Professor Nik Cunniffe is the Head of Theoretical and Computational Epidemiology Group at the Dept for Plant Sciences at The Univeristy of Cmabridge. His group focuses on modelling the spread, detection, evolution and control of plant pests and pathogens. Their theoretical work uses deterministic, stochastic, and spatial models to develop new epidemiological theory to improve strategic understanding. Topics of current interest include fungicide resistance management strategies, new models of plant diseases spread by vectors such as insects, and integrating human behaviour into models of disease spread. Their applied work concentrates on using models fitted to spread data for specific pathosystems to understand how detection and control can be optimised. We have developed models of a range of plant pathogens, with a particular interest in sudden oak death, huanglongbing (citrus greening) and olive/almond leaf scorch (just two of the diseases caused by the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa). This class of model can be used to predict the risk of disease in a given region and/or to quantify the likely effect of any proposed control strategy, together with its inherent risk of failure. The models inform plant health policy, via his involvement with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) Panel on Plant Health.