Seoul Pandemic X Summit: Towards Global and Interdisciplinary Cooperation for Future Pandemic Preparedness

Poster of Seoul Pandemic X Summit 2026

On June 9 and 10, researchers, policymakers, industry leaders, and public health experts gathered at Seoul National University's Haedong Advanced Engineering Building for the Seoul Pandemic X Summit 2026. Held under the theme "Prepare the World for Next Pandemics," the summit facilitated discussion on how scientific innovation, artificial intelligence, and international cooperation can strengthen global pandemic preparedness.

This summit was co-hosted by the SNU International Pandemic Science AI.celerator (IPSAI), SNU Siheung Campus, the International Vaccine Institute (IVI), the University of Toronto Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the Emerging and Pandemic Consortium, The K Institute, and the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHSA).

Established under the SNU AI Institute, IPSAI is Asia's first international pandemic research center with a vision to position Korea as a global hub for pandemic innovation science. Reflecting this vision, the summit emphasized three key themes: accelerating vaccine development through AI transformation and other emerging technologies; promoting transdisciplinary collaboration by bridging science, economics, and policy research; and building a "Pandemic Global Hub" in Korea through international cooperation with a glocal strategic plan-combining global cooperation with local action to ensure no nation is left behind.

Group Photo of Participants at The Seoul Pandemic X Summit

In his opening address, IPSAI Director and summit co-chair Asaph Young Chun emphasized that future pandemic preparedness cannot be achieved by any single institution, country, or discipline alone. "Saving humanity lies not in a single vaccine or discovery, but in an interconnected system, collective power, grounding principles, and global solidarity," Director Chun remarked.

Adding on to the opening address, Professor Lee Jaewook of the College of Computer Science and Engineering and Director of the AI Institute highlighted the increasing importance of integrating artificial intelligence into public health. He noted how the COVID-19 pandemic was a global challenge that required collective collaboration across borders and disciplines. Hence, pandemic preparedness is not a task limited to public health and medicine, but rather equires AI, data science, biotechnology, social science, and policy research working together. Professor Shin Young Kee of the College of Pharmacy and Director of the SNU Siheung Campus also emphasized the cross-disciplinary symbiosis between policy and science: how can we use science to back up policy, and how can policy back up science? Jung Taeho, a member of the National Assembly representing Gwanak, highlighted how Korea's technological power, transparency in governmental policy, and the citizens' willingness to cooperate with such policies, were three crucial qualities in Korea's response to COVID-19, that must be upheld in future pandemics.

Representative Jung Taeho and IPSAI Director Asaph Young Chun discussing policy solutions

Going beyond academic theory, the summit aimed to discuss global strategic planning to apply in practice by not only reviewing the latest scientific and technological innovations, but also fostering international collaboration, identifying priority funding areas, and proposing policy to national governments and international health agencies. Over two days, the summit was composed of four scientific tracks and four keynote lectures.

Track 1: Discussing Technology for Pandemic Preparedness

The summit's first keynote lecture was delivered by Simon Johnson, Professor of Economics at MIT and 2024 Nobel Laureate in Economics. In his lecture, "Building Shared Preparedness," Johnson argued that three major challenges hindered response to COVID-19: inadequate technology, difficulties scaling solutions quickly, and the decline of public trust in public health organizations. To address these challenges in future pandemics, Johnson advocated for increased governmental investment in scientific research, stronger pathways for developing university research into scalable, commercial technologies, and efforts to rebuild trust between public health and the public. Though pandemics are not fully preventable, he noted, through these three preparations, we can limit the damage of future pandemics.

While the keynote lecture explored broad policy questions, Track 1 presentations focused on scientific and technological tools to prepare for future pandemics. In particular, speakers explained developments in pseudoviruses, AI, and data-driven methods that can establish a framework for quicker vaccine discovery and response to "Disease-X"-a placeholder name to represent a hypothetical, unknown pathogen that can potentially lead to the next global pandemic.

