Hi guys!
My name is Xin Yang, and I am currently doing a BSc in economics and finance at the University of Southampton. This summer, I chose to broaden my knowledge by enrolling in the virtual summer school “Modelling Infectious Diseases and Health Economics” held by the University of Antwerp. The process of applying for summer school is very simple. I successfully got the offer on the fourteenth day after applying. I was very nervous before summer school began. Because I am not familiar with the use of R, and health Economics is a completely new topic for me. But the beginning of summer school completely dispelled my worries.
First of all, after the professor introduced the project, the summer school started in our self-introduction. The students came from different countries, cultures, and educational backgrounds. There are undergraduates like me, as well as senior professors. This is completely different from the summer school I imagined, and it also aroused my strong interest in summer school from the beginning. In the first three days, the theme of the summer school was “Modelling Infectious Diseases”. In this topic, we learned about Infectious Diseases, the way the virus spreads, and the performance of infectious diseases in different periods. It is worth mentioning that Lander Willem is a very friendly and knowledgeable professor. We had a lot of questions during the course, including how to use R to model, and the doubts about the spread of epidemics. He clearly answered us one by one. At the same time, I also learned how to use R for modelling in the first half of summer school. I also realized that my concerns were completely unnecessary. Professor clear explanation so I learned how to use basic R
In the next two days, the theme of the summer school came to “Health Economics”. Economics, as my major, also makes me more confident in this topic. At this stage, we ushered in a lot of group discussions. I am very fortunate. Many group discussions have been very active. Each team member put forward their own opinions, and I learned a lot of new knowledge from them. In the initial group discussion, because the group has the least seniority, most of the group members are PHDs from various schools. However, as the activity deepened, I had a direct in-depth understanding of this topic and gradually participated in the discussion. Edit and modify the modeling with team members. At the end of this stage, we ushered in the personal assessment assignment-case study. After submitting the homework, we can get 3 CETS credits.
Overall, this summer school brought me a very good experience. “Modelling Infectious Diseases and Health Economics” is also a very popular topic during the epidemic. I learned a lot of relevant knowledge from it, and I have a better understanding of the development of the epidemic and fans. I am also very grateful to the University of Antwerp for organizing this summer school for giving me such a precious learning opportunity