COVID-19 uncovered catastrophic weaknesses in the international community’s ability to respond to a pandemic, from vaccine and test distribution inequities to insufficient international communication.  Given the impact of the pandemic, the World Health Organization’s member states have agreed to draft and negotiate a new convention, also called ‘the accord’, under the Organization’s constitution to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response to future pandemics at a global level. In June 2024, WHO member countries faced a deadline to pass a pandemic treaty, but parties failed to reach a consensus. Controversial issues include sovereignty concerns, the ‘transfer of technology,’ pathogen access for research and benefit sharing, and funding the equitable distribution of vaccines. Now, countries are continuing negotiations before the next pandemic. The draft text and the need for more consensus raise numerous questions. For instance, what is the accord about, and how will it save lives? What are the main potential incentives and benefits? What is the financial burden to taxpayers and/or industry? How are core human rights standards protected? Will the accord ‘undermine’ intellectual property (IP) rights and pharmaceutical innova­tion by requiring companies to ‘give away’ IP protections on pandemic-related products they develop? Will an agreement be reached at all? To mention some questions addressed during the conference.  The conference aims to unpack the onion of issues related to the Pandemic Treaty from different perspectives (public health, ethics, law, economics, and other sciences).