Dr. Jonas Brock

Project Group: Ecological Epidemiology (EcoEpi)


Contact

Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
Department of Ecological Modelling
Permoserstr. 15
04318 Leipzig
Germany

Tel.: +49 341 235-1716
jonas.brock@ufz.de    

Jonas Brock

Biography & Research

Jonas graduated from Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Germany) in 2018, with a degree in Geoinformatics and a specialisation in Data Science. In 2018, he joined Animal Health Ireland and the UFZ to pursue a PhD developing the economic modelling required in the planning of national virus control programmes in the cattle sector in Ireland.

A major component of this work is the development of epidemiological models that replicate the spread of infectious diseases in the Irish cattle population. These models are used to simulate the possible options and alternatives available when planning national disease control programmes in line with the new European Animal Health Law

Jonas was awarded his PhD in 2021 from the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science from the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena for his research on epidemiological modelling of IBR control and eradication. In addition, he was also awarded the Konrad-Boegel-Award from the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover (Germany), in recognition for his outstanding work in the field of veterinary epidemiology.

Following the award of his PhD, Jonas is continuing to work with AHI as an assistant programme manager, with a primary focus on BVD and IBR and continues to work closely with the UFZ and the EcoEpi Group as a guest scientist.

His research interests are:

- strategtic planning of virus control programmes
- cost-benefit analysis
- quantitative epidemiology
- epidemiological modeling
- data science challenges
- science communication

Publications

Awards

  • Konrad-Bögel-Award for veterinary epidemiology and public health (Stiftung Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover) for his doctoral thesis: "Decision support using advanced modelling concepts in Epidemiology : enhancing future bovine herpesvirus type 1 eradication in Ireland"
  • Award from the Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine for his conference poster: "Pitfalls in the analysis of age-dependent prevalence data"
  • Award for Young Scientists of the German Society for Veterinary Medicine for his conference talk: "Modelling the regional BVDV surveillance programme in Saxony-Anhalt"
  • Thesis Award from the Faculty of Geosciences and Chemistry of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena for his Master's thesis: "Assessing the effects of DEM products on statistical and machine-learning models of landslide susceptibility"
  • Award for Young Scientists of the German Society for Veterinary Medicine for his conference poster: "Structuring the mess: Disentangling disease models for cattle populations"

CV

Mar. 2021 - current Assistant programme manager BVD & IBR at Animal Health Ireland
&
Guest Scientist at Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research
Apr. 2018 - Mar. 2021 PhD student at Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research
Apr. 2018 - Mar. 2021 Research Analyst & Quantitative Modeller at Animal Health Ireland
Oct. 2015 - Mar. 2018 Master of Science (M.Sc.) Geoinformatics at
Friedrich Schiller University Jena
Specialisation: Machine-learning techniques and predictive statistics