"Using routine pandemic control measures to uncover epidemic drivers"
This talk is for PSI staff and students. Members of the University who are not at the PSI are welcome to join, but please contact us beforehand to let us know (events.psi@ndm.ox.ac.uk).
From transmission routes to vaccine effectiveness, a better understanding of infections can lead to improved outbreak control. But control measures can also shape understanding – and in turn better control. This talk will draw on a range of COVID-19 case studies, including control programmes among health care workers, sports teams and international travellers, to show how systematic pandemic testing programmes can help quantify viral shedding, estimate immunity characteristics and reconstruct global infection dynamics.

Professor Adam Kucharski is a leading expert in Infectious Disease Epidemiology and co-director of the Centre for Epidemic Preparedness and Response at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). His research is centred on making better use of data and analytics to understand the dynamics of infectious diseases and to enhance epidemic preparedness and response. This includes conducting large-scale studies on social behaviour and immunity, as well as developing open-source software tools to aid in these efforts. His research has been instrumental in guiding policy and scientific understanding during multiple outbreaks, including the West African Ebola outbreak in 2014, Zika virus in 2016, and notably during the COVID-19 pandemic. Professor Kucharski also regularly writes about science for a wider audience, with his latest book The Rules of Contagion named as a Times, Guardian, and FT Science Book of the Year.

The seminar will take place from 12:00 to 13:00 in the BDI building, seminar rooms, followed by lunch and networking from 13:00 to 14:00.
Date: 24 September 2024, 12:00 (Tuesday, -2nd week, Michaelmas 2024)
Venue: Big Data Institute, Old Road Campus OX3 7LF
Venue Details: Seminar Rooms 0&1, Big Data Institute, Old Road Campus OX3 7LF
Speaker: Adam Kucharski (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine)
Organising department: Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine
Organisers: Ksenia Ananyeva (University of Oxford), James Hay (Wellcome Trust Early Career Fellow)
Organiser contact email address: events.psi@ndm.ox.ac.uk
Host: Pandemic Sciences Institute
Part of: Pandemic Sciences Institute seminar series
Booking required?: Required
Booking url: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=G96VzPWXk0-0uv5ouFLPkfqJsIz1OHtImXkbS9R4tRRUNlUyV1U1NE44QUJaWjdaU05ONDgxOU1UVC4u
Cost: Free
Audience: Members of the University only
Editors: Jane Itzhaki, Ksenia Ananyeva