Sophie Ayling Awarded Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Studentship

In April this year, CASA PhD student Sophie Ayling was awarded the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Studentship from the UCL, Bloomsbury and East London (UBEL) ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership. Her proposed research was entitled: Agent Based Modelling, informed by social mixing data, for prediction and planning a health policy response to SARS-CoV-2 in Zimbabwe. This research is now being conducted in collaboration with researchers from the World Bank and will be completed through part-time study over 4-5 years in conjunction with professional work. 

Sophie notes that “The past year has seen a surge in modeling outputs in response to high policy demand. I hope my work can contribute to the field by building on the knowledge we have gathered thus far, and provide useful insights from a spatial analysis angle with the educational experience I gain from CASA. It is also hoped that the outcomes of this research can be relevant beyond Covid, and to other country contexts, but with a primary focus on the developing world.  I was told that there were over 700 applications and only 7 got selected, so I am really happy to have got it!"