Public Health, Versorgungsforschung und HTA

Introduction to Infectious Disease Epidemiology – Principles, Dynamics and Control Measures

3-Day Certified University Course

10 - 12 July 2025

Course Flyer:
Introduction to Infectious Disease Epidemiology – Principles, Dynamics and Control Measures

COURSE OVERVIEW

This 3-day virtual course provides an introduction to infectious disease epidemiology including key principles of infectious diseases, transmission dynamics, and control measures. The course will cover the key principles of infectious diseases, how and why they differ from non-communicable diseases, which determinants are relevant and impact the burden of disease. In addition, we will give an overview on surveillance, outbreak investigation, and discuss public health control measures. Furthermore, vaccination study design, analytic methods with causal inference, regulation, safety and efficacy will be covered. The course will also introduce the principles of infectious disease modelling and outbreak simulation.

The course will be interactive and practical, with a mixture of lectures, hands-on exercises and interactive discussions.

The course is created for:

Medical, master and doctoral students
Suitable for anyone with an interest in infectious diseases
Junior and senior researchers in medicine and health & life sciences

Course Pre-requisites:

This is an introductory course, there are no pre-requisites. However, basic knowledge in epidemiology may be of advantage.
Course language is English.

THE COURSE COVERS THE FOLLOWING TOPICS:

Key principles of Infectious diseases, transmission dynamics, determinants
- Key principles of infectious diseases, agents, reservoirs
- Agent-host-environment interaction
- Dynamics of infectious diseases (e.g., basic reproductive number)
- Determinants, transmission, environment and climate change
- Burden of disease, socioeconomic context
Surveillance and outbreak investigation
- Surveillance systems, type of surveillance data, analyse surveillance data, Time series surveillance
- Outbreak investigation, case definitions, foodborne/waterborne outbreak as a case, case-control study concept
- Control measures, methods to interrupt disease transmission
- Preparedness planning for outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics of infectious diseases (aims, structures, status quo)
Vaccinology
- Vaccination study design and processes of vaccine development
- Analytic methods and causal inference from observational studies (e.g., test-negative design, target trial emulation)
- Regulation, safety, and efficacy of vaccines
- Evaluation of the effectiveness of vaccination programs
Infectious disease modelling
- Introduction to infectious disease modelling, transmission model types
- Outbreak simulation
- Decision science for public health policy

COURSE DOCUMENTATION

Certificates will be provided to all participants after the course. Students will be accredited 5 ECTS for successfully completing the online platform exercises as well as their attendance and active participation during the attendance part of the course.

Cancellation Policy

From the time of receipt of the registration confirmation, 25% of the participation fee will be charged as a cancellation fee. Two weeks before the start of the training, a cancellation fee of 50% of the participation fee will be charged. The entire participation fee must be paid within 14 days of receipt of the invoice.

In the event of a no-show at the start of the course, the entire participation fee will be invoiced.

A substitute participant, who must be named by the participating person to UMIT TIROL, can be accepted without additional costs. Please email new delegates details when known.

In the unlikely event that, due to unforeseen circumstances or insufficient enrollment, the course has to be cancelled by the UMIT TIROL, our liability is limited to refund of course fees only. We recommend that delegates have adequate insurance cover to claim any travel or personal expenses.