Dr Erica Thompson is Associate Professor of Modelling for Decision Making at UCL’s Department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy, where she works on a programme of research funded by a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship. She is also a Fellow of the London Mathematical Laboratory, where she leads the research programme on Inference from Models, and a Visiting Senior Fellow at the LSE Data Science Institute. Her recent book, Escape From Model Land, takes an accessible look at the power and pitfalls of using models to inform decisions.