Despite the success of pneumococcal vaccines, pneumococci remain among the top three child killers globally; a result of replacement disease by serotypes not currently targeted by the vaccine. The successful PhD candidate will work jointly with LSHTM, SGUL and Public Health England. Using mathematical models, the candidate will analyse England’s extensive pneumococcal surveillance data to better understand genetic and ecologic drivers of serotype replacement. In turn, this will allow prediction of the differential impact and the cost-effectiveness of vaccine candidates currently in development and help shape the immunisation schedule in the UK and elsewhere.

The student will need to apply to the MRC LID programme (http://mrc-lid.lshtm.ac.uk/) and then will be able to chose this project. The studentship will be supervised by Stefan Flasche (https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/aboutus/people/flasche.stefan) and Shamez Ladhani (head of pneumococcal surveillance at PHE)