Introduction to Infectious Disease Modelling and its Applications

Course type: Short Course
Date: 15 June - 26 June 2026
Location: Face-to-Face/Online
Overview
Infectious diseases remain a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, with HIV, tuberculosis and malaria estimated to cause 10% of all deaths each year. New pathogens continue to emerge, as demonstrated by the SARS epidemic in 2003, the swine flu pandemic in 2009, MERS CoV in 2013, Zika in 2016 and, recently SARS-CoV-2.
This two-week course, now running for its 26th year, is organised jointly between the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the UK Health Security Agency (formerly, Public Health England). It is intended to introduce professionals working on infectious diseases in either developing or developed countries to this exciting and expanding area. The emphasis will be on developing a conceptual understanding of the basic methods and on their practical application, rather than the manipulation of mathematical equations. The methods will be illustrated by "hands-on" experience of setting up models in spreadsheets as well as other specialist modelling packages, small group work, and seminars in which the applications of modelling will be discussed.
By the end of the course, participants will have deepened their current understanding of infectious disease epidemiology and have gained an understanding and practical experience of the basics of infectious disease modelling, which will be useful in their future work.
Who is this course for?
The course is designed for individuals interested in expanding their knowledge of the techniques available for analysing and interpreting epidemiological data on infectious diseases and for predicting the impact of control programmes, including medical and health professionals, policymakers, veterinary scientists, medical statisticians and infectious disease researchers. Specialist mathematical training is not a prerequisite. However, individuals with degrees in mathematical disciplines working on some aspect of infectious disease dynamics and/ or control, who wish to learn about the potential of infectious disease modelling will also benefit. Some familiarity with spreadsheet packages (ideally Excel) is desirable. Applicants should have a good command of English. Participants are expected to bring their own laptop (please contact the course organisers before the start of the course if this won’t be possible).
Course Outline
The course makes use of Excel, and a specialist modelling package (Berkeley Madonna). The topics to be covered include:
- Key concepts in infectious disease epidemiology;
- The basic methods for setting up (deterministic and stochastic) infectious disease models;
- Practical applications of modelling, including predicting the impact of control strategies against infections, and describing the course of outbreaks;
- Analyses of serological data: methods for estimating age and time-dependent transmission rates and their application for developing models of the dynamics of infections;
- Modelling in real-time;
- How to read and interpret modelling papers;
- Models for describing STI transmission and control;
- Models of the dynamics and control of tuberculosis;
- Fitting models to data, network models, sensitivity analyses and introductory health economics.
- Guest lectures from researchers working on mathematical modelling.
The material from this popular and successful course is complemented by the published book “An Introduction to Infectious Disease Modelling” which was written by two of the course organizers (Emilia Vynnycky and Richard White).
How to Apply
For more information and how to register, please click here!
Application deadline: 18 May 2026