Background: Mankind is currently facing many different challenges, which will require global solutions. One of these challenges is the spread of infectious diseases that emerge or re-emerge at the interfaces between animals, humans and the ecosystems in which they live. The idea of ‘One Health’ that has emerged over the past 10-20 years is boosting the idea to look at human health from a holistic viewpoint. 'One Health' is an approach to designing and implementing programmes, policies, legislation and research in which multiple sectors communicate and work together

The NRW-Forschungskolleg One Health and Urban Transformation is jointly operated by the Cen-ter for Development Research (ZEF), the International Centre for Sustainable Development (IZNE) at Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg (H-BRS) and the United Nations University –Institute for Environ-ment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) Bonn, in collaboration with the Department of Geography (University Bonn), the Medical Faculty (University Bonn) and the Institute for Hygiene and Public Health.