[#14] Message-passing approach to epidemic tracing and mitigation with apps

Hanlin explained (see his slides) the motivation beyond the modeling of the epidemic spreading process with contact-and-tracing apps giving both analytical predictions and results from extensive Monte Carlo simulations, showing how powerful can be a message-passing approach.

In the second part of the talk, Hanlin engaged with the audience discussing how to propose new research projects, and how the research can embrace two different perspectives: one bottom-up, from experimental evidence to models, and one in the other direction, driven by theoretical ideas.

The discussion continued on the topic of how to find new research questions: reading papers outside our comfort zone and attending conferences were two proposed solutions, as both in-person events and studying different topics can help in promoting new interdisciplinary ideas.