International Workshop on Social Contacts for Modelling Epidemics

The International Workshop on Social Contacts for Epidemic Modelling brings together researchers and data producers to advance the use of social contact data in infectious disease modelling. The workshop opens with a training session for early-career researchers, offering a practical introduction to key datasets such as POLYMOD, CoMix, and SocialCov, and guidance on data processing and analysis. Subsequent sessions will focus on scientific exchange and methodological development. Participants will explore alternatives to standard survey-based matrices, including synthetic data generation, contact reconstruction from digital or behavioural sources, and the design of enriched matrices incorporating dimensions beyond age. The workshop also aims to increase collaborations between modellers and institutions involved in data collection that could be used to inform modelling frameworks, such as INSEE (Time Use Surveys), TousAntiCovid (contact tracing), and Santé Publique France (e.g.surveys on specific settings and behavioral data). Through a mix of education, discussion, and interdisciplinary engagement, the workshop seeks to strengthen the foundations and future directions of contact-based epidemiological modelling in Europe.