Introduction and course overview

Introduction to the course and the instructors

Aim of the course

In this course we will explore how to:

  • Visualize and interpret infectious disease forecasts
  • Evaluate forecast performance and limitations
  • Combine multiple forecasts into ensembles

Predictive modeling has become crucial for public health decision-making and pandemic preparedness. Through this workshop, we aim to make forecast interpretation and evaluation more accessible to academics and public health institutions.

Approach

Each session in the course:

  • builds on the previous one so that participants will have an overview of forecast evaluation by the end of the course;
  • starts with a short introductory talk;
  • mainly consists of interactive content that participants will work through;
  • has optional/additional material that can be skipped or completed after the course ends;

For those attending the in-person version the course also:

  • has multiple instructors ready to answer questions about this content; if several people have a similar question we may pause the session and discuss it with the group;
  • ends with a wrap-up and discussion where we review the sessions material.

Timeline for the course

The course consists of four main sessions spread across an afternoon. If you are attending the in-person version of the course, the schedule is available here. If you are studying this material on your own using the website, you can go through it at your own pace.

Let’s get started!