A new handbook aims to provide decision-makers with improved support ahead of future pandemics. Through a national collaboration between Chalmers University of Technology, the Public Health Agency of Sweden, the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI), and the Swedish Armed Forces, researchers and experts have developed practical guidance on how mathematical models can be used as decision-support tools – and how model results can be communicated in crisis situations characterised by uncertainty and time pressure.
The handbook: Handbook of Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases for Decision-Making (Report, 2025) has been developed as a practical resource for both modellers and decision-makers working in infectious disease control.
The focus is on how mathematical models can be used to build understanding, assess different courses of action, and clarify uncertainties in decision-making processes.
“This is a book we ourselves would very much have liked to have during the Covid-19 pandemic. The handbook is intended as a resource for modellers of all kinds who wish to contribute during the next pandemic. It is not a recipe for how to model, but rather aims to provide a broader understanding of different possible approaches. It is also intended to help harmonise terminology – and, not least, the communication of model results to decision-makers,” says Torbjörn Lundh, Professor of Biomathematics at Chalmers University of Technology, with a focus on medical technology.
The handbook has been written by the lead author and Chalmers colleague Philip Gerlee, together with Torbjörn Lundh, Lisa Brouwers and Anders Tegnell from the Public Health Agency of Sweden, and Oscar Björnham from the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI).
- Full Professor, Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Mathematical Sciences
- Professor, Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Mathematical Sciences