Climate Change and Disease Risk Mapping Group: Risk mapping climate change and infectious disease

Creating mapping tools for climate-associated risk assessments, across a variety of climate-disease case studies.

This project is developing software than can be used by anyone (regardless of technical aptitude or coding expertise) to help predict where changes in the climate predicted over the coming years may increase risk of certain diseases. The software, when completed, will be able to be used by healthcare workers, policymakers, farmers and livestock owners, public health officials, humanitarian aid workers and the public, as well as academics, to provide immediate predictions of disease risk. This knowledge will enable, for example, farmers to consider how livestock may need to housed in different conditions; healthcare workers to prioritise vaccine resources to communities more at risk, and healthcare systems to plan for diseases such as dengue or foot and mouth disease (FMD) becoming more prevalent in their region in future. The ongoing research involves several components including:

- Identifying, collecting and cleaning available data sets from a variety of sources and preparing data for use in the models
- Developing new modelling software to help predict regions and climatic conditions that will be prone to disease outbreaks and spread in future
- Testing platform usability and usefulness with potential end-users using the Technology Acceptance Model

The project currently has a a linked LIDo studentship, and a PhD candidate, Polly Hipkiss, working on platform development.

A second LIDo project, mapping climate change and pollution impact around Lake Victoria in Kenya, will be available for rotation students from September 2025, with a full studentship available from September 2026.

While climate predictions often focus on temperature alone, humidity and wet-bulb temperature may be larger determinants of disease risk.