How to understand a pandemic Join us for a recording of this event can be watched here. Barely talked about in public before COVID-19 changed the world, epidemiological modelling now informs public health decisions that affect people and communities. But what is it and how does it work? There are many types of models and each has a specific role in predicting trends. This Thursday, 17 December, in the first in a new series of regular Cosmos Briefings, we will look behind the science that informs intervention policy. Lead Scientist for the Royal Institution of Australia, Professor Alan Duffy, will talk in depth with physician Professor Jodie McVernon and epidemiologist Professor Tony Blakely.