In part 2 of this series on the role of Big data in the response to COVID-19, I speak to Amitava Banerjee, Associate Professor in Clinical Data Science at the Institute of Health Informatics at University College London. Ami outlines the "OurRisk.CoV Calculator", designed to inform people of the threat that COVID-19 poses to them as a result of any existing conditions and factors such as age and gender, explaining the inspiration behind it and how he sourced and processed all the data required to do so. We also discuss the modeling study from that Ami and his team that was reviewed at the meeting of the UK's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies in March – indicating that deaths from COVID-19 could reach 250,000 if the strategy of pursuing herd immunity had continued – just days before the UK decided to lockdown.

Contents:

• Introduction to the OurRisk.CoV calculator - 1min 15sec
• Data sets used for the calculator - 4min
• Reception of the calculator - 4min 40sec
• Changing the conversation around COVID-19 and impacting policy - 7min 45sec
• Analysis and challenges of working with large data sets - 12min 20sec
• Best practice tips for working with big data - 17min 15sec
• How can we make the most of the data available? - 20 min
• Governments "following the science" - 22min 45sec

*

The Talking Techniques podcast is hosted and produced by Tristan Free for BioTechniques. We would love to here more from our listeners about your opinions on the podcast, what you would like to hear more of and what you think we could do better!

Please get in contact on any of the platforms below.

Twitter: @TristanFreefsg

Email: tfree@biotechniques.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.