1st British NetSci Symposium: Public Lecture May 30

We will open the 1st British NetSci Symposium with a public lecture by Vittoria Colizza!

One of global leaders in the field, and also the former Vice-President and Treasurer of the Network Science Society.

The event will be hosted by Northeastern University Lodon in Devon House (heart space).

The event will start at 18:45.

Registration is free but necessary to be allowed in the building.

Join us for a drink after the lecture at The Dickens Inn

Title: Human behavior and infectious disease epidemics

Abstract: Behavioral aspects shape the transmission of infectious diseases and determine our ability to control them. While theoretical models have been formulated that account for human behavior, our understanding of the interplay between behavioral factors and disease dynamics remained historically limited, lacking validation against known phenomena or observed data. Recent epidemics and pandemics occurring in the digital era exposed a wide complexity and heterogeneity of behavioral adoption, response, and adaptation. Starting from empirical examples, in this public lecture I will present a set of behavioral mechanisms at play in different epidemic contexts, and will discuss how they challenge policy-relevant modeling for outbreak response.

Bio: Vittoria Colizza is Head of Research at INSERM (French National Institute for Health and Medical Research) & Sorbonne Université, Faculty of Medicine, working in the Pierre Louis Institute of Epidemiology and Public Health. She is an expert of modeling to evaluate the risks associated with epidemics and pandemics, anticipate their spread, and assess the effectiveness of prevention and control strategies. Her research informs public health policies, taking into account population behavior in terms of contacts and mobility.
Trained as a physicist (PhD in Statistical and Biological Physics in 2004 at the International School for Advanced Studies in Trieste, SISSA, Italy), she worked at Indiana University (US) in the School of Informatics as post-doc (2004-2006) and visiting Assistant Professor (2007), and joined ISI Foundation (Turin, Italy, 2007-2010) after being awarded an ERC Starting Grant in Life Sciences in 2007. In 2011 Colizza joined INSERM in Paris, and was promoted Head of Research in 2017. In 2020-2022 she was Visiting Professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan. In 2023-2024 Colizza held a position as Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Department of Biology, the Global Health Institute, and the Massive Data Institute of Georgetown University in Washington DC, USA.

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