The sixth educational webinar organized by XF-ACTORS will be held on July 6 2020 (11.00 a.m CEST) and will be focused on the “Guidelines for statistically sound and risk-based surveys of Xylella fastidiosa” recently published by EFSA.

The webinar will serve to support the application and implementation of statistically sound and risk-based surveys. These guidelines describe a methodology based on flexible approaches, allowing surveys to be tailored to each specific situation in the Member States, taking into account the host plants, vectors, climate suitability and resources available.
Given the importance of the involvement of risk managers for the survey preparation, the webinar aims to present the underpinning concepts of a pest freedom survey, statistically sound and risk based, illustrating the approach with a simulation on a Buffer zone survey using EFSA RiBESS+ software.
The webinar will be moderated by Sybren Vos (EFSA) and it will host Elena Lázaro (IVIA) as speaker.

Elena Lázaro holds a MSc in Biostatistics and a Ph.D in Statistics and Optimization. She is postdoc researcher at the Valencian Institute for Agricultural Research (IVIA) in Spain working in the frame of the XF-ACTORS project. Her research is focused on the development and implementation of statistical methods in plant disease epidemiology, with particular emphasis on the optimization of disease surveillance strategies. She recently worked in an optimized delimiting survey strategy for Xylella fastidiosa in Alicante and is a member of the Working Group of Pest Surveys of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to develop the guidelines for statistically sound and risk-based surveys in the EU.

Sybren Vos is an agricultural engineer by training specialised in rural engineering and water management. Since 2008 he is working as a plant health scientist in the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) where he has been involved in the coordination of pest risk assessment activities, pest categorisations and in the development of the methodological framework for such activities. More recently he is coordinating the EFSA pest survey mandate that provides a toolkit for surveillance of plant pests to assist the EU MSs in the planning and implementation of their surveys. In particular he is chairing the EFSA Working Group of Pest Surveys that prepared Xylella fastidiosa pest survey card and also the guidelines for statistically sound and risk-based surveys of Xylella fastidiosa in the EU.

The webinar is free of charge, with registration required; the language will be English and its length will be approximately one hour with a share (15′) intended for questions and discussion.
Read/download the agenda [pdf . 260 KB]

[Update | 6 July 2020 ] Registrations are closed]
Our 6th live webinar ended; thanks to our moderator and speaker – respectively Sybren Vos and Elena Lázaro – and everyone that tuned in and interacted with us.
The webinar was recorded and it’s available on this page and on our YouTube channel.