PAMEC (Preparing for and mitigating the impacts of environmental change on Dipteran-borne disease in the UK) is a new four-year programme funded with £3.75m by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) as part of a £20m interdisciplinary research fund to tackle epidemic threats.
The new interdisciplinary One Health research programme will focus on identifying emerging risks from mosquito and midge-borne diseases across the UK, with the aim of guiding national preparedness.
The programme is led by Professor Heather Ferguson, Professor of Medical Entomology and Infectious Disease Ecology at the University of Glasgow and Dr Emilie Pondeville, Dr Emilie Pondeville, Senior Research Fellow in medical and molecular entomology at the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research.
Dr Pondeville says: “Being awarded this funding is particularly timely. With the detection of West Nile virus and Usutu virus in the UK, the recent detection of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes breeding in London, and the first outbreak of bluetongue virus in Scotland, our project will help to manage the growing risk of mosquito- and midge-borne diseases in the context of climate change."
Traditionally, this risk to human and animal health has mostly been investigated in the tropics. Now, climate and other environmental changes are driving the expansion of many insect-borne diseases into Northern Europe, including the UK. So while this area of research has been neglected across the UK, it is particularly important in Scotland because of the presence of multiple native mosquito species that can transmit emerging diseases, and some of the highest reported densities of biting midges in the world.
Dr Pondeville continues: ‘We will investigate the presence of pathogens in mosquitoes, midges, and animal populations across the UK using high-throughput methodologies. Leveraging the state-of-the-art insectaries at the Centre for Virus Research, we will also assess the ability of UK mosquito and midge species to transmit pathogens considered a high priority risk to the UK.”
The PAMEC programme builds on results from the Mosquito Scotland project: the first comprehensive investigation of mosquito and mosquito-borne disease risk across Scotland, with a focus on emerging diseases that can be spread to humans and wildlife from infected bird populations.
In 2025, Mosquito Scotland researchers supported the Scottish Government’s response in the first detection of Usutu virus in Scotland. Usutu is an emerging zoonotic disease - one able to be passed from animals to humans - that has been linked to Blackbird declines in the UK. While Usutu is not considered to present a public health risk, it is considered a potential precursor to the arrival of West Nile Virus, another emerging mosquito-borne disease that can be spread to people from birds.
In addition to risks from mosquitoes, there have also been several outbreaks of midge-borne diseases such as Blue Tongue, and Schmallenberg virus over the last two decades, causing substantial losses to the UK livestock sector. Whilst Blue Tongue Virus has previously only been found in England, it was just recently report in Scotland for the first time in September 2026. This coincided with another new finding, this time the detection of the mosquito Aedes aegypti, responsible for the transmission of Dengue and other arboviruses in the tropics, in a neighbourhood in east London.
However, there is still relatively limited knowledge about the ecology of midge and mosquito vectors across the UK; including their capacity to transmit established and emerging pathogens, risk factors for human and animal exposure, and which of available control strategies will be most effective.
Working in collaboration with the UK Health Security Agency, the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, and Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), these and other crucial gaps will be addressed through the PAMEC programme.
The project will first seek to address key knowledge gaps on midge and mosquito ecology, which will help predict how vector-borne disease will respond to environmental change and interventions. The team will then develop innovative approaches for detecting emerging diseases in midge and mosquito populations in the UK, while also assessing the same populations for the ability to carry high-risk diseases as the climate changes.
The research team will also focus on building an understanding of sociological and environmental risk factors for human and animal exposure to midge and mosquito populations, as well as assessing risk awareness and potential mitigation options amongst highly exposed communities.
Finally, teams will integrate biological, environmental and sociological data into statistical and mathematical models to improve disease prediction and help inform robust response strategies.