Professor Kim Jae-Ouk, Director of Molecular Immunology at the International Vaccine Institute, presented on the use of pseudoviruses in vaccine development. A pseudovirus mimics only the surface protein of a dangerous pathogen, while containing a different inner core genome. Because it can only undergo a single replication cycle, researchers can safely research and evaluate vaccines without handling the actual pathogen. According to Professor Kim, pseudoviruses are especially valuable when studying high-risk viruses that do not exist domestically and are difficult or dangerous to import. Their relative safety allows researchers to conduct vaccine evaluation under lower biosafety requirements while still generating meaningful data.

Professor Kim Jae-Ouk presenting on pseudoviruses

Another presentation proposed the Pandemic Preparedness Engine for Disease-X (PPX), an AI-enabled framework being developed to accelerate vaccine research and development. Presented by Staff Scientist Dr. Ko SungYoul of the IVI, the project aligns with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations' (CEPI) "100 Days Mission," which aims to make safe and effective vaccines available within 100 days of identifying a new pandemic threat.

By combining AI, large-scale data, and international collaboration, PPX aims to accelerate vaccine development and strengthen global preparedness for future Disease X threats. Dr. Ko explained that although individual researchers have accumulated knowledge about known viral families, much of this information remains fragmented across countries and institutions. Thus, PPX aims to integrate scientific literature, patents, reports, and other multimodal datasets into a shared knowledge base that can support future pandemic response efforts. With this accumulated knowledge-base, the framework would deploy various AI agents for specialized tasks-such as virus monitoring, virus discovery, vaccine development-and a general supervising agent, overseeing and combining each specialized agent's results. Finally, these individual discoveries would be connected through regional "AI Factories" to a global network, so that participating institutions can contribute to a shared AI model without directly sharing sensitive data.

Dr. Ko Sung-Youl presenting on PPX AI Agent Framework

Concluding Track 1, Lee Yoo-Kyoung, Director of Vaccine Development Division at the Korea National Institute of Health (KNIH), outlined Korea's national strategy for pandemic preparedness and vaccine development. To support the global "100 Days Mission," the KNIH is utilizing mRNA vaccine platforms, developing vaccine libraries for priority pathogens, and strengthening interdisciplinary collaboration.

During the discussion session, the four researchers debated how policy can work with these technologies. Professor Kim pointed out the regulatory challenges surrounding pseudovirus research. Although pseudoviruses are significantly safer than live pathogens, they are still classified as biological agents under current Korean regulations, requiring an approval process that can take more than two months. Such delays, Professor Kim noted, may hinder rapid vaccine development and evaluation efforts during public health emergencies, particularly under the ambitious timelines envisioned by the 100 Days Mission.

Further Exploring Interdisciplinary Collaboration for Pandemic Response The summit's remaining three tracks expanded the discussion beyond preparedness. Track 2, Pandemic Response Sciences, explored AI-driven drug discovery, infectious disease surveillance, and bio-health innovation; Track 3, Recovery Sciences, examined biotechnology, therapeutic development, and international cooperation in pandemic recovery; Track 4, Transdisciplinary Solutions to Emerging Pandemics, focused on the role of data, governance, and collaboration in strengthening future pandemic response systems.

Keynote speakers included epidemiologist David N. Fisman of the University of Toronto, who reflected on recent successes and challenges in global public health; Alan Bernstein of the University of Oxford, who discussed the role of team science and holistic AI in addressing global challenges; Jennifer Gommerman of the University of Toronto, who presented Canada's mission-oriented approach to biodefense and health security; and aerosol scientists Julian Tang of the University of Leicester and Yuguo Li of the University of Hong Kong, whose lectures examined airborne disease transmission and ventilation strategies for pandemic control.

The Seoul Pandemic X Summit was first held in 2025 and is now held yearly. As the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated, infectious diseases require cross-border, cross-disciplinary solutions. Throughout the summit, speakers repeatedly emphasized that advances in medicine alone are not sufficient to prepare for future pandemics. From AI-powered vaccine development, data-driven policy, and international cooperation, the summit highlighted how SNU and its partners are working together towards a global readiness for future health crises, ensuring that "no nation is left behind."

Written by Hyun Jooyoung, SNU English Editor, [email protected]