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
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
- Rogoll, L., Schulz, K., Schulz, J., Brock, J., Thulke, H.-H. (2025):
Beyond crisis response: A roundtable on long-term strategies for managing African swine fever
Viruses 17 (5), art. 604 10.3390/v17050604 - Brock, J., Guelbenzu-Gonzalo, M., Lange, M., Tratalos, J.A., Barrett, D., Lane, L., More, S.J., Graham, D.A., Thulke, H.-H. (2024):
Evaluating the effectiveness & costs of strategies post-eradication to monitor for freedom from BVDV infection in Ireland
Agric. Syst. 221 , art. 104127 10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104127 - Brock, J., Lange, M., Tratalos, J.A., Meunier, N., Guelbenzu-Gonzalo, M., More, S.J., Thulke, H.-H., Graham, D.A. (2022):
The Irish cattle population structured by enterprise type: overview, trade & trends
Irish Vet. J. 75 , art. 6 10.1186/s13620-022-00212-x - Nolzen, H., Brugger, K., Reichold, A., Brock, J., Lange, M., Thulke, H.-H. (2022):
Model-based extrapolation of ecological systems under future climate scenarios: The example of Ixodes ricinus ticks
PLOS One 17 (4), e0267196 10.1371/journal.pone.0267196 - Brock, J. (2021):
Decision support using advanced modelling concepts in Epidemiology: enhancing future bovine herpesvirus type 1 eradication in Ireland
Dissertation, Friedrich-Schiller Universität Jena
172 pp. 10.22032/dbt.50175 - Brock, J., Lange, M., Tratalos, J.A., More, S.J., Graham, D.A., Guelbenzu-Gonzalo, M., Thulke, H.-H. (2021):
Combining expert knowledge and machine-learning to classify herd types in livestock systems
Sci. Rep. 11 , art. 2989 10.1038/s41598-021-82373-3 - Brock, J., Lange, M., Tratalos, J.A., More, S.J., Guelbenzu-Gonzalo, M., Graham, D.A., Thulke, H.-H. (2021):
A large-scale epidemiological model of BoHV-1 spread in the Irish cattle population to support decision-making in conformity with the European Animal Health Law
Prev. Vet. Med. 192 , art. 105375 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2021.105375 - Brock, J., Lange, M., Tratalos, J., Guelbenzu-Gonzalo, M., More, S.J., Graham, D., Thulke, H.-H. (2021):
A large-scale epidemiological model of the Irish cattle population to support decision-making in the context of BoHV-1 control
In: van Schaik, G., Brennan, M. (eds.)
Proceedings of the SVEPM annual meeting held online, 24-26 March 2021
Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, p. 115 - 127 - Brock, J., Lange, M., Guelbenzu-Gonzalo, M., Meunier, N., Vaz, A.M., Tratalos, J.A., Dittrich, P., Gunn, M., More, S.J., Graham, D., Thulke, H.-H. (2020):
Epidemiology of age-dependent prevalence of Bovine Herpes Virus Type 1 (BoHV-1) in dairy herds with and without vaccination
Vet. Res. 51 , art. 124 10.1186/s13567-020-00842-5 - Brock, J., Lange, M., More, S.J., Graham, D., Thulke, H.-H. (2020):
Reviewing age-structured epidemiological models of cattle diseases tailored to support management decisions: Guidance for the future
Prev. Vet. Med. 174 , art. 104814 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2019.104814 - Brock, J., Schratz, P., Petschko, H., Muenchow, J., Micu, M., Brenning, A. (2020):
The performance of landslide susceptibility models critically depends on the quality of digital elevations models
Geomat. Nat. Hazards Risk 11 (1), 1075 - 1092 10.1080/19475705.2020.1776403 - Muenchow, J., Dieker, P., Böttcher, T., Brock, J., Didenko, G., Fremout, T., Jakubka, D., Jentsch, A., Nüst, D., Richter, M., Rodríguez, E.F., Rodríguez, R.A., Rollenbeck, R., Zarsosa, P.S., Schratz, P., Brenning, A. (2020):
Monitoring and predictive mapping of floristic biodiversity along a climatic gradient in ENSO's terrestrial core region, NW Peru
Ecography 43 (12), 1878 - 1890 10.1111/ecog.05091
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 |