I currently hold an Honorary Research Fellow position at Warwick Mathematics Institute. Until I left Warwick for a permanent role at NIWA in New Zealand in March 2017, I was a postdoctoral research fellow for 5+ years, working in both the School of Life Sciences and the Mathematics Institute, as well as a member of the SBIDER group (Systems Biology and Infectious Disease Epidemiology Research). I continue to work closely with Professor Matt Keeling (Maths / Life Sciences) on modelling the spread of infection (further details below), as well as collaborating with other members of the Life Sciences, Mathematics and Medical School departments.

Please click on any of the links below to skip to my specific research interests, or scroll down for a list of my publications.

Research Profile

Marine ecosystem modelling: simulating basic life processes in marine ecosystems (such as predation, growth, death and reproduction), to understand the broad changes seen intra- and interannually. Looking at the effects of seasonal effects (such as annual phytoplankton blooms) on stable systems, and focusing on the impacts of fishing to perturbed ecosystems.

Honeybee epidemiology: investigating infections in honeybee populations (including European and American foulbrood, and the Varroa mite) across the UK. Predicting and understanding the spread of diseases to honeybees using statistical methods (in particular Bayesian techniques), in order to understand the dynamics of disease spread, and to simulate the effect of control strategies to find optimum ways of controlling the size of epidemics.

Human disease modelling: Simulating the spread of various human diseases, using a variety of modelling strategies. Testing existing and novel vaccination strategies, and using economic models to assess cost-effectiveness, to inform government policy.

Interviews

Professor Matt Keeling and I were interviewed by Dr. David Gregory-Kumar, science correspondent for the BBC news show Midlands Today, on our work modelling the AFB outbreak on Jersey. The interview was aired on Thursday 10th October, 2013, and can be found here.

I was also interviewed live by the BBC Coventry and Warwickshire radio station (for the same modelling work), for the Drive-Time show on weekdays. The interview was aired on Friday 4th October, 2013, and can be found here.

I wrote an article on our work modelling AFB on Jersey for the UK beekeeping magazine "Bee Craft", and the article "Modelling American Foulbrood on Jersey" can be found in the February 2014 issue of the magazine (link to the Bee Craft website available here).

Publications

1. Lloyd A. C. Chapman, Chris P. Jewell, Simon E. F. Spencer, Lorenzo Pellis, Samik Datta, Rajib Chowdhury, Caryn Bern, Graham F. Medley and T. Déirdre Hollingsworth (2018), 'The role of case proximity in transmission of visceral leishmaniasis in a highly endemic village in Bangladesh', PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases (accepted).
2. Baird, S.J., Datta, S., Bagley, N.W., Marriott, P. (2017) Fish Resources Assessment Survey of the Arabian Gulf waters of the UAE. Chapter 8: Habitat Observations. NIWA Client Report 2017296WN: 40 p.
3. Datta, S., Doonan, I. (2017) Fish Resources Assessment Survey of the Arabian Gulf waters of the UAE. Chapter 10: Stock Assessment Analyses. NIWA Client Report 2017302WN: 28 p.
4. Stevens, D.W., Bagley, N.W., Datta, S., Finucci, B. (2017) Fish Resources Assessment Survey of the Arabian Gulf waters of the UAE. Chapter 11: Stock Assessments – Key species summaries. NIWA Client Report 2017334WN: 109 p.
5. Matthew J. Keeling, Katherine A. Broadfoot and Samik Datta (2017), 'The impact of current infection levels on the cost-benefit of vaccination', Epidemics 21, 56-62. [ARTICLE]
6. Matthew J. Keeling, Daniel N. Franklin, Samik Datta, Mike A. Brown and Giles E. Budge (2017), 'Predicting the spread of the Asian hornet (Vespa velutina) following its incursion into Great Britain', Nature Scientific Reports 7, no. 6240. [ARTICLE]
7. Daniel N. Franklin, Mike A. Brown, Samik Datta, Andrew G. S. Cuthbertson, Giles. E. Budge and Matthew J. Keeling (2017), ‘Invasion dynamics of Asian hornet, Vespa velutina (Hymenoptera: Vespidae): A case study of a commune in south-west France’, Applied Entomology and Zoology 52(2), 221-229. [ARTICLE]
8. Matthew J. Keeling, Samik Datta, Daniel N. Franklin, Ivor Flatman, Andy Wattam, Mike Brown and Giles E. Budge (2017), 'Efficient use of sentinel sites: detection of invasive honeybee pests and diseases in the UK', Journal of the Royal Society Interface 14(129), no. 20160908. [ARTICLE]
9. Tinevimbo Shiri, Samik Datta, Jason Madan, Alexander Tsertsvadze, Pamela Royle, Matt J. Keeling, Noel McCarthy and Stavros Petrou (2017), 'Indirect Impact of Childhood Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccination on Invasive Pneumococcal Disease: A Global Systematic Review and Meta-analysis', The Lancet Global Health 5(1), 51-59. [ARTICLE]
10. Samik Datta and Julia L. Blanchard (2016), 'The effects of seasonal processes on size spectrum dynamics', Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 73(4), 598-610. [ARTICLE]
11. EFSA panel (2015), 'SHB spread, survival and establishment', EFSA Journal 13(12), 4328 [77 pp.]. [ARTICLE]
12. Samik Datta, James C. Bull, Giles E. Budge and Matthew J. Keeling (2013), 'Modelling the spread of American foulbrood in honeybees', Journal of the Royal Society Interface 10(88), no. 20130650. [ARTICLE]
13. Bethan C. O'Leary, James C. R. Smart, Fiona C. Neale, Julie P. Hawkins, Stephanie Newman, Amy C. Milman, Samik Datta and Callum M. Roberts (2012), 'Response to Cook et al. comment on 'Fisheries Mismanagement'', Marine Pollution Bulletin 64(10), 2267 - 2271. [ARTICLE]
14. Samik Datta, Gustav W. Delius, Richard Law and Michael J. Plank (2011), 'A stability analysis of the power-law steady state of marine size spectra', Journal Of Mathematical Biology 63(4), 779 - 799. [ARTICLE]
15. Samik Datta, Gustav W. Delius and Richard Law (2010), 'A jump-growth model for predator-prey dynamics: derivation and application to marine ecosystems', Bulletin Of Mathematical Biology 72(6), 1361 - 1382. [ARTICLE]
    

Contact details

Address:

Room A2.48,
Allen Building,
NIWA,
301 Evans Bay Parade,
Hataitai.
Wellington 6021,
NEW ZEALAND.

Tel: +64 43 860 522

E-mail: s.datta@warwick.ac.uk