This two-day in-person event aimed to highlight and reflect on lessons learned from the modelling undertaken during the COVID-19 pandemic. Talks and discussions explored the key epidemiological questions
This one-day in-person event aimed to take a retrospective look at asymptomatic testing during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a forward look on what lessons can be learned to help the research community develop better models and government make better policy decisions in the future.
- The Public Perception of Science – Virtual Study Group, 18th to 20th May 2022
This event aimed to bring mathematical scientists and other disciplines together to solve end user defined challenges with the aim of addressing the issues associated with the public perception of science. Some topics included the influence of media on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy & non-compliance to government restrictions, as well as the impact of social media on scientists.
- Controlling COVID-19 in Schools: Lessons Learned and Open Questions, 27th April 2022
This one-day workshop aimed to reflect on the lessons learned about the study of SARS-CoV-2 control in schools, focussing on three broad categories:
- What impact does transmission within school settings have on transmission in the community?
- How effective are school-level control measures at reducing SARS-CoV-2 transmission within schools?
- What are the other impacts of SARS-CoV-2 transmission and control measures in schools?
Moreover, the workshop outlined the questions most needing answered and studies most needing to be undertaken in order to plan optimal policies for schools for COVID-19 and future pandemics. It brought together researchers from a diverse range of disciplines, from mathematical modellers to social scientists to policy experts, to support the pandemic modelling community already working on COVID-19.
- Socio-Economic Determinants of Coronavirus in the UK, 5th April 2022
This one-day virtual workshop aimed to facilitate communication between epidemiologists, social scientists, mathematical modellers and public health policy makers. It will do this by giving an overview of the emerging socio-economic patterns seen through the lens of the UK COVID-19 public health data, as well as discussing the socio-economic factors from both a public health and social science perspective. Participants had the opportunity to raise questions following each presentation. There has also been a facilitated Q&A Discussion at the end of the day where individuals will had the opportunity to table further questions and share thinking.
- Recovery from the Pandemic: Transport Logistics – Virtual Study Group, 29th - 31st March 2022
The aim of this event was to bring together those working in mathematical modelling, statistics, operations research, logistics and supply chain management and other disciplines together to solve end user defined challenges in transport logistics. Increased border restrictions, a reduction in the availability of workers and the increased demand for home delivery over the past 2 years has meant that the freight transport network has had to drastically adapt its operations. The consequent impact on the supply chain has been substantial, and can be observed by simply looking at supermarket shelves. Various stages of the shipping and supply chain network have had to deal with the effects of COVID-19, climate change and the change of regulations.
- Epidemic Models: Insights from the RAMP Project, 23rd & 24th March 2022
Building on the RAMP initiative, these 2 half day events included talks by those who, via the RAMP project or otherwise, realigned their research to focus on human epidemic modelling after the COVID-19 pandemic had begun. Speakers presented highlights of modelling that took place, as well as updates where this continues, and will also pose some questions to help push the field further forward more broadly.
Talks explained how well models performed earlier in the pandemic, provide an update on more recent progress and identify some useful learning for modellers going forward. A number of different models will be presented, highlighting methodological developments and applications to various datasets.
- Genomic, Evolutionary and Epidemiological Approaches for Pandemics, 15th March 2022
Genomics and evolutionary biology now provide major tools used in the surveillance and study of infectious diseases. However, to a large extent, the communities involved in genomic surveillance and traditional epidemiological modelling speak different languages, and this limits their interaction.
This one-day virtual workshop aimed to facilitate communication between epidemiological modellers and computational and evolutionary biologists. It did this by giving an overview of important topics in pathogen evolution and adaptation, as well as discussing tools available to merge epidemiological and genomic data and providing case studies of their use in the infectious disease research.
