Robin Thompson

Professor Robin Thompson is a faculty member at the University of Oxford's Mathematical Institute, specializing in infectious disease modeling within the Wolfson Centre for Mathematical Biology. Based at the Andrew Wiles Building in Oxford, Thompson leads research in infectious disease outbreak modeling and teaches applied mathematics courses at St Hilda's College.

Thompson's research focuses on mathematical modeling of infectious disease outbreaks, with particular expertise in outbreak prediction, transmission dynamics, and end-of-outbreak declaration. Their work spans multiple disease systems including Ebola, mpox, and SARS-CoV-2, addressing critical public health challenges through mathematical frameworks. Research projects are organized around four key phases of outbreak management: before an outbreak, early in an outbreak, during an outbreak, and at the end of an outbreak.

Recent publications demonstrate Thompson's leadership in developing methods for estimating time-dependent reproduction numbers, addressing reporting delays and under-reporting in outbreak data, and creating practical tools for public health decision-making. Their work frequently appears in top journals including Lancet, Nature Communications, and PLoS Computational Biology.

• Developed frameworks for real-time outbreak risk assessment
• Advanced methods for end-of-outbreak declaration
• Created models for vaccine prioritization strategies
• Studied transmission dynamics of multiple pathogens including Ebola and mpox

As an educator, Thompson teaches Probability, Calculus, Differential Equations, Fourier Series, Mathematical Biology, and other applied mathematics courses at St Hilda's College. Within the Mathematical Institute, they organize Mathematical Modelling Case Study projects for the MSc in Mathematical Modelling and Scientific Computing and supervise fourth-year dissertations.