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

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Marcel Salathé 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
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
Chaoran Chen is a PhD student in the Computational Evolution Group at ETH Zurich in Basel.
ecilia Valenzuela Agüí Cecilia Valenzuela Agüí Cecilia Valenzuela Agüí is a PhD student in the Computational Evolution Group at ETH Zurich in Basel.

Guest Scientists

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Theo Sanderson 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.
Theo Sanderson 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
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
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

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.

Contact

summerschool23@digitalepidemiologylab.org