Exploring epidemic spreading using network models, a talk by Simon Dobson (University of St Andrews)
Abstract
Disease models are at the heart of our response to the current pandemic: mathematical and computational descriptions of systems that can, we hope, tell us something about either this specific epidemic or about epidemics in general. It’s a vast field drawing on a huge range of techniques, and in this talk I will discuss one particular approach that makes use of insights from network science and process simulation that seem well-suited to exploratory science. I will dig into the mathematical techniques for epidemic simulation, their packaging in software, and how they can be used to help explain the possible trajectories of different outbreaks and countermeasures.
About the Speaker
Simon Dobson is Professor of Computer Science at the University of St Andrews. He works on complex and sensor systems, especially processes on networks and data interpretation in the face of uncertainty. He has spent his career at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Harwell, at Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin in Ireland (where he also ran a start-up company), before moving to St Andrews in 2009. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland’s national academy, in 2020.
This talk will be given remotely, via Zoom. If you wish to register for attendance at this North West branch talk, please contact Gemma Reeves who will provide the required details.
No charge is made to attend meetings. Non-IMA members are welcome.
