The 2022/23 Collingwood Lecture

Professor Christina Pagel (University College London)

"UK response to the Covid-19 pandemic: the vicious circles, the brilliant science and where science was not enough"

6 June 2023, 3.00pm, CLC013

Christina Pagel graduated with a BA in Mathematics from The Queen's College, Oxford in 1996. She also holds an MSc in Mathematical Physics from King's College London, and MAs in Classical Civilisation, Medieval History and an MSc in Applied Statistics with Medical Applications from Birkbeck College, University of London. In 2002 she was awarded a PhD in Space Physics on Turbulence in the interplanetary magnetic field from Imperial College London.

Christina is currently a professor of operational research at University College London (UCL) within UCL's Clinical Operational Research Unit (CORU), which applies operational research, data analysis and mathematical modelling to topics in healthcare. She was Director of UCL CORU from 2017 to 2022 and is currently Vice President of the UK Operational Research Society. She also co-leads UCL's CHIMERA research hub which analyses data from critically ill hospital patients. In May 2020, Christina joined the Independent SAGE committee, whose aim is to offer independent advice to the UK Government during the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of her work for Independent SAGE, she is regularly quoted in newspapers, writes for national newspapers and appeared on national and international broadcast media and various podcasts discussing the UK's response to the pandemic.

Abstract: Christina will discuss how the fundamental nature of COVID-19 transmission and illness led to a vicious circle of repeating waves of infection, disproportionately affecting those in more deprived communities. She will highlight where brilliant science helped to tackle the pandemic but also where it did not – especially when uncoupled from other expertise and responsive policy.