Project description
A method to identify vulnerability to vaccine hesitancy
The World Health Organization (WHO) ranks vaccine hesitancy in the top-10 global threats to health. While the global spread of vaccine hesitancy is a complicated phenomenon, no method predicts which countries are most vulnerable to this hesitancy. It is suggested that opinion dynamics models have great potential to recognise the countries where public opinion tends to be vulnerable or resistant. However, even though many successful models exist, only a few of them rely on empirical data. The EU-funded DYNAMOD-VACCINE-DATA project will establish an innovative method to reconstruct social network information from common data types and to provide a tool that identifies societies keen to adopt vaccine hesitancy opinion.
Objective
Vaccine hesitancy (delaying or refusing of vaccination) has been identified by the World Health Organization as one of the top-ten threats to global health. The spreading of vaccine-hesitancy in society is a complex phenomenon and no method can currently predict which countries will become vulnerable to this threat.
Opinion dynamics models have enormous – as yet unrealised – potential to identify countries where vaccine-hesitant opinions are likely to spread or be resisted. They simulate the evolution of public opinion with computational models in which agents interact based on simple rules, with the goal of precisely modelling the spread of opinions in networks. However, while many successful theoretical models exist, few have been run on empirical data. This is because most models require detailed network information and are therefore not compatible with common data types (i.e. survey data).
In this project, I will develop a novel method for reconstructing social network information from survey responses alone. First, the method will be validated using simulations. Then, it will be applied to secondary vaccine-hesitancy survey datasets to compare the predictive capability of different opinion dynamics models in this context.
This study will provide two main outputs. First, a toolkit to identify societies most vulnerable to vaccine-hesitancy opinion spreading. Second, a method for inferring underlying social networks from survey data. This will have general value for research on any social issue related to opinion-coordination, e.g. climate change; GMOs etc.
This fellowship will transfer my mathematical and computational modelling expertise to my hosts. At the same time, it will provide me with synergistic expertise in social science and network science as a platform for my research career in computational social science.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- social sciences sociology social issues
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy pharmaceutical drugs vaccines
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences atmospheric sciences climatology climatic changes
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2019
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
- Limerick
Ireland
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.