Op ed by our visiting researcher Adlofo Garcia-Sastre: The next big pandemic? Avian flu takes a worrying step closer to humans

Adolfo Garcia-Sastre will give this years PANSOC guest lecture at the Norwegian Academy of Science & Letters on Wednesday November 6th titled “Influenza virus: 1918-2024” (read more here: PANSOC Guest lecture: – Centre for Research on Pandemics & Society (PANSOC). As part of Garcia-Sastre’s visit in Oslo and as a “teaser” for his talk, he as also written an opinon piece that you can read here: The next big pandemic? Avian flu takes a worrying step closer to humans

Sabbatical: Social science meets Biology

Centre leader Mamelund will stay 5 weeks at University of Brisbane 1st of September to October 4th. Purpose of the stay is to learn more from our partners doing wet-lab studies including mouse models and studies of century old extra-respiratory tissues taken from victims of historical influenza pandemics (Prof. Kirsty Short). Mamelund’s sabbatical is funded by a CAS Alumni-Fellowship. This fellowship is something you can apply to get as a former recipient of a CAS project as the one Mamelund lead from 2022-23 – se more here: Social Science Meets Biology | CAS (cas-nor.no)

PANSOC Guest lecture:

On November 6th, Dr. Adolfo García-Sastre (Mount Sinai, New York) will be giving a lecture at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters as a guest at Centre for Research on Pandemics
& Society (PANSOC) at OsloMet.

Would you like to participate? Please use this link to register: https://nettskjema.no/a/pansoc6nov

Serendipity & stamina in pandemic research

Our Centre leader, Prof. Svenn-Erik Mamelund, held a talk at the Letten Seminar of 2023 at the Academy of Science and Letters in Oslo on September 7. You can now watch the recordings of his talk here.

CAS-project presented in Madrid

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

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

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