New guest researcher: Nita Bharti

Nita Bharti, Associate Professor of Biology at Penn State University (Nita Bharti | The Huck Institutes (en-US) (psu.edu), will visit us from August 14th to September 8th.

Nita Bharti’s research focuses on the impact of human movement and behavior on the spread and prevention of infectious diseases. She is particularly interested in the social and environmental factors that increase vulnerability and health inequities around infectious processes. During her time at PANSOC, she will be working to understand the root causes of health inequities in respiratory viruses. She will also be exploring biases and gaps in surveillance data, which obscure health inequities and delay their detection.”

Ny kronikk: Henge med midt i arbeidslivet: Kurs, erfaringskort eller samarbeid?Ny kronikk:

Senterleder Mamelund spør i en ny kronikk “Hvorfor klore oss fast og frenetisk fornye oss gjennom kurs vi ikke utøver lærdommene fra fremfor å innrømme først som sist at det kan butte imot midt og sent i det akademiske arbeidslivet og at samarbeid mellom eldre og yngre krefter kanskje er å foretrekke?”

Kronikken kan leses her: Henge med midt i arbeidslivet: Kurs, erfaringskort eller samarbeid? (khrono.no)

Ny kronik: Engelsk til besvær?

Senterleder Mamelund hevder i ny kronikk i Khrono at “Ja, det finnes tildels store utfordringer når pensum, undervisning, publisering, formidling, konferanser og samarbeid alt skjer på engelsk. Inter­nasjonal­iseringen har imidlertid kommet for å bli og kan ikke reverseres”.

Du kan lese kronikken her: Engelsk til besvær? (khrono.no)

Ny kronikk: Sommerjobb som forsker: vinn-vinn for studenter og arbeidsgivere

I en ny kronikk hevder senterleder Mamelund at relevant sommerjobb som forsker stjeler ikke tid fra studier og kan bidra positivt til læring, nettverk og til suksess i utdanning og det akademiske arbeidsmarkedet. Arbeidsgivere i akademia tjener også på å ha studenter som forskere i sommerjobb. Det er med andre ord en vinn-vinn-situasjon.

Kronikken kan leses i sin helhet her: Sommerjobb som forsker: vinn-vinn for studenter og arbeidsgivere (khrono.no)

New paper out:

We are proud to have published yet another paper from our Social Science Meets Biology | CAS (cas-nor.no) project:

Read press release from OsloMet here: New research sheds light on mortality rate disparities in Alaska during the 1918 flu pandemic – OsloMet

Read full paper here: Death on the permafrost: Revisiting the 1918-20 influenza pandemic in Alaska using death certificates | American Journal of Epidemiology | Oxford Academic (oup.com)

Abstract: The 1918-20 influenza pandemic devastated Alaska’s Indigenous populations. We report on quantitative analyses of pandemic deaths due to pneumonia and influenza (P&I) using information from Alaska death certificates dating between 1915 and 1921 (n=7,147). Goals include a reassessment of pandemic death numbers, analysis of P&I deaths beyond 1919, estimates of excess mortality patterns overall and by age using intercensal population estimates based on Alaska’s demographic history, and comparisons between Alaska Native (AN) and non-AN residents. Results indicate that ANs experienced 83% of all P&I deaths and 87% of all-cause excess deaths during the pandemic. AN mortality was 8.1 times higher than non-AN mortality. Analyses also uncovered previously unknown mortality peaks in 1920. Both subpopulations showed characteristically high mortality of young adults, possibly due to imprinting with the 1889-90 pandemic virus, but their age-specific mortality patterns were different: non-AN mortality declined after age 25-29 and stayed relatively low for the elderly, while AN mortality increased after age 25-29, peaked at age 40-44, and remained high up to age 64. This suggests a relative lack of exposure to H1-type viruses pre-1889 among AN persons. In contrast, non-AN persons, often temporary residents, may have gained immunity before moving to Alaska.