Dr Nic Geard, School of Computing and Information Systems, University of Melbourne, Australia.
Hosted by Dr Shan He, Senior Lecturer, School of Computer Science, University of Birmingham
Dr Geard is a computer scientist with more than 10 years' experience in computational modelling of complex biological systems, most recently the dynamics and control of infectious diseases. His research focuses on the development of network and agent-based models that better capture the demographic, social and behavioural heterogeneities of real populations. Specific interests include the epidemiological and evolutionary dynamics of multi-strain pathogens, the role of social networks in the diffusion of health-related beliefs and behaviours, and the application of models to policy-relevant questions about disease surveillance, vaccination programs, and emerging infectious diseases.
Dr Geard's visit will broaden his collaboration with the University of Birmingham, providing an opportunity to interact with researchers in the School of Computer Science, the Department of Public Health, Epidemiology & Biostatistics and Centre for Computational Biology.