Date: 28 February 2024
Time: 12.45 Hours
Room: RA1501 & online
Speaker: Dr. Abbas Rizi (Aalto University)
Title: “Consequences of Social Network Structure for Epidemic Interventions"
Abstract:
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed gaps in our understanding of epidemic dynamics and the shortcomings of traditional models in real-world scenarios, particularly in comprehending herd immunity. This presentation will focus on how the structure of contact networks affects disease spread and intervention effectiveness. I will highlight the impact of pharmaceutical interventions like vaccination and non-pharmaceutical measures such as contact tracing on epidemic trajectories, considering factors like behavior-based homophily, group structures, spatial characteristics, and heterogeneities of contact networks. Additionally, I will introduce an advanced theoretical framework for analyzing temporal dynamics in networks, which is crucial for understanding disease spread, information dissemination, and public transport system accessibility over time. The presentation will conclude by bridging the concept of temporal network reachability to percolation theory, a significant concept in complex systems studies.
About me:
I’m a Doctoral Researcher at the Computer Science Department of Aalto University, working on problems in Network Science. Specifically, I’m interested in modeling pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical interventions for epidemics. I also have done some work on bridging the gap between the theory of temporal networks and non-equilibrium phase transition formalism. As a member of the NordicMath Covid project, I’ve worked alongside scientists and policymakers to develop and implement strategies to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. I have an MS in Physics of Complex Systems and a BS in Solid State Physics.