The Maths of Life and Death: Understanding the Maths behind Epidemics

In this Public Lecture, Dr. Kit Yates will look at some of the basic models and mathematics underlying the understanding of disease spread, and pick apart the meanings behind some of the terms we hear about in the news: from exponential growth and R to critical immunisation threshold and herd immunity.

Very little prior knowledge will be needed in order to enjoy the talk.

Dr. Kit Yates is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mathematical Sciences and co-director of the Centre for Mathematical Biology at the University of Bath. Alongside his academic position, Kit is also an author and science communicator. His first book, The Maths of Life and Death, was published on September 5th 2019, by Quercus.

His research demonstrates that mathematics can be used to describe all sorts of real-world phenomena: from embryo formation to locust swarming and from sleeping sickness to egg-shell patterning. He is particularly interested in the role that randomness plays in Biology. His research into Mathematical Biology has been covered by the BBC, the Guardian, the Telegraph, the Daily Mail, RTE, Scientific American and Reuters amongst others.

Running order (all times BST)

17:00 - Introduction

17:05 - Public lecture

17:40 - Q&A

18:00 - Event ends

This online event will be hosted on Zoom. Ticket holders will receive an email on the day of the event, with instructions on how to join the lecture and subsequent Q&A.

Register