- Virtual Study Group hosted by ICMS - Communities for an Ageing Society, 9th -11th March 2022
This three-day hybrid study group considered post-pandemic challenges for an ageing society. The older population has been worst hit by the health impacts of the pandemic. The social distancing measures introduced at a societal level led to shielding/isolation, many social activities have yet to restart, whilst Care Homes faced well documented challenges. This VSG considered what we can learn from these documented challenges and how we can design the provision of healthcare services in the future to support an ageing society. A working paper is now available.
- Behaviour and Policy During Pandemics: Models and Methods, 22nd February 2022
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, modelling has taken centre stage both in forecasting, policy formulation and in informing the public, featuring prominently in the advice given to government in the UK and beyond. The pandemic has had profound influence on social and economic activity, meaning that different policy interventions such as lockdowns and furlough schemes cannot be seen as merely public health policies or as economic policies in isolation. It is therefore important to better understand how policies interact through intertwined economic and disease dynamics and how different policies must be designed to work together.
This virtual workshop brought together the relevant scientific communities (epidemic modellers and economic epidemiologists) to work on addressing current problems in modelling behaviour and its epidemiological, economic and societal implications for the COVID-19 pandemic. Attendance at this event was free of charge and initially by invitation only.
- The Role of Uncertainty in Mathematical Modelling of Pandemics, 8th - 10th February 2022
This series of three half-day science events had a focus on uncertainty modelling for epidemiology and pandemics, but also highlight new opportunities for simulations in fields as diverse as fusion, weather and climate modelling, advanced materials, biomedicine and many other domains. It highlighted key aspects of the research, and brought together relevant stakeholders across academia, industry and government.
- Virtual Study Group: Post Covid-19 Recovery - Communities of the Future, 12th - 14th January 2022
This 3-day study group looked at supporting Local Authorities and 2 challenges were explored - Supporting local authorities, landlords and tenants in preventing homelessness post Covid-19 and Supporting local authorities, businesses and high-streets post Covid-19. A number of potential solutions were developed over the three days and a summary report is now available.
- Optimal Vaccination Strategies took place on 14th December 2021
This one-day virtual workshop took into account the complexities and intrinsically linked issues of who to target with the vaccine and how this then fits within a global context. It considered important factors such as the effects of variants which are still emerging and issues around vaccine sharing. Scientists from a number of disciplines as well as the mathematical sciences presented talks highlighting the latest state-of-the-art research which can contribute to modelling optimal vaccination strategies. Important modelling approaches including optimal control theory and game theory amongst others were presented.
- Modelling Behaviour to Inform Policy for Pandemics, 2nd, 4th & 5th November 2021
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, modelling has taken centre stage both in forecasting, policy formulation and in informing the public, featuring prominently in the advice given to government in the UK and beyond. The pandemic has had profound influence on social and economic activity, meaning that different policy interventions such as lockdowns and furlough schemes cannot be seen as merely public health policies or as economic policies in isolation. It is therefore important to better understand how policies interact through intertwined economic and disease dynamics and how different policies must be designed to work together.
This event series was spread across three half-day virtual workshops, each running from 13.30 - 16.30:
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Understanding Behaviours, 2nd November 2021
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Integrating Behaviours into Models, 4th November 2021
Using Behavioural Models to Inform Policy, 5th November 2021.
A Plus Magazine article was published after the event.
- Recovery from the Pandemic: Hospitality & Leisure, 12th - 14th October 2021
This three-day virtual study group run by the Gateway on behalf of V-KEMS brought mathematical scientists and other disciplines together to solve challenges faced by the hospitality and leisure sector as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The UK leisure industry as a whole has met some unprecedented challenges over the course of the pandemic, and will continue to do so as the nation recovers. We are interested in using mathematics as a tool to help solve the particular challenges hotels, restaurants and leisure facilities, such as cinemas, gyms and museums, are facing as a result of the pandemic.
Unlike in previous study groups where the main focus was on modelling the spread of the infection, the theme of this event was about recovery from the pandemic with more of a focus on dealing with the operational difficulties and economic implications which have arisen.
A working paper was published following the event and the AIRBODS Researchers shared a blog post about their participation.
