COVID-19: Pandemics, Modelling, and Policy
Discover the role forecasts and computer models play in understanding pandemics
With the world in the grip of the coronavirus pandemic, there has been a surge of interest in scientific modelling of the outbreak.
On this course, you’ll explore the social, economic, and political factors in the spread of a pandemic such as COVID-19, examining how scientists try to forecast the spread and severity of epidemics, and what we can and can’t know.
You’ll use interactive graphical programs to explore the dynamics of epidemics, learning how to critique the underlying models, and how science and computer models can support policymakers in times of pandemic crisis.
What topics will you cover?
- COVID-19: a brief description, the problem, and what we need to know?
- The nature of prediction – why things can or can’t be predicted
- Modelling – creating and using computational models
- Policy– how is policy made? How does policy interface to science?
- Complex systems science for exploring and planning the future
Course provider
