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Understanding wildlife disease through long-term evidence, evolutionary ecology and data science

We are investigating scientifically how wildlife diseases persist, spread and fluctuate through time. Using long-term monitoring of bovine tuberculosis in a wild badger population, this project brings together ecology, genomics, demography, epidemiology, ageing research, social network analysis and statistical modelling to improve understanding of complex disease dynamics in wild populations.

Bovine tuberculosis is a complex issue with consequences for farming, wildlife, conservation, policy and rural communities. This project is not a campaigning platform. Our role is to improve the evidence base by studying the biological, ecological and epidemiological processes that shape disease persistence and transmission.

Diseases are often described as “endemic” when they persist in a population. But persistence does not necessarily mean that a disease is stable, simple or fully understood. Infection may be maintained by changing combinations of birth, death, movement, social structure, genetic variation, ageing, pathogen strains and wider landscape processes.

Through long-term monitoring, diagnostic testing, genomic sequencing and statistical modelling the project aims to better understand the hidden processes that shape wildlife disease. We will share updates, explainers, resources and outputs through this website as the project develops.