In the introductory talk of this mini-symposium, Jasmina Panovska-Griffiths from University of Oxford, will discuss how ABMs can be combined with digital technology, such as machine-learning methods and large-language models, to better understand transmission of both respiratory and sexually-transmitted diseases, and as tools for pandemic preparedness. As well as introducing the minisymposium,...
In this talk we will introduce the Starsim suite of agent-based models- originally developed on the back of the Covasim, COVID-19 model and widely used to advise policy during COVID-19 across worldwide settings. Recent developments of the Starsim framework is covering areas as diverse as HIV, typhoid, tuberculosis, rift valley fever, family planning, influenza and pneumococcal transmission....
Background: Despite declining HIV diagnoses among men who have sex with men (MSM) in the Netherlands, a recent plateau and the high proportion of late-stage diagnoses (29% in 2024) indicate ongoing transmission and delayed detection. Infections introduced through immigration are increasingly relevant in this low-incidence setting, motivating a reassessment of testing guidelines, which we...
Up until now, the main use of social contact studies in epidemic modelling has been to create a next generation matrix containing mean number of contacts between different age groups, in order to capture heterogeneity in contacts between age groups. However, empirical evidence show that the majority of variation in contacts is not between age-groups, but within age groups, and also within...
In the first presentation, Jasmina Panovska-Griffiths from University of Oxford, will discuss how ABMs can be combined with digital technology, such as machine-learning methods and large-language models, to better understand transmission of both respiratory and sexually-transmitted diseases. Jasmina will discuss recent work by her team to integrate digital technology to generate realistic...
