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Biography:
Pierre Couteron, is senior researcher (Directeur de Recherche) at the French Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD). He leads researches in the domains of theoretical ecology, spatial statistics and remote sensing to monitor and model vegetation and associated resources. He is particularly interesting in working at the interface between ecology and numerical sciences. P. Couteron has a PhD in tropical Forestry (Toulouse, 1998) and Habilitation (HDR, Montpellier, 2006). He has authored 83 papers published in peer-reviewed, indexed journals (h = 41, ~6,000 citations, Google Scholar) and edited 2 special issues. He has been lecturer in tropical forestry & ecology for 15 years (at ENGREF, now AgroParisTech), Head of Ecology Department at the French Institute of Pondicherry (India) and Head of the AMAP (http://amap.cirad.fr) joint laboratory (2010 – 2014, 75 permanent staff). He has supervised 16 completed PhD projects and has directed research and R&D projects in France, Africa (Cameroon, Burkina Faso, …), Brazil, and India.
Abstract: Under construction
Biography: James Watmough received his Bachelor's degree in Engineering Physics in 1989 and his PhD in Applied Mathematics in 1997: both from the University of British Columbia. He held a postdoctoral position at Virgina Tech and an NSERC
postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Victoria. He is currently a Professor (Mathematics) at the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton. Prof. Watmough's research interests are in mathematical and theoretical ecology, epidemiology, and immunology. His current work involves two main research programs: spatial ecological models relevant to salt marsh restoration projects and mudflat community dynamics in Atlantic Canada; and modelling the within-host dynamics of viral infections.
Abstract: ( Exploring the connection between population-level immune landscapes and host-level immune dynamics )
Roughly speaking, outbreaks of respiratory infections, such as measles, CoViD-19, and influenza, are shaped by two main factors: (1) the patterns and nature of contacts between individual hosts, and (2) the distribution of immunity locally and regionally within the host population.
The strength and duration of an individual host's immune response depends on individual traits and the characteristics of exposure, which are at least partially dependant on the nature of contacts between hosts.
Thus, the dynamics of disease spread and waning immunity at the host-population level are driven by a fixed landscape of immune-traits based on demographics, comorbidities, and other individual factors affecting disease severity, and a dynamic immune landscape shaped by prior outbreaks.
The main objective of this talk is to present preliminary results from simple compartmental and individual-based models designed to predict population-level distributions of disease burden and immunity from host community structure and within-host virus and immune dynamics. Of particular interest is the role of community structure in determining the size and severity of outbreaks in smaller communities.
Biography: DSI/NRF Chair in Mathematical Models and Methods in Biosciences and Bioengineering, University of Pretoria, from January 2016.
Visiting Professor at the University of Franche-Comte, France (2004), University of Strathclyde, Scotland, UK (2010-), Co-Head, International Research Laboratory for Applied Research in Semigroups, South Ural State University, Russia (2019-2021), extraordinary research professor, Łódź University of Technology, (2019-).
Education: MSc (Engineering), Łódź University of Technology (1981), PhD, Strathclyde University in Glasgow (1989), Habilitation (DSc), University of Warsaw (1999) and the State title of Professor conferred by the President of the Republic of Poland in 2007.
Research interests: nonlocal, integro-differential models in kinetic theory, mathematical biology and fragmentation-coagulation theory, asymptotic analysis of multiple scale problems, epidemiological modelling.
Authored/co-authored 7 research monographs and over 150 refereed research papers. Completed supervision/co-supervision of 15 Ph.D students.
Awards: In 2012 received the South African Mathematical Society Award for Research Distinction, in 2013 received Cross of Merit (Silver) of the Republic of Poland, in 2014 received the 1st prize in the competition for the best paper in applied mathematics organized by Centre for Applications of Mathematics (Gdańsk), in 2022 received the Minister of Science and Education of the Republic of Poland Award for Scientific Achievements, in 2024 received the University of Pretoria Exceptional Academic Achiever Award.
Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa since 2023, African Academy of Sciences since 2017, member of the Academy of Science of South Africa since 2006; fellow of UKZN since 2013.
Editor-in-Chief of Afrika Matematika, Advisory Editor of Mathematical Methods for the Applied Sciences, Associate Editor of Quaestiones Matematicae, member of Editorial Board of Evolution Equations and Control Theory.
Abstract: (Multiscale and monotone models in epidemiology )
Realistic epidemiological models are notorious for their complexity. However, they often involve the interplay of several processes acting at widely different time scales; for instance, the life spans of humans, vectors, or pathogens differ by several orders of magnitude. This allows for a significant reduction of the complexity of the models using methods of small parameter. Such a reduction often leads to cooperative or competitive systems, further facilitating the analysis. In the talk, we provide a survey of classical and recent results on asymptotic analysis and monotone systems and illustrate their applications to malaria models.
Biography: Prof. Nick Monk is the second German Research Chair in Mathematics and its Applications at AIMS Ghana and a Professor of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Sheffield. Launched in 2014, the Research Centre in AIMS Ghana is one of the developing Research centers in the Network. Prof. Monk’s position helps to strengthen linkages between AIMS Ghana and other AIMS Centres; institutions on the continent; in Germany; and globally.