- Understanding the Generation Time for COVID-19, 28th - 30th July 2021
The generation time of COVID-19 is the duration between the moment a person gets infected to the moment they infect another person (i.e. it’s the time between primary and secondary infection). This is very important in the context of new variants which may have different generation times, which in turn would have implications for the estimates of the R number. The generation time is also important for the evolution of new variants.This workshop will focus on understanding the different factors which affect the generation time, as well as the interaction between these, which will be important to be able to better assess what aspects of new variants may be of concern.
The aim of this event was to hear talks related to each of the factors affecting the generation time, to try to understand current work and thinking in each area and in turn to try to identify how these may be more joined up. A key goal of this event was to build links between epidemic modellers and the wider modelling community with interests in COVID-19, such as within-host modelling teams – including, but not limited to members of RAMP-initiated projects.
- Virtual Study Group - Covid-19 Safety in Large Events 13th - 15th July 2021
Since April 2021, VKEMS (Virtual Forum for Knowledge Exchange in the Mathematical Sciences) has delivered a series of Virtual Study Groups considering minimising risk / impact of COVID-19 in a range of scenarios (including train travel, opening up higher education and the impact on cardiovascular waiting lists).
As part of the RAMP continuity work, V-KEMS is undertaking a series of Virtual Study Groups.
The first looked at COVID Safety in Large Events. This three-day event brought mathematical scientists and other disciplines together to solve end user-defined challenges. Since the event, participants have collaborated to develop a working paper. More information can also be seen in this article and Plus Magazine also published this article.
- New Models of Spatial and Social Behaviour in a Pandemic, 26th - 27th May 2021
This two-day science meeting brought together two longer term research activities – urban analytics and human dynamics in small spaces. These RAMP-initiated projects are inter-related and differ mainly in terms of geographical scale. This event therefore helped fulfil a key aim to maintain strong communication links between them, as well as extending to other relevant communities around COVID-19. It will also seek to continue to gain further insights as lockdown restrictions are loosened in the coming months in order to provide supporting evidence and assistance to the scientists advising the government on national and local policy responses using urban analytics and spatial modelling. There are important implications for extending these models to embrace key social and economic issues that result from the pandemic and will be explored through future workshops.
The event included the following sessions:
• Micro modelling and simulation
• Spatial epidemic modelling
• Stakeholders perspectives.
- Environmental and Aerosol Transmission of COVID-19, 26th - 28th April 2021
Better understanding of the transmission of COVID-19 is a key factor in managing risk and designing practical interventions. With the reduction of lockdown restrictions over the next few months, insights into areas such as the role of ventilation and the impact of people moving around within buildings are particularly timely.
Building on the work begun by RAMP, this three-day science meeting reviewed existing work and identify where further research is most urgently needed. The meeting included a standalone public-facing component providing an accessible overview of the latest science, alongside scientific talks and discussion sessions targeting active researchers.
The aims of the meeting were to bring together a wide range of participants to maximise the engagement from different communities, better inform the public on the science underlying viral transmission & progress the most promising areas of research, and reach consensus on future research directions and research activity.
- Evolutionary Implications of the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme, 19th & 20th April 2021
The COVID-19 vaccine is currently being rolled out in the UK and globally, but there is a limited supply available. Therefore, countries are having to prioritise which subgroups of the population will receive the vaccine first. For example, in the UK vaccination has been targeted at the older age groups, health-care workers and those that are at greater risk of needing hospitalisation as a result of contracting COVID-19. Such a strategy is focused on reducing disease rather than transmission, since currently the impacts of the vaccine on blocking transmission are still uncertain.
This workshop focused on the use of quantitative modelling approaches to understand the evolutionary implications of vaccination programmes. Such approaches are key to developing optimal vaccination strategies and understanding which subgroups in society should be prioritised for vaccination against COVD-19. A key goal of this event was to build links between epidemic modellers and the wider modelling community with interests in COVID-19, such as within-host modelling teams – including, but not limited to members of RAMP-initiated projects.
