What if playing a game on your phone could help scientists understand how diseases spread—and strengthen future pandemic preparedness at VinUniversity?

Introducing

A VinUniversity-led campus epidemic simulation study

A research app deployed at VinUniversity as part of the Epidemica platform, developed by the Colubri Lab at UMass Chan Medical School.

From April 6–19, 2026 (the date is not confirmed yet), students, staff, and faculty at VinUniversity are invited to participate in a two-week campus epidemic simulation using the Epigames app. This study explores how health attitudes influence real-time decision-making during simulated infectious disease outbreaks.

Learn more about Epidemica

You'll make decisions, interact with others, and see the spread of a digital "pathogen" play out in real time across the VinUni campus network.

But don't worry - there is no real virus involved. This is a controlled scientific simulation designed to study behavioral responses in outbreak scenarios.

How it works

Download Epigames, enter the join code and join a simulated outbreak together with other participants

Make decisions about who to interact with, how to protect yourself, and how to earn points.

Watch your actions shape the outcome.

Designed for your privacy

Epigames is built with privacy and security at its core:

No personal or identifiable information is collected.
Your phone communicates only with nearby devices via anonymous Bluetooth signals.
All data is securely stored using encrypted, cloud-based infrastructure.

You are always in control and can leave the simulated outbreak at any time.

Upcoming Event

Epidemica: VinUni 2026 Epigame

This will be a two-week campus-wide epidemic simulation conducted at VinUniversity. This study is conducted under VinUniversity research oversight. Participants (students, staff, and faculty) will receive information about a fictional outbreak unfolding around them through the Epigames app. Each day, they will decide whether to adopt protective measures, such as voluntary quarantine, and earn points based on their decisions.

The anonymised data generated during this simulation will contribute to research on:

Infectious disease transmission through contact networks
Behavioural decision-making under risk
The impact of opportunity cost on preventive actions

Learn more about the VinUni Epigame

Why participate?

Participants who complete the full study may receive:

Class credit/token (if approved by instructors)
Certificate of participation
Raffle entry for gift cards

Questions/Concerns? For questions about the VinUni 2026 simulation, please feel free to contact:

VinUni Study Team:
College of Health Sciences, VinUniversity Dr Woh Pei Yee (peiyee.w@vinuni.edu.vn)

Scientific collaboration:
UMass Chan Medical School Dr. Andrés Colubri (andres.colubri@umassmed.edu)