Meet the Team:

University of Leeds

Professor Cath Noakes - Professor of Environmental Engineering for Buildings.

Cath is a chartered mechanical engineer with a background in fluid dynamics, and significant expertise in ventilation and indoor air quality. Her research group conduct experimental and modelling based studies, with a strong focus on ventilation for health including exploring the transport of airborne pathogens and effectiveness of engineering approaches to controlling infectious disease transmission.

'I am the principle investigator for TRACK with responsibility for the strategic direction, coordinating across all of the work packages and dissemination of findings. I also contribute to the development of models in WP1.'

Professor Simon Shepherd - Professor of Transport Modelling and Design Policy

Simon is a Mathematical Engineer with a strong background in modelling transport systems and advising on policy. His research interests are in applying system dynamics to the modelling of transportation problems.

'I am advising on the modelling and analysis of travel in relation to COVID risk modelling as part of work package 3.'

Dr Andrew Tomlinson - Research Fellow TRACK Project

Andrew has a software engineering background with a strong interest in public transport. Prior to retirement from full-time work last year he used to also teach on the ITS Transport Masters programme and was the facilities manager at the ITS suite of driving simulators.

'I am carrying out research related tasks within WP3 including design, administration and analysis of survey data and development of relevant models.'

Professor David Watling - Co-Investigator

David is a mathematical modeller who analyses and simulates transportation systems (including travel behaviour and networks), especially those that involve complex interactions between users.

'I am advisor on modelling and analysis of travel and relation to Covid risk modelling.'

Dr Martin Lopez-Garcia - Associate Professor, Department of Applied Mathematics

Martin is an applied mathematician working in Mathematical Immunology and Epidemiology. He co-leads the Mathematical Immunology group at Leeds, which develops and calibrates mathematical models to study numerous biological systems related to infection & immunity. Martin also has expertise in Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment techniques, which are exploited within TRACK to predict exposure to SARS-CoV-2 in different environments.

'I lead activities within WP1. We work in collaboration with the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory to develop computational models to simulate and predict exposure to SARS-CoV-2 in public transport settings. These models are informed from data arising from other Work Packages within TRACK.'

Dr Yanis Boussad- Research Fellow TRACK project

Yanis is a computer scientist, with strong background in wireless telecommunication networks, network experimentations and measurements, and big data analysis. Prior joining the ITS, he was completing his PhD at the University of Côte d'Azur, in France, where he worked on "Large scale characterisation of exposure to radiofrequencies". He his mainly interested in studying, modelling and analyzing human-centric data.

'As part of TRACK I am analysing wireless signals data and proximity modelling using Bluetooth signals for Covid-19 risk assessment. I am also undertaking agent-Based modelling of pandemics focusing on mobility patterns, proximity, and population behaviour.'

Dr Yuanxuan Yang -Research Fellow TRACK project

Yang is a research fellow and has a geography background. He developed expertise in GeoComputation, Urban analytics, Geodemographics and Network science.

'I am analysing smartphone tracking app data on individuals' travel behaviours, especially people's public transport use as part of work package 3.'

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UKHSA

Mr Allan Bennett - Head of Biosafety, Air and Water Microbiology Group

Allan is head of the Biosafety, Air and Water Microbiology Group at UKHSA. Allan is an environmental microbiologist with an interest in transmission of infectious disease in air, water and surfaces and in the effectiveness of mitigations to prevent transmission.

'I am leading work package 2 which is both undertaking environmental sampling in public transport vehicles and assessing mitigation strategies to reduce environmental contamination.'

Dr Paz Aranega-Bou - Project Team Leader, Water HCAI and Environment

Paz is an applied microbiologist and has been involved in several projects investigating the role of the built environment in transmission of infection. Her previous work has focused on the role of sinks in the transmission of Gram-negative bacteria resistant to last resort antibiotics in hospital settings and the evaluation of mitigation strategies to reduce the risk.

'I lead on the day to day work for WP2 which includes sampling of public transport vehicles to uncover patterns of environmental contamination and evaluation of mitigation strategies to reduce the risk of transmission in this setting.'

First Group

Mr Jonathan Bridgewood - Group Rail Technical Director

Jonathan is a professional engineer that takes a system approach to the design, manufacture, maintenance and operation of the rail services. He is always seeking to improve the way we approach asset management and the use of technology in the way we operate and maintain the fleets while ensuring the passengers and employees remain at the heart of the service.

' I am a train operator industry advisor supporting, guiding and facilitating the access for data capture within and throughout each work package'.

University of Newcastle

Mr Tom Komar - Machine Learning Engineer

Tom is a machine learning engineer with interest in automating observation, modelling and predicting human behaviour. He develops and manages operations and performance of real-time machine learning systems. His background is in spatial economics and urban planning, and he enjoys working on technologic solutions to social problems in urban contexts.

'As part of work package 4 I am building video analytics applications for collecting of data about hand-to-face-, surface- contact behaviour and other observational studies.'.

University of Manchester

Professor Ian Hall - Professor of Mathematical Epidemiology and Statistics.

Ian has experience of mathematical and statistical modelling of a range of infectious diseases and emergency response advice. He is a Fellow of the Alan Turing Institute and a William Penney Fellow at AWE as well as holding honorary contracts with UKHSA and Manchester Foundation Trust. He has been co-chairing the SAGE social care working group since April 2020 to April 2022 and is a member of SPI-M (UK pandemic modelling advisory group) and Environmental Modelling subgroup of SAGE.

'I'm working on WP1 developing models for dose response and infection of susceptible passengers.'

University of Cambridge

Professor Paul Linden - Director of Research

'I am a co-lead of WP5 responsible for laboratory and mathematical modelling of ventilation and its impact on the spread of aerosol particles. I also contribute to risk modelling of infection.'

Imperial College London

Dr Steven Dargaville - Postdoctoral researcher

Steven is an applied mathematician with a history of developing models and computational methods to solve problems across a range of fields.

'I am a researcher working on modelling the airflow and spread of virus with computational tools, that enable us to try and determine the risk of infection to passengers in public transport. This also allows the development of potential measures to mitigate this risk and improve public safety.'