Jameel Institute Launches Pandemic Preparedness Decision-Making Tool DAEDALUS Explore in Singapore

The Jameel Institute at Imperial College London announced the launch of DAEDALUS Explore, a new digital tool designed to support decision-making globally and strengthen prevention, planning, and preparedness for the next respiratory pandemic. The announcement was made at a launch event in Singapore, hosted by the Jameel Institute, in collaboration with Community Jameel; Griffin Catalyst; and Singapore’s Programme for Research in Epidemic Preparedness And Response (PREPARE).

As an open-access platform, DAEDALUS Explore currently supports seven hypothetical respiratory pathogens with pandemic potential, sharing characteristics with SARS, multiple COVID-19 strains, and several influenza viruses, across 67 countries. DAEDALUS Explore allows users, including policymakers, researchers and the public, to fully explore the impacts of different pandemic response strategies.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an estimated 15 million deaths, the most severe global economic crisis in over a century, and widespread disruption to education for millions of students. Decision-makers frequently had to implement public health, economic, and education policies in silos, balancing the trade-offs between protecting lives and livelihoods, which were often made with limited evidence to make informed decisions.

In response, the Jameel Institute-Kenneth C. Griffin Initiative for the Economics of Pandemic Preparedness (EPPI) developed DAEDALUS Explore, an online dashboard powered by DAEDALUS, an integrated economic-epidemiological model that combines data on economic activity and disease transmission to simulate health, economic and educational outcomes, including projected mortality and economic losses across different scenarios.

Launched in 2022 at the Philanthropy Asia Summit in Singapore, EPPI is a global collaboration between the Jameel Institute, supported by Community Jameel, an international organisation advancing science and learning for communities to thrive and co-founder of the Jameel Institute; Griffin Catalyst, the civic engagement initiative of Citadel founder and CEO Kenneth C. Griffin; PREPARE, a national programme under the Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA) and supported by the Singapore Ministry of Health through the National Medical Research Council Office, MOH Holdings Pte Ltd.

DAEDALUS Explore allows users with no modelling experience to explore and compare the impact of different pandemic response strategies and pandemic preparedness investments. In doing so, users can assess the potential impact of policy choices, such as managing international travel, reopening schools or scaling vaccine coverage, and evaluate the benefits of strengthened preparedness measures, including expanded vaccine manufacturing and healthcare capacity.

DAEDALUS is deployed to help governments, public health agencies, treasuries and multinational organizations, such as the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), ministries of health, the UK Health Security Agency and His Majesty’s Treasury, to evaluate the benefits and costs of vaccines and other biologic countermeasures against epidemic and pandemic threats, and to integrate the modelling of health and economic impacts of novel epidemic threats.

The launch event brought together senior public health and policy leaders, including Professor Kenneth Mak, Chair of PREPARE Steering Committee and CDA Board Chairman, and Lucy Hughes, Deputy Head of Mission at the British High Commission Singapore, and took place following a week-long workshop on policy-driven infectious diseases modelling hosted by PREPARE.

Professor Katharina Hauck, Deputy Director, Jameel Institute, said: “Tools like DAEDALUS Explore highlight why sustained, coordinated investment in preparedness matters. By linking health impacts with economic consequences, we can better support policymakers, funders and governments to invest where it makes the greatest difference. We're excited to host this event and allow users to understand the impacts of different investment choices.”

Uzma Sulaiman, Associate Director, Community Jameel, said: “Policy decisions can have far-reaching consequences for people and communities. Ensuring those decisions are rooted in robust evidence is essential to protecting lives and strengthening resilience, and is central to Community Jameel’s mission. We are pleased to support the launch of DAEDALUS Explore, which will enable more informed, data-driven approaches to pandemic preparedness, and promote more effective responses to public health risks.”

Julia Quinn, Director of Philanthropy, Griffin Catalyst, said: “The COVID-19 pandemic made clear that the costs of being underprepared are measured in both lives and livelihoods. DAEDALUS Explore equips policymakers with an integrated view of health and economic outcomes, enabling more informed, evidence-based policymaking when it matters most. Griffin Catalyst is proud to support this important work to strengthen global preparedness and resilience.”

Professor Kelvin Bryan Tan, Lead of the PREPARE Analytics, Disease and Behaviour Modelling Co-operative, and Principal Health Economist, Ministry of Health, Singapore, said: "Pandemic preparedness requires policy makers to weigh health outcomes against economic costs and livelihoods. Our collaboration with the Economics of Pandemic Preparedness Initiative (EPPI), which is supported by the Jameel Institute, has strengthened PREPARE’s capabilities in integrated epidemiological and economic modelling. This gives us a stronger evidence base to draw on when making future policy decisions.”

The unveiling of DAEDALUS Explore follows a technical preview held in November 2025 at the Jameel Institute’s annual symposium in London. During the symposium, researchers and policymakers were given a first look at the tool’s interactive dashboard, with feedback informing the team’s refinement of the tool’s scenario comparison features.

Future iterations of the tool will expand its set of priority pathogens, improve functionality, and increase data granularity for a wider range of countries, ensuring that policymakers can better understand the trade-offs involved in pandemic preparedness and response, and support decision-making to protect lives and livelihoods on a global scale.