She is a mathematical biologist and her research brings mathematical models to challenges in infectious disease ecology, epidemiology and evolution. She focuses on the complex links between host population behavior and pathogen ecology, characterized through network models, and studies how this interaction shapes population-level infectious disease dynamics and evolutionary potential. Bansal is also keen to use this approach to provide a principled and quantitative method to analyze and inform public and animal health policy, and works on systems ranging from influenza in humans to foot and mouth disease in cattle.