Credit: Ryan Lash / TED

I’m Adam Kucharski, an epidemiologist, mathematician, author and speaker.

I’m currently a professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, where I specialise in analysis of outbreaks. This includes large-scale studies of social behaviour and immunity, as well as development of open source software tools. I’ve published over 100 research papers, which have been cited over 23,000 times, and I’ve contributed scientific insights to multiple governments and health agencies.

Alongside research, I’m an award winning science writer, and my articles have appeared in places like Wired, Financial Times, New Scientist, Scientific American, The Times and The Observer. I’ve spoken at venues like TED, Google and the Royal Institution, as well as contributing to documentaries like BBC Horizon.

My first book, The Perfect Bet: How Science is Taking the Luck Out of Gambling, explored how games and gambling shaped modern approaches to chance and decision making. My second book, The Rules of Contagion: Why Things Spread - and Why They Stop, looks at the hidden factors behind outbreaks - from viruses to viral content - and was named a Science Book of the Year by the Times, Guardian, New Statesman and Financial Times.

I originally did my PhD in applied maths, and I’m interested in all things relating to contagion, risk and prediction.

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Many of the things we care about are difficult to observe directly, from the spread of an idea to the probability of a future event. How can we navigate patchy data and counter-intuitive patterns to uncover what is really happening? What tools do we need to make sense of a noisy, uncertain world?

If you’re interested in these questions, Understanding the unseen is the place for you.

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Analysis and discussion covering epidemiology, statistics and science communication from the author of 'The Rules of Contagion' and 'The Perfect Bet'.

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Epidemiologist/mathematician. Author of 'The Rules of Contagion' and 'The Perfect Bet'.