Dr Claire Risley
I am a mathematical modeller working within the Partnership for Child Development (PCD) based at the department of infectious disease epidemiology (DIDE). PCD work to improve the health, nutrition and education of children and youth in low-income countries. Among other issues, PCD work with host countries to the impact of HIV and AIDS on education systems. The impact of HIV on education spans personal and system perspectives and includes teacher AIDS deaths, illness and orphaning of pupils.
I develop the Ed-SIDA Excel-based mathematical model used to estimate and project the effect of HIV/AIDS on education systems. Ed-SIDA is easy to use and is adaptable to local educational planning needs. It can be used by educational planners to develop their mitigation strategies, or for advocacy purposes. I work to improve its functionality, user-friendliness and local relevance, and use it for research. I am currently involved in developing PCD's Monitoring and Evaluation workshop, and facilitate in all courses and workshops run by PCD.
Ed-SIDA and its manual are freely available (click links to download).
In November 2007, I presented a paper at the UNAIDS/World Bank Economic Reference group meeting on the Global Impact of HIV on education 
. I am currently evaluating the cost of achieving Education for All in Africa, and the greater Mekong sub-region, given the reality of the HIV epidemic. I recently completed a book chapter on the impact of HIV and AIDS on Caribbean education systems, the region of second highest prevalence after Sub-Saharan Africa.
For more information, please see the PCD websites:
www.schoolsandhealth.org; www.child-development.org
In my previous position in DIDE, I managed and analysed a database of Neisseria gonorrhoea sequence types and epidemiological characteristics of infected individuals. I undertook GIS mapping and spatial statistical analyses of these data. I presented these spatial analyses orally at the ISSTDR conference in Amsterdam, 2005. Aspects of this work have been published in the Lancet and STI.
In addition to infectious disease, I am interested in the modelling of biodiversity and extinction. A paper by Sam Turvey of the IoZ and me was published last year in Proc R Soc's Biology Letters on modelling the extinction of Steller's Sea Cow, which was selected for Faculty of 1000 Biology.
CV
1995-1998 Oxford University: Undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences
1998-2002 Institute for Animal Health and Oxford University: DPhil, "The Population Dynamics of Plasmid-Mediated Antibiotic Resistance in Salmonella typhimurium in Chickens"
2002-2004 AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals
2004-2005 Imperial College London, Post doc with NGMAST group
2005-Present Partnership for Child Development, Imperial College London, Post-doc Mathematical Modeller
