New CAS-project: Indigenous Peoples & Pandemics: Data Completeness & Vaccine Access Disparities

masv on 20. June 2025

In fierce competition with other research environments, we have just been offered a Short-Term residential fellowship at Centre for Advanced Study (CAS) at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters for the two months of November and December 2025.

Together with three fellows (Gerardo Chowell, Georgia State University, Elienai Joaquin-Damas, Oslo Metropolitan University and Hampton Gaddy, London School of Economics), Centre leader Svenn-Erik Mamelund will use the CAS residency to finalize two publications stemming from our previous participation in the 2022–2023 CAS project Social Science Meets Biology.

The two new papers will analyze “Differential timing of COVID-19 vaccine rollouts across Mexican municipalities” and “Completeness of mortality data at the time of the 1918-20 influenza pandemic in Alaska“.

Our time at CAS will also be used to host a small, policy-relevant workshop to present these findings and celebrate the 5-year anniversary of the Centre for Research on Pandemics & Society (PANSOC).

Affiliated Projects

masv on 17. February 2023

Members of PANSOC are affiliated with a number of other projects including:

Social Science Meets Biology: Indigenous People and Severe Influenza Outcomes at the Centre for Advanced Study at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (2022-2023)

Work and Wellbeing in History – Young CAS Fellow, Centre for Advanced Study at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (2023-2024)

MERIT – MothER Income InequaliTy – EEA Grants awarded to Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto (2022-2024)

Disability and Disease During the 1918 Influenza Pandemic – Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, European Union Horizon 2020 (2019-2021)

CAS-project presented in Madrid

masv on 19. January 2023

On January 12, Centre-leader at PANSOC, Svenn-Erik Mamelund, presented our CAS-project, “Social Science Meets Biology: Indigenous Peoples and Severe Influenza Outcomes” in the “Demography Today” series arranged by the Spanish National Research Council and the BBVA Foundation in Madrid. You can watch the recordings here.

The hunt for the virus causing the 1918 influenza pandemic

masv on 29. November 2022

The hunt for the virus causing the 1918 influenza pandemic and how it has informed science and preparedness for future pandemics. Jeffery Taubenberger (NIAID) and John Oxford (QMUL) spoke at The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters as guests of our CAS project November 8th. You can watch a recording of their talks here The hunt for the virus causing the 1918 influenza pandemic – FilMet (oslomet.no) and also a pod-cast they did here: Part I: Reflections on a pandemic – Viten og snakkis (oslomet.no). Lisa Sattenspiel Tanner and Svenn-Erik Mamelund also did a follow-up podcast Part 2: Reflections on a pandemic – Viten og snakkis (oslomet.no)

Call for Papers: Indigenous Peoples & Pandemics conference

masv on 23. August 2022

Pandemics are a pressing global threat to human life and security, and they have especially serious impacts on Indigenous people throughout the world.

The Centre for Advanced Study (CAS) funded project Social Science Meets Biology: Indigenous People and Severe Influenza Outcomes, to be held from August 2022 to June 2023, will bring together interdisciplinary researchers from PANSOC and other international institutions to foster conversations that integrate medical, epidemiological and social perspectives in order to increase understanding of Indigenous experiences when faced with pandemic diseases and better appreciate the diversity of pandemic consequences faced by Indigenous vs. non-Indigenous peoples.

The project will also seek to identify policies to improve prevention and control of pandemics with a particular focus on lessoning their impacts of Indigenous peoples and recommending future research priorities in this area.

As part of this project, a conference will be held in Oslo 15-16 May 2023. Read the call for papers here: Indigenous Peoples & Pandemics conference – CAS

PANSOC at Centre for Advanced Study

masv on 18. August 2022

Over the 2022-23 academic year, head of PANSOC, Svenn-Erik Mamelund, will lead a group at the Centre for Advanced Study at the Norwegian Academy for Science and Letters in Oslo.

Photo: On the left starting in front, Svenn-Erik Mamelund, Jessica Dimka, Heather Battles and Lisa Sattenspiel. On the right starting in front, Eleniai Damas, Gerardo Chowel and Benjamin Schneider.

In the Social Science Meets Biology: Indigenous People and Severe Influenza Outcomes – CAS project, 15 international researchers with a background in epidemiology, genetics, social sciences and history will study why Indigenous peoples are vulnerable to serious disease during pandemics. PANSOC is the first OsloMet group awarded a research stay at CAS. The selection of CAS research groups follows an extensive review process by international experts, which shows the outstanding international quality of PANSOC’s research.

New paper out: Indigenous peoples & Pandemics

masv on 12. May 2022

Photo: Orphans after the “Spanish” flu pandemic in Nushagak, Alaska, summer of 1919. Source: Alaska Historical Library

In this new paper in Scandinavian Journal of Public health, titled Indigenous peoples and pandemics – Daniele E. Alves, Svenn-Erik Mamelund, Jessica Dimka, Lone Simonsen, Mathias Mølbak, Søren Ørskov, Lisa Sattenspiel, Lianne Tripp, Andrew Noymer, Gerardo Chowell-Puente, Sushma Dahal, Taylor P. Van Doren, Amanda Wissler, Courtney Heffernan, Kirsty Renfree Short, Heather Battles, Michael G. Baker, 2022 (sagepub.com), we have done a review of the literature on Indigenous vs. non-Indigenous disparities in mortality during the 1918 and 2009 influenza pandemics as well as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The paper concludes that there there were large disparities in mortality in 1918 and in 2009. However, there are simply not enough high quality data, which makes it difficult to investigate whether Indigenous peoples have a larger COVID-19 mortality risk than non-Indigenous persons.

This paper is the first of several collaborative papers that will come out of the 2022-2023 CAS-project titled Social Science Meets Biology: Indigenous People and Severe Influenza Outcomes – CAS and led by PANSOC leader Mamelund

Verdensledende gjesteforelesere til CAS og Vitenskapsakademiet 8 november 2022

masv on 29. January 2022

Fra 15 august 2022 til 30 Juni 2023 skal senterleder Mamelund lede en forskergruppe på Centre for Advanced Study – CAS. I forbindelse med dette prosjektet har vi vært så heldige å få de verdensledende toppforskerne Jeffrey Tauenberger og John Oxford til å gi gjesteforelesninger om jakten på viruset som forårsaket spanskesyken på Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi 8 november 2022. I vedlagte lenke kan dere 1) lese mer om de to foredragsholderne og deres foredrag og 2) og allerede nå melde dere på om dere vil delta på arrangementet.

The hunt for the virus causing the 1918 influenza pandemic and how it has informed science and preparedness for future pandemics (deltager.no)