ABSTRACT:
Pandemic response requires expertise from the biomedical, social and behavioural sciences. However, limited routine collaboration makes integrating advice challenging. This study examines how simulation exercises based on realistic outbreak scenarios can strengthen interdisciplinary collaboration and support the provision of integrated, evidence-based policy advice. Specifically, it investigates which scientific components are best integrated and which are more effectively developed in parallel, focusing on how interdisciplinary collaboration shapes biomedical outbreak management advice. Three tabletop simulation exercises were conducted, representing different phases of a fictional Disease X outbreak in the Netherlands in 2025. Policymakers formulated an advice request, and multidisciplinary groups of 20–25 experts developed both discipline-specific and integrated scientific advice. Integrated advice was produced using the WHO-INTEGRATE framework, and the recorded sessions were analysed through thematic analysis. Preliminary results suggest that topics involving divergent perspectives, such as public health measures affecting children, benefit most from interdisciplinary integration. Structured collaboration made disciplinary assumptions explicit and supported clearer communication, particularly during the alert phase, when input from social scientists helped to reduce the risk of stigmatisation. In later phases, interdisciplinary exchange informed discussions on proportionality, precaution and vaccination strategies. Notably, the form and value of knowledge integration varied across pandemic phases, indicating that integration is a dynamic, context-dependent process. Effective scientific advice therefore requires a calibrated combination of integration and coordinated, parallel knowledge production aligned with policy timelines and decision-making processes. Preliminary findings suggest that incorporating additional perspectives through integrated scientific advice can enhance risk assessments throughout pandemic phases. However, its effectiveness depends on infrastructures for preparedness that support cross-disciplinary collaboration and shared frameworks for data interpretation. Simulation exercises strengthen networks and practical cooperation, thereby enhancing integrated advice for policy. Overall, the findings emphasise the importance of making advisory perspectives and underlying strategies explicit and promoting early knowledge exchange to support balanced, integrated advice.