Katerina Kaouri (Cardiff University)

Title: A State-of-the-art Epidemic Simulator and Web App for Airborne Viral Transmission in Indoor Spaces

Abstract: During the COVID-19 pandemic, policymakers and managers of indoor spaces had to make rapid decisions to mitigate viral transmission. To better prepare for future epidemics, new computational tools are needed to support fast and effective responses. Building on our collaborations with policymakers during the pandemic, we have developed VIRIS — a novel agent-based modelling framework and web app that integrates viral transmission, individual movement patterns, and architectural design, in partnership with architects.

VIRIS estimates virus concentration and the infection risk faced by each individual within a space, allowing users to compare different intervention strategies. We have applied VIRIS to a courtroom, a care home, and a supermarket. With this tool, policymakers, architects, and building managers can easily analyse indoor environments and develop safer building designs or informed recommendations. The VIRIS app will soon be made publicly available. This work has been supported by two UKRI IAA grants.

More recently, we have begun tackling the challenging goal of reducing infection risk while maximising energy performance.

References: Xue et al, 2024, Jabi et al, 2024 (arxiv), Lau et al, 2022; Moore et al, 2021

Team members:
Dr Thomas Woolley. School of Mathematics, Cardiff University
Prof. Wassim Jabi, Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University
Dr Yidan Xue, School of Health Sciences, University of Manchester.
PhD students: Neha Bansal, Emma Shelley, School of Mathematics, Cardiff University