Plenary Talk for Theme 3, Predictive Intelligence and Pandemic Preparedness

In addition to serving as the PI for Theme 4 of the NSF initiative, Predictive Intelligence and Pandemic Preparedness, I was invited by Theme 3 to give a plenary talk for their workshop. The format of the workshop was flipped and plenary speakers pre-recorded their talks. My talk, entitled "Heterogeneity and Social Structure Matter for Pandemic Control (and Cultural Evolution Can Help Us Make Sense of Them)," is available here. In it, I talk about work that Paul Smaldino and I have done (and work that our RAPID group plans to do in the near future) as well as the great work that former PhD student, Ronan Arthur has done on the dynamics of infectious disease when fear mediates social contacts. I try to make the case for the relevance of cultural evolution for helping us make sense of behavioral responses to the pandemic and pandemic control efforts. I think that there is great promise in this approach and expect to do much more in the near future.