Call for hosting a regional convening of the CSID Network

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The Climate Sensitive Infectious Disease Network (CSIDNet) connects a global community working at the intersection of climate, infectious diseases, and open-source software tools. The Network supports contributors, practitioners, and researchers who are addressing climate-sensitive disease challenges on the ground. CSIDNet convenes regularly at its Annual General Meeting (AGM) to share knowledge, strengthen relationships, and grow the cross-disciplinary collaborations needed for a sustainable and impactful network. Following the successful first AGM held in Thailand in July 2025, CSIDNet is pleased to invite organizations to co-host regional convenings scheduled for 2026.

CSIDNet Regional Convenings Overview

In 2026, CSIDNet is focused on deepening ties within regions: bringing members together in their own contexts to surface priorities, build trusted relationships, and shape agendas that respond to locally defined needs. Rather than centralizing activities at the global scale, we are investing in distributed convenings, community-led discussions, and partnerships that strengthen regional ownership. Our focus is on creating spaces where local expertise guides the network’s direction, connections are built face-to-face, and shared learning emerges from the realities of climate-sensitive disease challenges on the ground.

This is a good opportunity for your organization to play a central role in advancing our mission to ensure communities around the world, especially in under-resourced regions, can access, adapt, and mobilize data and modeling tools to anticipate and effectively respond to Climate-Sensitive Infectious Diseases (CSIDs). Co-hosts will showcase their leadership in this emergent field and gain global visibility. As co-host of the event, you will be at the center of convening approximately 50 leaders, researchers, policymakers, practitioners, etc., from the region. Funds will be available to enable members locally as well as from different regions to join in our Network’s spirit of fostering “translocal” connections.

Your organization will join us to deliver a comprehensive program of plenary sessions, scientific presentations, workshops, and networking events. We are seeking Expressions of Interest (EOI) from organizations (such as non-governmental organizations, universities, research institutes, and others) that have the vision and capacity to help create a memorable gathering.

Regional convenings should emphasize:

• Collaboration
• Capacity strengthening
• Fellowship visibility
• Scientific exchange
• Local stakeholder engagement
• CSID thematic areas including Climate–Sensitive Infectious Disease modeling and forecasting, environmental and vector surveillance, and open-source data and software tools that support decision-making.

We expect to host gatherings in at least 6 different regions. Co-host applicants will be asked to define the “region” they wish to convene, recognizing that geographies emerge from historical and political contexts and do not always map neatly onto nation-states or commonly used boundaries. Applicants may use widely recognized regional groupings (e.g., East Africa or Latin America) or propose other meaningful axes of shared experience, like linguistic communities (e.g., Francophone Africa), migratory or ecological corridors (e.g., the Rift Valley or Mekong River Basin), or any other configuration that reflects local realities and fosters effective collaboration.

Responsibilities of the Co-host

• Designate focal persons (must be at least 2 people) to lead the organization of the event.
• Lead on the selection of local meeting venue(s) and social activities.
• Collaborate on developing the invitation list.
• Collaborate on developing the budget (final approval needed by the CSIDNet Finance Committee).
• Collaboratively co-design the program with the CSIDNet staff and input from the broader community.
• Regularly meet to plan with the Planning Sub-Committee.
• Prepare visa support letters for those who will require one.
• Identify and invite press and media people to cover the event locally and regionally.
• Produce and deliver within 30 days after the end of the event:
  • a summary report (template provided), 
  • content artifacts (slides, posters, lightning video), 
  • attendance list with affiliations and contacts, 
  • 3 to 5 key insights and recommendations for organizing future regional convenings,
  • a document with suggestions and comments from the region to be discussed at the Annual General Meeting.

Responsibilities of CSIDNet

• Designate a lead point of contact from the CSIDNet’s Events Committee
• Allocate funding to cover base costs
• Manage participant travel scholarships via the Inclusive Participation Fund
• Regional convening host kit which includes: sample agendas; room layouts; templates for registration, comms emails, sponsor letters, event signage, feedback surveys; accessibility standards; press kit, photo, and materials collection guidelines.

About CSIDNet

Climate change, an indisputable and stark reality of our time, impacts human health. The term “Climate Sensitive Infectious Disease” (CSID) is used to describe infectious diseases whose transmission and spread are directly influenced by changes and variations in climate and weather. In response to growing awareness about CSID as well as advances in technology such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, there has been an expansion of digital tools, such as climate-informed early-warning systems, to better understand and predict the impact of near-term and long-term shifts in climate on disease transmission.

If implemented well, such tools have the potential to support governments, grassroots organizations, and individuals to proactively respond. However, to date, these tools and related practices have been unequally distributed, disconnected, and primarily developed and directed by those based outside of regions most affected by CSID.

Thus, the new CSID Network (CSIDNet) looks to both connect a global community of actors contributing towards impactful CSID software tools and establish localized CSID communities that can link existing on-the-ground issues and initiatives to the development and maintenance of CSID tools.

Application process

Interested organizations are invited to submit their Expression of Interest (EOI) by outlining their motivation and capacity to host the 2026 CSIDNet Regional Convenings. The EOI should provide basic information about the organization, potential conference venues, and any relevant experience in hosting similar events.

Following the review of submitted EOIs by the CSIDNet Events & Gatherings Committee and CSIDNet staff, selected organizations will be invited to an information session ahead of submitting a full proposal detailing logistical plans, budget considerations, and institutional readiness to host the meeting.

Important dates

Please refer to these dates to plan for your application:

Open call for EOI: 28 November 2025
Deadline for EOI: 15 January 2026, 11:59 pm AoE (This call is now closed).
Invitation for full proposal: by 24 January 2026
Host Info Session: 6 February 2026
Deadline for full proposal: 5 March 2026, 11:59 pm AoE
Announcing the CSIDNet Regional Convenings 2026 Local Co-Hosts: April 2026
Convenings executed: May-October 2026
Global Annual AGM (virtual): November 2026

Note that the applicant may be contacted to provide some additional information ahead of submitting a full proposal to facilitate the selection process.

Key Selection Criteria

Organizations interested in hosting the regional convenings 2026 should demonstrate their ability to meet the following criteria:

• Visa accessibility: The process of obtaining visas for participants from diverse regions may vary from nation to nation, but the network prefers a place where the process is more convenient.
• Global connectivity: Accessibility of the host city by international flights and local transport convenience.
• Organizational capacity: Proven ability to host international events, with logistical and administrative readiness. The co-hosting organization must have prior experience in CSID Network thematic areas (these include infectious disease modeling and forecasting, open-source software and data infrastructure, surveillance and One Health monitoring systems, community-led approaches to climate-sensitive diseases, and climate-resilient policy and preparedness strategies) and be able to facilitate the international participants for smooth deliberations throughout the event. 
• Security: the location must not be under armed conflict.

How to Apply

Expression of interest submission is now closed.

Expressions of Interest should be submitted online through the CSIDNet application form. Applications submitted after the deadline will not be considered. 

Please take into account that the period of submission of the full proposal falls on summer vacations in some locations, so we advise applicants to procure the necessary documentation in anticipation.

If you have questions that are not answered in the call, email operations @ csidnet.org

Acknowledgements: Huge thanks to members of the Events and Gatherings Committee (alphabetical by first name)–Abdulmumuni Samuel Aliyu, Charlotte Njua Mbuh, Haidee Valverde, Jean d’Amour, Mbithe Nzomo, Robert Selemani, Sabrina Laura López, Tamalee Jane Roberts, Yusuf Suleiman–who helped refine this call and steward the overall process.