Epidemic modeling

The last decades have witnessed the emergence of new infectious diseases and the resurgence of old ones. Examples include the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, the epidemic of Zika virus in North and South America, and the global spreading of respiratory diseases such as influenza A(H1N1) and COVID-19.

In this context, mathematical modeling of disease spreading has played a fundamental role in the understanding, control and prevention of epidemic outbreaks, guiding the policy-making processes through quantitative analyses. In particular, as the spreading of an infectious disease within a population is heavily affected by the precise patterns of contacts among individuals, complex networks have become a fundamental tool for analyzing the dynamics of an epidemic.

The goal of this project is therefore to develop interpretable, accurate and reliable mathematical models of epidemics on networks.