This fully funded PhD project aims to better understand how yellow fever virus (YFV) spreads using a unique combination of epidemiological and genetic statistical methods. Understanding the routes and drivers of the emergence of YFV into new regions has been challenging because of the limited availability of human and non-human primate case data globally. Understanding how YFV has circulated in sylvatic cycles and how humans interacted with such cycles is critical for determining how the risk of YFV spill over from the sylvatic cycle is changing. This project aims to combine epidemiological and genomic data analysis techniques to answer three main objectives:

1. How can we better understand and predict the movement of sylvatic yellow fever virus?
2. How is human interaction with the sylvatic cycle changing?
3. Could changes in the age-sex case ratios for yellow fever give early warning of a new urbanised transmission cycle?

The student will spend time training in complementary techniques at both LSHTM and the Royal Veterinary College (RVC). At RVC the student will develop skills in real-time genomic sequencing and virus genomic and phylodynamic analyses. At LSHTM the student will receive training on a range of mathematical and statistical modelling techniques as well as experience managing large multi-dimensional epidemiological datasets.