Jim Duggan is a Personal Professor in Computer Science at the University of Galway, and his research interests centre on the application of system dynamics modelling and data science to support public health policy. He has collaborated with the Health Protection Surveillance Centre at the Health Service Executive on modelling for seasonal influenza, and was a member of the Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group as part of Irelands COVID-19 response. He is a member of the World Health Organisations Collaboratory Technical Advisory Group, which advises the Collaboratory, a laboratory of Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence, hosted in the WHO Berlin.

My research focuses on the application of computational methods (modelling, calibration and inference, and data science) to address public health challenges. A strength of this approach has also been successful interdisciplinary engagement with public  health and medical experts, for example:

1. Collaboration, through the RAPIDE Project , with health experts from across Europe (Netherlands, Norway, Malta, Slovenia, and Italy) in order to address new approaches to plan for regular care during public health emergencies.
2. Collaboration, through the PANDEM-2 Project , with public health practitioners from across Europe (e.g. Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Romania and Portugal) who must address the challenge of preparedness planning for future pandemics;
3. An interdisciplinary collaboration with clinicians in the Health Service Executive (HSE) in the design, implementation and test of a new mobile App to support Safety Planning , and the design of A Protocol for a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of the Safety Planning Mobile App with Individuals Accessing Irish Mental Health Services;
4. An engaged research project (2020-2022) with the Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, where I contributed as part of a broad-based interdisciplinary team that integrated related expertise from the academic and health sectors. My contribution was the design, implementation of a scenario model used as a basis to advise the Irish Government on COVID-19 responses during the pandemic.

I am a Funded Investigator with the Insight Centre for Data Analytics .

My teaching is focused on a number of areas, including computer systems, programming and modelling.

Modules include:

1. CT5102 (Programming for Data Analytics) - An introductory course on the R Programming Language, with topics including: (1) Base R, (2) the R tidyverse, and (3) advanced topics such as the S3 object system.  
2. CT561 (Systems Modelling and Simulation) - An introductorycourse on system dynamics modelling, covering core topics on feedback, stocks and flows, formulating rate equations, delays, the stock management structure, and examples in epidemiology and business.
3. CT248 (Introduction to Modelling) - An introductory course on modelling and data science using Python, covering core topics on arrays, functions, visualisation. maethamatical modelling, and data science.