Dr Ruairi Donnelly

 

 

I design and analyse ecological and epidemiological models to find new solutions for improving plant health and for developing international pest management strategies, taking a mathematical, statistical, and, more recently, an economic approach. My research focuses on the interactions between insect, pathogen, and plant, in relation to the dynamics of crop epidemics and management. A particular focus has been on viral plant pathogens with destructive impacts on human livelihoods such as whitefly-borne cassava mosaic and brown streak viruses. I also work as part of an interdisciplinary team who undertake field work in East Africa, including colleagues at the University of Cambridge (Virology & Molecular Plant Pathology) and applied experimental biologists located at BecA ILRI, Nairobi.