The prediction and control of the spread of epidemics of infectious diseases poses important difficult problems in modelling (usually stochastic), analysis and inference. Recent high-profile applications, where mathematical modelling and statistical techniques have been instrumental in guiding public policy, include Foot and Mouth Disease and various strains of Influenza. Exemplary modern challenges concern the effective on-line incorporation of huge quantities of detailed data into inference as the epidemic progresses and the modelling of complex social structures for the transmission of disease, requiring advanced mathematical statistical, probabilistic and computational skills [A, P, C, S].

Researchers in this area: Keeling, Roberts