Christl Donnelly

Understanding Infectious Disease Transmission: Providing Insights and Acknowledging Uncertainty

Quantitative modelling and statistical analysis are central to understanding disease transmission and informing evidence-based policy in both public and veterinary health. This talk will draw lessons from past epidemics and endemic disease studies—spanning livestock, wildlife, and human populations—to illustrate how mathematical frameworks and statistical inference improve our understanding of complex transmission systems. We will explore recent advances that integrate novel data streams, contact network structures, and robust uncertainty quantification, and consider current challenges for quantitative epidemiology. The discussion will highlight opportunities for collaboration between statisticians and other scientists (including clinicians, immunologists and veterinarians) to strengthen disease control strategies.