Surveillance, environment, and ecology

Imperial experts in environmental science, ecology, aerosol science, and planetary health are contributing to:

• Surveillance and forecasting to 1)  detect/predict infection threats before they become a risk (the first line of defence against pandemics) and 2) monitor the environment in a pandemic situation (e.g., to determine how infection spreads within the environment, water and sewage systems, transport settings, schools, healthcare settings, and homes). 
• The understanding of the planetary, ecological, and zoonotic influences and sources of a pandemic.

Experts working in this area

Environmental monitoring and surveillance

• Professor Wendy Barclay: Investigating viral emissions into the air and environment. Including healthcare settings, households and transport hubs. Example (in Covid): COVID-19 testing on London’s transport network.

• Dr Leon Barron: Environmental monitoring of water, air and soil for changing risks and impacts of chemicals used by communities (including antibacterials, pesticides and antivirals).

• Dr Henry Burridge: Air quality and fluid mechanics for the built environment, including ventilation in schools. Examples (in Covid): PROTECT COVID-19 National Core Study, CO-TRACE study, School's Air Quality Monitoring for Health and Education (SAMHE) project. 

• Professor Fan Chung:  Impact of air pollution on lung function. Example (in Covid): Airborne transmission of SARS-CoV2 in public spaces (supermarkets, schools, streets), including viral dispersal by piggybacking on vehicle pollution and dust.
• Professor Christl Donnelly: Surveillance systems (including consideration of sources of bias); ecology of wildlife (including density estimation and ranging behaviour). 

• Professor Denis Doorly: Fluid mechanics and aerosols. Example (in Covid):  Aerosol extraction device for use in COVID-19 surgical tracheotomy.

• Professor Nick Grassly: Disease surveillance; global wastewater surveillance for pathogens with pandemic potential (e.g. polio, typhoid, pandemic pathogens). 

• Dr David Green: Environmental sampling and air quality in London, including in transport hubs. Example (in Covid): COVID-19 testing on London’s transport network.

• Professor Alison Holmes: Surface and air contamination in acute healthcare setting during pandemic waves.
• Professor Paul Kellam: Virus genomics, genomic epidemiology, and outbreak control; impact of animal reservoirs.

• Professor Frank Kelly:  Environment, water, and air pollution. Example (in Covid): Detecting Covid-19 in the environment.

• Professor Azeem Majeed: Surveillance. Example (in Covid): Use of wastewater monitoring to estimate the spread of Covid-19 in schools and the wider community.

• Dr Jonathan Otter: Sampling of the environment to detect SARS-CoV-2.

• Professor Christopher Pain: Fluid dynamics, particle and airflow modelling related to infection spread, transmission risk, and impact of ventilation in enclosed spaces (e.g., schools, transport, buildings). Example (in Covid): Simulations of COVID-19 transmission in public spaces.

• Professor Steven Riley: Spatial transmission processes, contact patterns and complex exposure histories; surveillance. Example (in Covid): REACT-1 study.

• Dr Antonis Sergis:  Laser optics and software to study aerosol generation, e.g., via dental care procedures.

• Dr Anika Singanayagam: Household transmission of respiratory viruses; protocol for sleeper household transmission study to be activated in the event of a pandemic.

• Professor Shiranee Sriskandan: International spread; school transmission studies. Example: Rapid expansion and international spread of M1UK in the post-pandemic UK upsurge of Streptococcus pyogenes.

• Dr Erik Volz: Sample design and genomic surveillance systems. 

• Dr Jiansheng Xiang: Engineering modelling. Example (in Covid): Modelling airflow of breathing and mechanics of material to test the effectiveness of face masks for COVID-19.

Ecological, planetary, and zoonotic influences

• Dr Lauren Cator: Disease spread by mosquitoes, ticks and other vectors; OneHealth Vector-Borne Diseases Hub; infection on a changing planet. 

• Professor Thomas Churcher: Investigating the consequences of climate change and invasive species on malaria and other vector borne disease.  Example (malaria): Invasion of Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes risks malaria becoming an urban disease.

• Dr Ilaria Dorigatti: Mathematical models to characterise their epidemiology and to evaluate control strategies; impacts of climate change and global travel on disease.

• Professor Christl Donnelly: Surveillance systems (including consideration of sources of bias); ecology of wildlife (including density estimation and ranging behaviour). Example: Study of rabies in domestic dogs and wildlife in Tanzania. 

• Dr Viveka  Guzman Ortega: Health geography and planetary health research. Example (in Covid): Associations of the natural and built environment with mental health and wellbeing during COVID-19.

• Professor Paul Kellam: Virus genomics, including impact of animal reservoirs.

• Dr Will Pearse: Linking evolutionary biology, ecology, and biodiversity science to human health and emerging diseases. Example (in Covid): Forecasting seasonal COVID-19 transmission dynamics, including predictions for Christmas 2020.

• Professor Vincent Savolainen: Ecology, molecular phylogenetics, and population genomics. Example (in Covid): Evaluating transmission risk from sewage pollution; evaluating transmission risk from bat.