JUNIPER (Joint UNIversities Pandemic and Epidemiological Research) is a consortium of modelling groups from seven universities: Bristol, Cambridge, Exeter, Lancaster, LSHTM, Manchester, Oxford, and Warwick.
Funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) the consortium was formed in the autumn of 2020 to provide quantitative epidemiological advice in response to the evolving pandemic.
Scientific Advice to UK Government
The principal investigators and co-investigators represent a core of committed and experienced research groups that have been generating predictions, forecasts and insights feeding into the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (SPI-M) and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), both of whom advise the UK government on scientific matters relating to the UK’s response to the pandemic. More information on the consortium's work that has been presented to SAGE is available here.
The sixteen investigators have a vast set of expertise spanning epidemiology, infectious diseases, public health, medical statistics, health economics, model development, evolution, social networks, Baysian inference, uncertainty quantification and more - which will all support the goals of this programme. Research papers and preprints on COVID-19 research from the consortium are available here.
Outreach and Engagement
The groups within the consortium have strong links with the wider epidemiology and mathematical modelling community through its relationships with the Isaac Newton Institute Infectious Dynamics of Pandemics Programme, which ran from May-Dec 2020 and the Royal Society RAMP (Rapid Assistance in Modelling the Pandemic) initiative. This outward facing nature of the consortium has enabled groups to proactively develop novel methodology and analysis as well as horizon scan the impact of new scientific findings and how this will impact current and future modelling. We continue to engage with the wider research community through our regular research meeting, and seminar series. Information on these is available here.
JUNIPER sends out regular newsletters detailing the research activities and meetings of the consortium. If you would like to receive future editions of our newsletter please sign up here.
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