Mathematical modelling of epidemics can be traced back at least to Daniel Bernoulli's work on the smallpox virus, but it was not until the beginning of the last century that the first mathematical models were developed to help understand the spread and recurrence of infections. Since Kermack and McKendrick's groundbreaking work in the 1920s, which predicted a threshold in the density of susceptible individuals above which a major outbreak would occur, mathematical models have become the mainstay for helping practitioners assess the effectiveness of intervention strategies for prevention and control of epidemics. This session will bring together researchers working in the area of modelling and control of epidemics. Authors of selected papers from this session will be invited to prepare extended versions of their work to appear in a special issue of the Journal of Theoretical Biology.