Intensive stay in Finland as part of a NordIAS Visiting fellowship

masv on 4. May 2026

As part of the New CAS project: “Scarred people” – Centre for Research on Pandemics & Society (PANSOC), Centre leader Mamelund has presented his research in workshops in Tampere (17 April) and in Helsinki (21 April). He also participated in day-to-day academic and social activities in both cities. As the study context of the “Scarred people”-project was the city of Tampere, he also visited several museums and had several walks to understand the pulse and the social and economic history of the city.

Program workshop in Tampere:

“The Scarring Effects of Wars, Crises and Diseases at 20th century–Lifespan, Health and Intergenerationality“:

Jarmo Peltola and Sakari Saaritsa, Diagnoses, Scarring, selection, interaction: The longevity effects of a 1916 Typhoid Epidemic in a Finnish Industrial City

Jarmo Peltola, Leena Enbom and Sakari Saaritsa, Scarred City. Exploring Lifespan and Mortality Patterns among Former Civil War, Participants in Tampere

Virva Liski, Ilari Taskinen & Ville Kivimäki, Health at war: social and regional patterns of morbidity among Finnish soldiers in the Second World War

Emma Raitoharju, Transgenerational Epigenetic Effects of War Stress:  Follow-up Study on Finnish Soldiers of World War II and Their Descendants

Svenn-Erik Mamelund, Indigenous Peoples & Pandemics

17.4.2026, 12.00–16.30

Tampere University Pinni B4113

The event was organized by: Tampere Institute for Advanced Study, Tampere University, Economic and Social History, University of Helsinki, HEX Centre for the History of Experience, Tampere University.

Program workshop at the University of Helsinki:

“SCAR/RED: The impact of epidemics and civil conflict on population health, past and present“

Time: April 21st, 2026

Venue: TBA, University of Helsinki & Zoom

All times Eastern European Summer Time (Helsinki)

10.00-12.00

Svenn-Erik Mamelund (OsloMet Centre for Research on Pandemics and Society (PANSOC)): Social Inequalities & Pandemics

Jarmo Peltola & Sakari Saaritsa (Economic and Social History, University of Helsinki):  Scarring, Selection, Interaction: The Longevity Effects of a 1916 Typhoid Epidemic in a Finnish Industrial City

Serena Vigezzi (University of Southern Denmark, Stockholm University & Economic and Social History, University of Helsinki): Lifespan Variation in the Wake of COVID-19

Tuuli Hurme (Economic and Social History, University of Helsinki): Short-Term Effects of the 1917-1919 Turmoil on Child Health in Helsinki, Finland

12-13 Lunch

13.00-14.30

Jarmo Peltola & Sakari Saaritsa (Economic and Social History, University of Helsinki):  Selection, distribution and change in birth weights during the Great Depression of the 1930s in an urban near-complete count data

Moritz Oberndorfer et al. (MaxHel, University of Helsinki): Social Inequalities in Birthweight in Times of Crisis: A Population-Wide Analysis of Social Inequalities in Birthweight Before and During COVID-19 Pandemic Using Individual-Level Data from 14 Countries

Jarmo Peltola, Leena Enbom & Sakari Saaritsa (Economic and Social History, University of Helsinki): Scarred City: Exploring Lifespan and Mortality Patterns among Former Civil War Participants in Tampere, Finland

14.30-15.00 coffee

15.00-1800 online meeting: Cooperation going forward

CFP: “Aftermath of a Pandemic: Changes in Mortality and Health”

masv on 4. May 2026

PANSOC will jointly organize this workshop with colleagues in Denmak and Switzerland. It will take place at Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway, 28-29 January 2027. Deadline for submission is 11 September 2026.

Read more here: Epidemics and Contagious Diseases: The Legacy of the Past | International Union for the Scientific Study of Population

Or download the CFP here: Call_for_paper_aftermath_pandemic_final.pdf

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

masv on 4. November 2024

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

masv on 30. August 2024

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:

masv on 19. August 2024

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

masv on 18. September 2023

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.