Nick, a UK-born citizen, completed his undergraduate and masters training at the University of Sheffield, and his PhD research in Quantum Mechanics at the University of London. Following Post-Doctoral research at the University of Oxford and the University of Sheffield, he was a Senior Lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Sheffield, and Reader in Mathematical Sciences at the University of Nottingham. Since 2011, he has been a full Professor at the University of Sheffield, and was Head of the School of Mathematics and Statistics between 2018 and 2022.
His primary research interests are in the application of mathematics to problems in biology and medicine. Particular areas of activity include animal and plant developmental biology, pattern formation, and models of cellular signalling. He has recently developed an interest in the potential for machine learning to guide model discovery and selection in biology.
Abstract: (Using mathematical modelling to understand cell signalling dynamics in populations of proliferating cells )
During the development and maintenance of organisms, the behaviour of cells is coordinated through the exchange of signals. Signalling underpins the emergence of coordinated dynamics across tissues, and helps to regulate the balance between proliferation and differentiation. The behaviour of such cellular signalling systems depends on the interaction of processes occurring on multiple time scales. In this talk, I will present mathematical and computational models that explore the dynamics of intercellular signalling in proliferating tissues. I will discuss how different time scales arise and how their relative magnitudes can affect the balance between cell proliferation and differentiation. In particular, I will explore how transient signalling dynamics and cell movement can influence the overall behaviour of a tissue.
Biography:
Frederic is Associate Professor in Quantitative Plant Disease Epidemiology at L’Institut Agro in Rennes, France. He works at the interface between Mathematical Ecology and Plant Disease Epidemiology. He was first trained as a telecommunications engineer in Brest, France. In 2007, he received a PhD in automatic control from the University of Nice, France. During his doctoral thesis and then as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Alberta, Canada, he explored differential games and their applications to behavioral ecology. He joined L’Institut Agro in 2008 as a faculty member of the ecology department in Rennes, France. In 2017, he obtained a Habilitation in ecology and evolution from U. Rennes. Since 2022, he has been an editor for the journal Phytopathology. He is currently leading an ANR funded project named BEEP: Behavioural Epidemiology and Evolution of Plant Pathogens. He is also heading the Plant Heath and Ecology lab of L’Institut Agro in Rennes.
Abstract (Combining Masculinizing Resistance, Rotation, and Biocontrol to Achieve Durable Suppression of the Potato Pale Cyst Nematode: Insights from Deterministic and Stochastic Models ):
The pale cyst nematode, Globodera pallida, is a pest that poses a significant threat to potato crops worldwide. The most effective chemical nematicides are toxic to nontarget organisms and are now banned. Alternative control methods are therefore required. Crop rotation and biological control methods have limitations for effectively managing nematodes. The use of genetically resistant cultivars is a promising alternative, but nematode populations evolve, and virulent mutants can break resistance after just a few years. Masculinizing resistances, preventing avirulent nematodes from producing females, might be more durable than blocking resistances, preventing infection. Our demo-genetic models, tracking both nematode population densities and virulence allele frequencies, show that virulence against masculinizing resistance may not be fixed in the pest population under realistic agricultural conditions. Avirulence may persist despite the uniform use of resistance. This is because avirulent male nematodes may transmit avirulent alleles to their progeny by mating with virulent females. Additionally, because avirulent nematodes do not produce females themselves, they weaken the reproductive rate of the nematode population, leading to a reduction in its density by at least 20%. This avirulence load can even lead to the collapse of the nematode population in theory. Overall, our deterministic and stochastic models (the latter taking genetic drift into account) show that combining masculinizing resistance, rotation, and biocontrol may achieve durable suppression of G. pallida in a reasonable time frame. Our work is supported by an online interactive interface allowing users (i.e., growers, plant health authorities, researchers) to test their own control combinations.
This is joint work with Israël Tankam Chedjou, Josselin Montarry, and Sylvain Fournet.
Biography:
Luc Doyen holds a permanent position of Director of Research at the CNRS. He works on bio-economics, viable management of biodiversity and mathematics of sustainability and resilience. He is affiliated to the CEEM (Center for Environmental Economics - Montpellier). His publications (H-index >= 37, >4000 citations, 1 book Springer, about 100 in international peer-reviewed journals), his network of collaboration, his supervision and teaching activities (10 doctorates) emphasise both the scientific excellence, the international dimensions and the interdisciplinarity of his work at the interface between economics, ecology, mathematics and computer sciences. The applied component of his research relies on contracts and grants (Belmont Forum, H2020, ANR, FRB, CNRS, ...) pointing out the transfer of the theoretical results toward national or international institutions such as CGIAR, CSIRO, RMIT, WUR, INRAE, IFREMER regarding the management of agriculture, fisheries and more generally biodiversity. He is member of the Editorial boards of the international journals `Environmental Modeling Assessment' and `Natural Resource Modeling'. He has been President of the Resource Modelling Association (RMA). He participated to various national and international committees including the Advisory Board of SIAM-MPE (Maths of Planet Earth) and the CNPN (Conseil National Protection Nature) in France.
Abstract: Models of Bioeconomic Sustainability
Bioeconomic models examine the coupled dynamics of renewable resources and socio-economic activities relying on these resources. Typical bioeconomic examples relate to fishery and forestry management. In this talk, we focus on the sustainability issues and criteria associated with these bioeconomic models and management. We distinguish between three main mathematical approaches addressing bioeconomic sustainability namely, equilibrium, optimal and viable control approaches. In particular, we investigate the pros and cons of these three approaches in both theoretical and applied terms.
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