Essentials of Infectious Disease Modelling and Economic Evaluation
Mathematical modelling is an important tool that can be used to understand the dynamics of infectious diseases. Academics working within Bristol Medical School, including those who tutor on the course, are involved in international research on human and zoonotic infectious diseases to help understand epidemics and predict the future burden of diseases, as well as the impact of different control measures to inform policy.
| Dates | 8 - 9 June 2026 |
|---|---|
| Fee | £500 |
| Format | Online |
| Audience | Open to all applicants (prerequisites apply) |
Course profile
This course aims to cover the essentials of infectious disease modelling including economic evaluation. The course will provide attendees with the ability to start understanding modelling studies and work with modellers.
Please click on the sections below for more information.
Teaching will be delivered online over 2 full days (between 9 and 5pm). Sessions will include a mixture of live and pre-recorded lectures, live group work sessions and allocated time for guided individual tasks.
By the end of the course participants should be able to:
- understand what infectious disease models are and when they can be used;
- be able to actively collaborate with modellers;
- run a simple infectious disease model using pre-written code and adapt the model;
- interpret basic reproduction numbers;
- understand the principles of vaccination and herd protection;
- critically appraise published infectious disease models; and
- understand how to incorporate economic evaluation into infectious disease models.
The course is intended for epidemiologists, public health specialists, policy makers and healthcare professionals who work in the area of infectious diseases (human and animal health).
Although the computer practicals will be in the programming language R, no knowledge of R is assumed.
This course will cover:
- what models can be used for;
- mechanistic versus statis models and examples of models;
- components of a simple Susceptible-Infected-Recovered model;
- the basic reproduction number;
- model parameters;
- designing a model;
- converting a model sketch into equations;
- simulating a model using the programming language R;
- criteria for disease control;
- principles of disease control through vaccination; and
- using models for economic evaluation.
This course is taught by academics from a variety of backgrounds working within Bristol Medical School who are experts in infectious disease mathematical modelling and health economics.
To make sure the course is suitable for you and you will benefit from attending, please ensure you meet the following prerequisites before booking:
| Software |
Access to a laptop or desktop computer for the duration of the course (joining by mobile/ tablet would be insufficient). This course requires use of R through Posit Cloud. You will need to set up a free Posit Cloud account, instruction for which can be found on our R Installation Instructions page. |
|---|---|
| Recommendations |
Although the computer practicals will be in the programming language R, no knowledge of R is assumed. |
Before booking this course, please make sure you read the information provided above about the target audience and prerequisites. It is important that you have access to the relevant IT resources needed for the course and meet the knowledge prerequisites to ensure you can get the most from the course.
Bookings are taken via our online booking system, for which you must register an account. To check if you are eligible for free or discounted courses please see our fees and voucher packs page. All bookings are subject to our terms & conditions, which can be read in full here.
For help and support with booking a course refer to our booking information page, FAQs or feel free to contact us directly. For available payment options please see: How to pay your short course fees.
Participants are granted access to our virtual learning platform (Blackboard Ultra) 1 to 2 weeks in advance of the course. This allows time for any pre-course work to be completed and to familiarise with the platform.
To gain the most from the course, we recommend that you attend in full and participate in all interactive components. We endeavour to record all live lecture sessions and upload these to the online learning environment within 24 hours. This allows course participants to review these sessions at leisure and revisit them multiple times. Please note that we do not record breakout sessions.
All course participants retain access to the online learning materials and recordings for 5 months after the course.
University of Bristol staff and postgraduate students who do not wish to attend the full course may instead register for access to the 'Materials & Recordings' version of this course: Further information and bookings.
100% of attendees recommend this course*.
*Attendee feedback from 2025.
Here is a sample of feedback from the last run of the course:
“Particularly enjoyed the R coding element, seeing how to translate flow diagrams to code." - Course feedback, June 2025
“Presentations and practicals were well thought out. Materials were easily accessible and useful." - Course feedback, June 2025
“Great course! The instructors were very knowledgeable and were able to break down complex material in a digestable [sic] way. Blackboard was easy to use and material was organized in a way that was easy to find. The lectures were very interesting and easy to follow." - Course feedback, June 2025
“I found the flow diagrams and how to write the derivative equations for them extremely useful. It'll help me continue learning about modelling so that I can one day use it for my own research." - Course feedback, June 2025