Dr Sarchil is a Senior Research Fellow within the WorldPop research group (https://www.worldpop.org) in close collaboration with multiple organizations across the world, whose activities combine research and enterprise. He designs innovative research ideas using big datasets such as remote sensing to improve traditional methods in the application of national population sampling frames for low- and middle-income countries and in agriculture.
Lai is interested in understanding the transmission dynamics and intervention effectiveness for infectious diseases; Quantifying seasonal human mobility, social connectivity and migration using novel data sources, e.g. mobile phone data; Investigating spatiotemporal interactions between human behaviour, environmental change and infectious disease dynamics.
Multi-scale analysis using mixed methods of coastal flood risk management across policy domains, organisational stakeholders and households.
Risk attitudes and behaviours to the natural environment in relation to perceived, expected and experienced social and physical changes.
Mixed methods analysis of the form and evolution of stakeholder perceptions toward mining, expected impacts of mining, and experiences of consultation process.