In your groups, you’ll be exploring an example of the kind of dataset we might use for transmission inference. This is a simulated outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease in Australian livestock herds.
This is an open-ended task, and we’re happy for you to approach it any way you choose. You could try to recreate the transmission network/tree by hand, sketch out a plan or some pseudo-code for an automated way to do this, start to code up some analysis, or something else entirely. The important thing here is to start thinking about possible approaches and difficulties for transmission inference, and how we can combine various sources of information to best predict the route an outbreak took.
You have ~1 hour for this exercise. Then, for the final ~20-25 minutes we will regroup for a wrap-up. At least 1 member of your team should be prepared to give a 3 minute summary of your group’s work.
Moderator - helps facilitate the conversation; a “project manager”
Timekeeper - keeps the group on track by being mindful of the time; lets everyone know when they need to wrap up or move on
Note Taker - takes record of the group’s discussion.
Reporter - when we regroup, the reporter will take the lead in summarizing your group’s discussion/progress. (It might be helpful to get the note taker to give you their notes!)
Diagnostician - thinks about the problems and limitations of the data/analysis, and how we might combat these.