’s dynamics in Eastern DRC and Uganda demonstrate the need to understand the event through a social and human lens, and to use evidence to support response decision-making.
CORC and the role of social sciences
During the meeting, the work of the Filovirus Collaborative Open Research Consortium (CORC), led by GloPID-R member ANRS in partnership with the WHO R&D Blueprint and the Africa CDC, was presented. This highlighted the scale and breadth of the CORC network, which includes input from some members of the social sciences community. It was stressed that the current Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak is not only a biomedical crisis, but one shaped by social, cultural, and political dimensions.
Why community trust matters
Community trust, engagement, and participation were identified as essential to early case detection, contact tracing, infection prevention, survivor follow-up, and access to care.
Participants also used a whiteboard to propose and prioritise urgent research questions for both the immediate response and longer-term planning.
They agreed that community engagement and participatory approaches must be integrated into surveillance, diagnostics, clinical care, and clinical trials. They also emphasised the importance of prioritising the social and behavioural sciences in guiding roadmap development and supporting a community-centred, evidence-informed response.
Shared principles and key challenges
Several common principles emerged from the discussion, including the need for a people-centred approach, equity and gender responsiveness, timeliness, safeguarding, collaboration, open access, and a commitment to quality.
Important challenges were also raised, including the need for greater reflexivity in how responses are delivered and a stronger commitment to doing no harm. Participants also highlighted the difficulty of conducting rapid, high-quality field research in a high-security-risk context, and the ethical need to balance research burden against benefit for communities already under significant pressure.
Next steps
GloPID-R has launched an online survey to expand, refine and validate the findings from the first roundtable and inform a follow-on roundtable discussion. The survey is open until 17 June 2026 COB.
The next roundtable will take place on 22 June 2026 from 12:00-13:00 (BST). Interested participants are requested to register online.
GloPID-R’s roundtable marks an important step in strengthening the evidence base for a socially informed Ebola response, with the aim of supporting communities, improving trust, and shaping more effective public health action.
Download the reports