Centre for Research on Pandemics & Society (PANSOC)
An OsloMet Centre of Research Excellence studying the societal aspects of pandemics
Senterelder Mamelund har skrevet inviterte spalter for Morgenbladet det siste halvåret. Dette er spalte 6 av 6 om mulige konsekvenser av pandemier, denne gang undrer Mamelund og professor Jo Thori Lind på UiO om pandemien kan påvirke valgdeltakelse og hvem som vinner valget.
Kan covid-19 påvirke stortingsvalget til høsten? – Morgenbladet
Last week, MSCA fellow Jessica Dimka presented her project on disability as a risk factor during the 1918 pandemic. Watch the video here:
Jessica noted several sources that helped determine disease values used in her simulation model (and similar models for Newfoundland communities – see work by her PhD supervisor, Lisa Sattenspiel, and their colleagues). These sources include:
“‘An Avalanche of Unexpected Sickness’: Institutions and Disease in 1918 and Today.” Chelsea Chamberlain. June 23, 2020. Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. https://www.shgape.org/an-avalanche-of-unexpected-sickness/
Ferguson, N. M., Fraser, C., Donnelly, C. A., Ghani, A. C., & Anderson, R. M. (2004). Public health risk from the avian H5N1 influenza epidemic. Science, 304(5673), 968–969. https:// doi.org/10.1126/science.1096898
Mills, C. E., Robins, J. M., & Lipsitch, M. (2004). Transmissibility of 1918 pandemic influenza. Nature, 432, 904–906. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03063
You can get the answer by listening to the latest Viten & Snakkis podcast with Lara Steinmetz and Carla Hughes. Writing a Master’s thesis on pandemics, during a pandemic | (oslomet.no)
The 10th and last webinar this spring is held by associate professor at University of Oxford, Erica Charters on June 10 at 1600-1700 (CET).
Please send e-mail to masv@oslomet.no to get the zoom-link
See Charters personal page here: Dr Erica Charters | Faculty of History (ox.ac.uk)
Blurb: As COVID-19 drags on and vaccines seem to promise widespread immunity, the world’s attention has turned to predicting how the present pandemic will end. Yet how do societies know when an epidemic has ended and normal life can resume? What criteria and markers indicate an epidemic’s end? Who has the insight, authority, and credibility to decipher these signs? Although researchers have paid a great deal of attention to the origins of epidemics and to the climactic high points of outbreaks, they have paid little attention to how epidemics actually end. This talk will redirect attention to the ending of epidemics, making use of historical and other disciplinary research to provide a tentative framework for outlining how epidemics end, as part of the interdisciplinary project ‘How Epidemics End’, based at the University of Oxford.
In this key-note titled “Social Disparities & Pandemics, Mamelund will 1) present results showing that social inequality was a forgotten factor in pandemic preparedness before the COVID-19 pandemic, and speculate why this was the case; 2) present results on the social inequalities in COVID-19 pandemic disease burden and call for more research on the distal and proximal causes of these disparities; and 3) discuss how we can take both medical and social vulnerability into account in pandemic preparedness to be better prepared for the next pandemic.
To register for the conference, see here: Annual Posthumus Conference 2021 ‘Epidemics and Social Inequality’, 20-21 May – N.W. Posthumus Institute (ru.nl)
Jessica Dimka talked with OsloMet’s podcast Viten og snakkis about her MSCA project and what it has been like to research a pandemic during a pandemic. Take a listen here: https://vitenogsnakkis.oslomet.no/2021/05/14/researching-a-pandemic-during-a-pandemic/
Nan Zou Bakkeli is the author of this new paper published in SSM Population Health
COVID-19 has shown that people with disabilities are at increased risk of severe illness and death during pandemics. Interacting biological and social factors likely contribute to these differences. For example, risks are especially high for those living in institutions.
Yet, few researchers have studied the experiences and outcomes of disabled people during past pandemics, including the 1918 influenza pandemic. As part of the webinar series of the Centre for Research on Pandemics & Society at Oslo Metropolitan University, Jessica Dimka, Ph.D., will present the main results of her Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship in her talk, “Disability, Institutionalization, and the 1918 Flu Pandemic: From Historical Records to Simulation Models.”
Key points of the talk include:
The talk will conclude with a discussion of the relevance of this work for COVID-19 and future pandemics, including areas of future research, policy implications, and the disabling effects of pandemics.
For a Zoom link, please contact jessicad@oslomet.no or masv@oslomet.no
The talk will be in English, and International Sign interpretation is arranged. For general questions about the webinar including accessibility concerns, please contact jessicad@oslomet.no or ninha@oslomet.no
On May 6, doctoral fellow Sushma Dahal presented on her work with Dr. Gerardo Chowell. Watch “Excess mortality patterns during influenza pandemics” here:
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Senterlederen har skrevet ny spalte i Morgenbladet og spør Blir det en korona-babyboom? – Morgenbladet. Hvordan COVID-19 kan ha påvirket frukbarhet er dessuten et spørsmål som FN også er opptatt av. Mamelund er invitert til et webinar10-11 mai (United Nations Population Division Expert Group Meeting on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Fertility) og vil gi et innlegg om hvordan Spanskesyken påvirket fruktbarheten i årene 1918-1920.
