As APHA’s Epidemiology Discipline Champion, Dr Clare Benton brings deep scientific expertise and a passion for turning data into practical action. With years of experience working in wildlife health, Clare works within APHA’s nationwide community of epidemiologists, helping to shape how evidence is generated, interpreted and applied to protect the UK’s animals, plants and people. In this blog, she introduces the vital role epidemiology plays across APHA, highlighting the teams, insights and collaborative efforts that turn complex science into informed decisions for a safer, healthier future.
At the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), our mission is to protect animal and plant health to benefit people, the economy and the environment. Epidemiology plays a vital role in that mission. It helps us understand where infections come from, how they spread, and what we can do to prevent them. Whether the work happens behind a computer or out in the field, epidemiology connects our science to real-world decisions.
Why epidemiology matters Dr Clare Benton speaking at The Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine conference, 2026Epidemiology is the study of the where, when, how and why diseases occur in populations, but crucially, it is solution‑focused. We do not study disease trends and drivers for curiosity alone; we do it to support better decisions and better animal and plant health outcomes which in turn impact public health. There are over 100 different definitions of epidemiology and one of my favourites is: “At its simplest, epidemiology is about supporting better decision making to ensure appropriate response or preventative measures for population health”. That idea underpins everything we do at APHA.
A diverse community of expertsAcross APHA, epidemiology is undertaken by a network of interconnected research teams whose strengths complement one another. Within the Department of Epidemiological Sciences, for example, colleagues in the Biomathematics and Risk Research workgroup bring expertise in risk assessment, mathematical modelling and statistical analysis, providing the robust evidence base needed to support decisions in animal and public health.
Alongside them, the Data Systems workgroup keeps the entire operation running smoothly by ensuring that the data and information underpinning all our analysis is accurate, consistent and managed to high standards, enabling reliable downstream interpretation.
Working closely with both groups, the Epidemiology workgroup describes and analyses disease occurrence, examining trends over time, and through research studies seeking to identify risk or protective factors that inform the design of effective and targeted disease control strategies. But epidemiology at APHA also extends far beyond one department.
The Field Epidemiology Team operates on the ground as APHA’s front line, investigating how disease enters populations and moves through premises and provides real time, evidence-based advice to operational colleagues. In the event of a national outbreak, their role becomes even more critical. The field intelligence they gather flows straight into the National Emergency Epidemiology Group, where scientific, laboratory and operational experts unite at speed to coordinate the country’s response. In those moments, their insight is not just useful, it is indispensable.
On the ground, the Field Epidemiology Team serves as APHA’s first line of defenceSurveillance is strengthened further by the Surveillance Intelligence Unit, which oversees veterinary scanning surveillance across England and Wales. Their work draws on a wide network, from APHA’s Veterinary Investigation Centres to surveillance pathology partners, private vets and livestock keepers, to detect new and/or unusual disease patterns early and understand trends as they develop. This coordinated effort forms the backbone of the UK's animal health surveillance system.
At the national level, the Epidemiology and Risk Policy Advice Team supports policy development and the UK’s response when exotic diseases threaten our borders. Their work includes horizon scanning to identify emerging risks, assessing disease threats associated with imports, overseeing modelling, and coordinating cross‑government discussions through the Veterinary Risk Group (VRG).
The VRG brings together officials from across government to assess emerging animal health threats, determine the level of risk, and agree appropriate mitigation, escalating significant or uncontrolled risks to the UK’s Chief Veterinary Officers and Senior Responsible Owners. The team also ensures that scientific advice effectively informs policy by acting as a link between science and decision‑making, commissioning modelling work and supporting data‑sharing frameworks with trusted partners. A similar role is provided by the Tuberculosis (TB) Policy Advice Team for bovine TB.
Epidemiology also plays a vital role in APHA’s wildlife work. The National Wildlife Management Centre combines ecological, epidemiological and modelling expertise to explore how diseases move through wildlife populations and between wildlife and livestock. Their contributions are particularly significant in areas such as bovine TB, as well as contingency planning and risk assessments for wildlife-related disease threats.
These teams form a connected ecosystem of expertise, each contributing a crucial piece to the bigger epidemiological picture, brought together through the Epidemiology Oversight Group, which considers epidemiological activities across APHA. Rather than separate units, we aim to operate as parts of a collaborative team, ensuring that APHA’s science remains rigorous, relevant and ready to respond to animal health challenges.
Biosecurity station on a farmWithin this connected ecosystem, many teams contribute to APHA’s wider One Health mission - the understanding that animal, human and environmental health are deeply interdependent. This principle runs throughout our epidemiology community, but the APHA One Health team works specifically at this interface every day. The team leads national programmes to reduce salmonella in poultry, supports investigations into foodborne illnesses, and oversees key areas such as poultry marketing and animal byproducts. They also monitor diseases like Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) and emerging threats, work with partners including the Food Standards Agency and UK Health Security Agency during zoonotic disease incidents, and provide expert scientific and policy advice to support government decision-making.
Beyond these teams, a huge community of colleagues and other specialist expertise across APHA contributes to our epidemiological understanding. Our work is dependent on the contributions of plant and bee inspectors, veterinarians, animal health officers and other field workers, whose frontline observations form an essential part of our evidence base, and laboratory scientists and technicians who identify, confirm and characterise disease and contextualise results.
Looking aheadAs APHA continues to expand its epidemiology capability, we are also shaping a clearer sense of what it means to belong to an epidemiology community. For me, as Epidemiology Discipline Champion, a key priority is recognising that epidemiology at APHA goes far beyond job titles or organisational structures. It is a shared endeavour, one rooted in generating, interpreting and applying robust evidence to protect the populations we serve. As we look ahead, this common purpose will remain the foundation of how we work together and how we deliver high quality, impactful science for the future.
seen at 09:51, 24 April in APHA Science Blog.