Renata Retkute

Dr. Renata Retkute is a Research Fellow in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge, affiliated with the Epidemiology and Modelling research group. Her work focuses on developing mathematical and statistical models to understand biological systems at multiple spatial and temporal scales, with applications to pest and disease dynamics.

Education:

• PhD in Mathematics, Glasgow Caledonian University
• MSc in System Analysis, Klaipeda University
• BSc (Hons) in Mathematics, Klaipeda University

Research Interests: Dr. Retkute specializes in mathematical epidemiology, Bayesian parameter estimation, and machine learning applied to ecological and agricultural systems. She develops models for forecasting invasive pest dispersal (e.g., desert locusts) and plant virus spread, integrating remote sensing data with transmission dynamics. Her work also includes statistical methodologies for linking geospatial maps with disease models.

Grants & Collaborations: Her research has involved collaborations with international organizations like the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), focusing on pest risk assessment and sustainable agriculture. She contributed to frameworks modeling migratory pest dynamics using environmental and meteorological data.

Labs/Teams: Active member of the Theoretical and Computational Epidemiology group, leading projects on locust swarm migration prediction and plant disease spread modeling.