Digital Epidemiology Summer School 2023
Welcome to the ETH / EPFL Summer School on computational approaches for epidemiology and public health held in the Swiss Alps.
Purpose
The COVID-19 pandemic has once again highlighted the need to integrate computational approaches more deeply into public health practice. Computational methods like viral phylogenetics, digital contact tracing, and others have had a clear and direct impact on the pandemic. To further implement these approaches in local public health practices, we need to strengthen the collaboration between state-of-the-art science and technology and public health.
In this summer school, our main objective is to bring PhD and master students with a strong quantitative background closer to the challenges of epidemiology and public health, and work with them on developing proposals for concrete applications.
Dates
25-29 September 2023
Location
Grindelwald, Switzerland
Organizers
| Default | Left |
|---|---|
 |
Marcel Salathé Marcel Salathé is an Associate Professor at EPFL where he heads the Digital Epidemiology Lab at the Campus Biotech in Geneva. |
 |
Laura Espinosa Montalban Laura Espinosa Montalban is an epidemic intelligence expert at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), and a PhD student in the EPFL Digital Epidemiology Lab. |
 |
Chaoran Chen Chaoran Chen is a PhD student in the Computational Evolution Group at ETH Zurich in Basel. |
 |
Cecilia Valenzuela Agüí Cecilia Valenzuela Agüí is a PhD student in the Computational Evolution Group at ETH Zurich in Basel. |
Guest Scientists
| Default | Left |
|---|---|
 |
Theo Sanderson Theo Sanderson is a researcher based at the Francis Crick Institute, where he develops new approaches for studying pathogen genomes at scale, both in the laboratory and computationally. |
 |
Daniela Paolotti Daniela Paolotti is a Senior Research Scientist at ISI in Turin, Italy. Her fields of study are computational and digital epidemiology, and data science for social impact. |
 |
Ciro Cattuto Ciro Cattuto is the scientific director at ISI in Turin, Italy. His main focus is on the measuring and modeling of complex phenomena in technological and social systems. |
 |
Leonidas Alexakis Leonidas Alexakis is an epidemic intelligence expert at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). His focus is on the development and integration of tools used in Epidemic intelligence. |
Program
Please note that the program will likely still change.
| Monday 25 September | |
|---|---|
| 12:00 - 12:45 | Registration |
| 12:45 - 13:00 | Opening of the summer school |
| 13:00 - 15:00 | Short presentations by speakers and organizers |
| 15:00 - 15:20 | Coffee break |
| 15:20 - 15:35 | Presentation of the goals/structure/process of the group work |
| 15:35 - 16:10 | Consolidate the groups and ice breaker |
| 16:10 - 18:00 | Group work |
| Social dinner (place and time TBC) |
| Tuesday 26 September | |
|---|---|
| 08:30 - 09:15 | Theoretical session I: Public health |
| 09:15 - 10:00 | Tools and examples part I |
| 10:00 - 13:00 | Group work with facilitators |
| 13:00 - 14:00 | Lunch break |
| 14:00 - 14:45 | Theoretical session II: Digital epidemiology |
| 14.45 - 15.30 | Tools and examples part II |
| 15:30 - 17:30 | Group work with facilitators (coffee break included) |
| 17:30 - 18:00 | Brief status update from groups |
| Wednesday 27 September | |
|---|---|
| 08:30 - 12:00 | Group work with facilitators |
| 12:00 - 12:30 | Lunch |
| 13:00 - 17:00 | Social event (First-Bachalpsee hike) |
| Thursday 28 September | |
|---|---|
| 08:30 - 09:15 | Tools and examples part III |
| 09:15 - 13:00 | Group work with facilitators |
| 13:00 - 14:00 | Lunch break |
| 14:00 - 14:45 | Tools and examples part IV |
| 14:45 - 15:15 | Brief status update from groups |
| 15:15 - 18:00 | Group work with facilitators (coffee break included) |
| Friday 29 September | |
|---|---|
| 08.30 - 12.00 | Group work (finalisation of case studies) |
| 12:00 - 13:15 | Group presentation |
| 13:15 - 13:30 | Closure of summer school |
| 13:30 - 14:30 | Lunch |
Application
- EPFL / ETH students: the application is still open for you.
- Others: Application is now closed.
We will be able to accomdate 20-25 PhD or Master students.
Fees
- 250 CHF (PhD students)
- 100 CHF (master students).
This fee covers attendance to the summer school, accommodation (25-29 September 2023) in single rooms in the venue, and breakfasts, lunches and morning coffee breaks.
Organisers
This summer school is co-organised by the Digital Epidemiology Lab at EPFL and the Computational Evolution Lab at ETH Zürich.