This event is part of the School of Education's Bristol Conversations in Education research seminar series. These seminars are free and open to the public.

Hosted by: Centre for Multilevel Modelling (CMM)

Speaker: Dr Ellen Brooks Pollock (Associate Professor in Infectious Disease Modelling, Bristol Medical School (PHS))

Before the development of a vaccine, SARS-CoV-2 transmission was controlled by preventing person-to-person interactions via social distancing measures. In the UK, like many countries, learning was moved online for a majority of pupils and students in nurseries, schools and universities. During the pandemic, we used age-specific social contact data, in combination with SARS-CoV-2 specific data, to quantify the impact of full and partial re-opening educational institutions on the COVID-19 reproduction number (the ‘R’ number). Our work illustrated the trade-offs between different measures and mapped a route out of lockdown with schools re-opened.

Dr Ellen Brooks Pollock:

'I am an Associate Professor in Infectious Disease Modelling in Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School. I am interested in using data analysis, epidemiology, statistical and mathematical modelling to aid public health decision making. My research has focussed on human respiratory viruses such as COVID-19, tuberculosis, influenza and varicella and multi-host diseases, such as bovine TB and avian influenza. I was heavily involved in the UK COVID modelling response, for which I received an OBE in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours list.'

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