The One Health Center of Excellence at University of Florida and ISI Foundation, in Turin, Italy, are
looking to fill a master’s degree position in the area of Digital Epidemiology, focusing on the digital
surveillance of public health-related issues and the communication around it. The work contributes to
the ongoing efforts in disease tracking and public health-related monitoring using alternative sources
of information, including participatory surveillance, social media, and other digital traces, as well as
the tracking of potential misinformation. The appointed researcher will participate in the design and
deployment of diverse activities, ranging from epidemiological studies to social media analytics tools,
contributing to interdisciplinary work at the crossroads of epidemiology and Public Health, data
science, and computational social science, under the supervision of Prof. Ilaria Capua (Director of the
One Health Center of Excellence) and Dr. Daniela Paolotti (Research Leader at the Digital
Epidemiology group, ISI Foundation).
The appointed researcher will engage in the design, implementation, deployment, and analytics of
health-related data collection systems, including the following: (1) participatory/community-based
surveillance systems relying on mobile technologies to enhance routine disease monitoring, emerging
disease preparedness and behavioral change detection; (2) exploitation of digital traces as proxy for
human mobility to enhance disease modeling capabilities; and (3) monitoring traditional and social
media, in order to model the propagation of medical and public health misinformation, and estimation
of its impact on the reached audience. The aim of this project, is to generate an ecosystem of novel and
cost-efficient digital surveillance infrastructures in countries on a global scale for the effective
surveillance, monitoring and control of circulating diseases and more in general public health issues,
as well as capturing the accompanying propagation of medical misinformation and incorporating its
impact into disease modeling. As such, the researcher will get extensive hands-on experience in healthrelated data collection, data management, and big data analytics, as well as design and implementation
of epidemiological studies.
We welcome applicants with strong backgrounds in digital epidemiology, statistical physics, computer
science, or computational social science. The candidate should be comfortable with data manipulation,
statistical analytics, network science, mathematical modeling, working with a diverse array of data
sources, and should have some epidemiological background.
The researcher is expected to produce high quality scientific and technical outputs including journal
articles, conference papers and presentations and technical reports.
Required skills:
Master Degree in Computer Science, Physics, or related computing/quantitative field.
Experience in digital epidemiology, surveillance systems, social media analytics and web mining. Good
programming skills in at least one of the following languages: Python or R, as well as proficiency with
libraries for data manipulation and analysis, e.g. Pandas and scikit-learn.
Fluency in English, both spoken and written. Highly collaborative spirit and personal initiative.
Excellent personal skills.
ISI and University of Florida offer:
The two institutions provide an unusually rich opportunity for collegial interaction in a highly
competitive environment, with a range of collaborators:

• At One Health Center of Excellence: expertise on a systems thinking approach to the agro-food and health-environment system;
• At ISI: algorithmic data analytics, network neuroscience, mathematics and complex systems
  science.
  The researcher will be appointed for 6-8 months, spending 3-4 months in Florida and 3-4 months in
  Italy.
  To apply:
  To apply, please send your cover letter, curriculum vitae and professional reference list to Dr. Daniela
  Paolotti (daniela.paolotti@isi.it). Application deadline has been extended to October 11th 2019, but
  applications will be accepted until the position is filled.
  UF is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national
  origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion or disability.
  Position details
  Length: 6-8 months, full-time.
  Location: one term (about three months) at One Health Center of Excellence, UF, one term (about three
  months) at ISI Foundation, Turin, Italy
  Starting date: TBD
  Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled. Evaluation begins immediately