René Bødker

René Bødker is a Senior Researcher in the Vector Group within the Section of Animal Welfare and Disease Control at the Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, University of Copenhagen's Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences. With over 30 years of experience, he specializes in monitoring and quantifying vector-borne disease transmission across Africa and Europe, and currently heads the Danish national vector surveillance program.

Dr. Bødker's research focuses on quantifying and predicting transmission potential in time and space using robust mechanistic transmission models driven by detailed environmental and meteorological data. His work attempts to mimic biological processes step by step through modular approaches including:

• 'Biting daily rate' calculations
• 'Vector survival rate' estimations
• 'Virus development time in the vector' measurements

His recent publication trends show a strong focus on vector-borne diseases in Northern Europe, particularly tick-borne encephalitis, West Nile virus, and African Swine Fever. His work integrates field surveillance data with sophisticated modeling approaches to address critical questions about disease transmission dynamics and risk assessment in changing climatic conditions.

Dr. Bødker leads the Vector Group, which operates sentinel monitoring sites for ticks, mosquitoes and biting midges across Denmark (www.myggetal.dk). The group is actively involved in outbreak investigations both domestically and internationally, and works on identifying and ranking emerging vector-borne disease risks in Denmark.