Who I am, and what I do

Postdoc in applied mathematics at Roskilde University, Denmark.

Ph.D. in mathematical modelling of leukemia

Part of the PandemiX research-group, working on historical epidemics and COVID-19.

Written multiple public-communication articles about COVID-19 over the last two years.

Mathematical Modelling

But how does one bring math back to the real world?

Someone has to interpret the results.

Examples of articles

Examples of articles

The SIR-model

A "classic" model tracing back to early 1900's.

Describes progression of an epidemic of an infectious disease in a population.

The SIR-model

A "classic" model tracing back to early 1900's.

Describes progression of an epidemic of an infectious disease in a population.

The SIR-model

A "classic" model tracing back to early 1900's.

Describes progression of an epidemic of an infectious disease in a population.

Examples of model-parameters:

• How long are people infectious?
• How many are immune before the epidemic?
• How much do people transmit the disease?

Often described in terms of the "reproduction-number, R0"

(Link to article)

The SIR-model

The SIR-model, a different approach

A graph is not always the best choice, even if it's interactive.

Instead, implementing the same ideas in a visual way can be better.

Let us represent a person by a circle, with color showing their status:

1. Susceptible

Can become infected.

2. Infected

Currently infectious and able to transmit disease to the susceptible.

3. Recovered

Immune to infections. (Post-infection or due to vaccination)

The SIR-model, a different approach

Summing up

To describe a complex topic, having more than just text is helpful.

But even if a figure is simple for you, it might be complicated for someone else.

You already have some intuition or understanding of the topic.

What do you want the recipient to also get an intuition about?

Think about "what is important to communicate",
not just "what is easy to show".

Thank you for your attention!

Any questions?