Research

Research interests and collaborations

I did a degree in Mathematics at the University of Liverpool, graduating in 1991. I then stayed at Liverpool to do a Ph.D. jointly with Dr Roger Bowers in Mathematics and Professor Michael Begon in Ecology as part of the Mathematical Ecology Group. My thesis is entitled ``Ecological Models of Microparasitic Diseases shared by Vertebrate Hosts'' and involved both general theoretical frameworks of non linear coupled differential equations (after Anderson and May) and their application to specific wildlife disease systems such as:

fox-dog rabies

cattle-badger-bovine tuberculosis

hare-grouse-louping ill

cattle-wild ungulate-rinderpest

I then went on to a postdoctoral RA post in the Zoology Department at the University of Oxford where I started to build up a suite of models to describe lymphatic filariasis. This is a mosquito borne infection of humans affecting 120 million people worldwide. It is a disease of great economic and social importance as it causes both short-term symptoms such as fevers - which have a heavy impact on the individuals ability to work, and long-term disfigurements such as elephantiasis.

I started work as a lecturer in the Mathematics and Statistics Group - part of the Department of Computing Science and Mathematics - at Stirling in September 1996. I was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2003 and Reader in 2010.

My current research involves 8 main branches:

Process algebras applied to epidemiological problems. This is a joint CS/maths/biology project which we have been working on for a while. We have developed a way of writing down rules of individual behaviour, we can then combine individuals to make a population. The equations describing the dynamics of this population then emerge rigorously from the interactions between the individuals. This allows us to move between scales. The method we use is a computing Science technique called Process Algebra. I carry out this work with Carron Shankland from Computing Science and we have Chris McCaig and Soufiene Benkirane working on this through an EPSRC funded grant which runs from October 2007 to October 2010. The main application of this work so far has been epidemiology but we are also looking at applications in immunology (System dynamics web page) We recently held a workshop on this project (link to workshop)

Immunology: We have recently started looking at how to apply process algebra to immunological systems and are working on this in collaboration with Andy Fenton in Liverpool and Andrea Graham in Edinburgh.

Ethiopian wolves: I am working on pulse vaccination strategies in domestic dog populations in order to control rabies in Ethiopian wolves and humans.

I am studying the effect of vaccination in a two host system with Professor Roger Bowers in Liverpool and Andy Hoyle here in Stirling, with particular reference to target-reservoir systems. We have a PhD Student who started working on this in October 2010.

Louping ill/ tick borne infections: This is a collaborative project with the MacAulay Institute. We have a PhD student working on controlling Louping ill by manipulating host populations. This is an interesting system because there are many different species involved which have different influences on the system. Grouse and sheep suffer from the disease. Sheep are vaccinated and treated with acaracide and effectively removed from the system. Grouse cannot maintain ticks since adults rarely feed on them but can transmit the disease. Deer amplify the tick population but cannot transmit the disease. Hares both amplify ticks and spread the disease.

Gyrodactylus salaris on Atlantic salmon. This is a project which I am working on with colleagues in Aquaculture and in CEFAS (Weymouth). We will look at the evolution of the disease and why some species are more susceptible than others. A DEFRA funded PhD student started working on this in October 2009.

Argulus foliaceus on trout. This is also a project jointly with Aquaculture and CEFAS. We are investigating ways of controlling these parasites. A PhD student started working on this in October 2009.

Spatial models of disease spread This is a project looking at the dynamics and control of fish parasites at the national level. A PhD student started working on this in October 2010 funded by CEFAS.

Research Group

PhD students:

Ros Porter

Soufiene Benkirane

Nicky McPherson

Scott Denholm

Gill Ogg

Rachel Rider

Postdoc

Chris McCaig

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Rachel Norman(ran@cs.stir.ac.uk)