Rate My Professor Luigi Sedda

Dr Luigi Sedda serves as Senior Lecturer in Spatial Epidemiology at Lancaster Medical School within the Faculty of Health and Medicine at Lancaster University, where he also leads the Lancaster Ecology and Epidemiology Group. His research focuses on spatio-temporal mapping of vector-borne diseases using biological frameworks, vector-wind-borne disease spread, and the control of emerging animal and human diseases. Sedda has been principal investigator on several funded projects, including the Wellcome Trust's comprehensive assessment of the spread, biology, and public health importance of Anopheles stephensi in Africa (2025–2028), a BBSRC grant investigating mechanisms of gut-brain axis involvement in ectotherm thermotolerance (2025–2028), and initiatives building malaria modellers in Africa and evaluating adulticide efficacy for insecticide-resistant vectors. His work extends to cancer risk mapping in deprived areas and housing regeneration impacts on health inequalities. Sedda contributes to editorial activities for journals such as Current Research in Parasitology & Vector-Borne Diseases, Scientific Reports, and Parasites and Vectors. He holds memberships on the board of The Applied Malaria Modeling Network, the advisory panel for the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme, and the Vectorbite network.

Sedda's career at Lancaster University includes progression from Lecturer to Senior Lecturer in Spatial Epidemiology. Key publications include 'Evidence for a role of Anopheles stephensi in the spread of drug- and surgery-resistant Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Africa' (Nature Medicine, 2023), 'Joint spatial modelling of malaria incidence and vector's bionomics data improves malaria risk prediction at local scale' (Journal of Applied Ecology, 2024), 'Designing spatial adaptive surveillance for the emerging malaria vector Anopheles stephensi in Eastern and Horn of Africa' (medRxiv, 2026), and 'Syndemic geographic patterns of cancer risk in a health-deprived area of England' (Spatial Statistics, 2024). He has received the IPUMS research award (2016), NIHR CRN Greater Manchester’s Evening of Excellence (2021), prize for the best paper in the Morecambe Bay Medical Journal (2022), and North West Cancer Research CEO Award (2024). Sedda delivers invited lectures on topics like geospatial modelling of vector-borne diseases, mosquito surveillance, and cancer inequalities, influencing disease surveillance and public health strategies globally.