An OsloMet Centre of Research Excellence studying the societal aspects of pandemics
If you missed our first Pandemics & Society Seminar of the 2023–24 academic year with Eevi Juuti of the RECIPE Project and the University of Oulo, you can catch up with the video here.
Recordings of all of our Seminars, beginning with the Fall 2021 series, are available here.
Amal Hassan is a master student studying International Social Welfare and Health Policy at OsloMet. Having obtained a bachelor’s degree in Pedagogical Childcare, her passion for improving the lives of children has been deeply ingrained in her. It was during her academic journey that she realized the significance of research in shaping policies and interventions to positively impact the lives of vulnerable individuals. This realization led her to pursue a master’s degree in international social Welfare and Health Policy, where she strives to develop a comprehensive understanding of both internal and global welfare systems and their impact. This academic pursuit has given her a broader understanding of social policies and interventions that can positively influence the lives of disadvantaged individuals and communities.
Her previous role at the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration, where she worked closely with adolescents aged 14-24, further honed her skills in advocating for and supporting young individuals in finding summer jobs and part-time employment. This experience not only exposed her to the challenges they face during their transition into adulthood but also instilled in her a deep sense of responsibility to contribute to evidence-based practices that can improve their long-term outcomes.
Her master’s thesis delves into the intricate web of socio-economic factors and their impact on the utilization of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Acknowledging the widespread consequences of the pandemic on various aspects of life, including social, economic, and health realms, she focuses on the effectiveness and compliance of NPIs such as social distancing, face masks, and hand hygiene, which have proven to be crucial in curbing the virus’s spread.
Guided by advisor S-E Mamelund and the expertise of the members of Centre for Research on Pandemics & Society (PANSOC), the research investigation aims to uncover the intricate relationship between socio-economic factors and the adoption of NPIs as a strategy against the pandemic.
We are pleased to welcome Eevi Juuti (University of Oulu) to present at the first meeting of the Fall 2023 Pandemics & Society Seminar Series, on Thursday, 24 August (1600 CEST). Information about our speaker and the presentation is below. You can sign up for email notifications about the seminar series here.
Abstract
The first part of the presentation will take an overview of the RECIPE project (Resistant Cities. Urban Planning as Means for Pandemic Prevention), which explores the relationship between built environments and pandemics. The second part will further discuss findings of the study so far.
About the RECIPE Project
The RECIPE project explores the role of urban living environments and the potential of urban planning in anticipation and prevention of infectious diseases and thus pandemic outbreaks. The project combines expertise from the fields of environmental research, environmental health, history, information studies, public health, and urban planning. The project engages citizens, SMEs, planners and health professionals, cross-sectional institutions, and decision makers. The project provides new scientific knowledge of the linkages between urban living environments and health, deepens societal understanding of the linkages, develops tools and methods for resistant urban planning, and encourages cross-sectorial discussions and integrative policies between urban planning and health sectors.
About the Speaker
Eevi Juuti is an architect, urban planner and a doctoral researcher at the University of Oulu specializing in the use of service design and design thinking in the context of built environment. She has also been working with topics concerning environmental health. Now she is working with RECIPE (Resistant Cities. Urban Planning as Means for Pandemic Prevention) project, which explores the relationship between built environments and pandemics.
Maria Bekker-Nielsen Dunbar (PANSOC) defended her PhD at University of Zurich last month. Everyone is back in the office after summer, and we wanted to start the new academic year with a celebration of this achievement!
Her thesis focused on the COVID-19 pandemic where she incorporated time-varying transmission weights in endemic-epidemic models of infectious disease surveillance data to evaluate control and mitigation strategies. She examined non-pharmaceutical interventions in 2020: the border closure between Italy and Switzerland in 2020 (1) and school closures in Zurich and Switzerland (2, 3). After the introduction of vaccines, she examined their impact as a pharmaceutical intervention (4). You can see her present the work on school closures at a Royal Statistical Society meeting here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdULeSrwomQ (starts around 28:00).
Here at PANSOC she continues to follow her interest in infectious disease modelling. We provide space and support for her to combine SHAPE and STEM disciplines in her work and look forward to seeing what modelling outputs this will lead to. You can also read more about Marias work at PANSOC here: Please meet our new researcher: Maria Bekker-Nielsen Dunbar – Centre for Research on Pandemics & Society (PANSOC) (oslomet.no)
You can read Dunbars PhD papers:
1) published in Spatial Statistics, available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spasta.2021.100552
2) published in Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A (Statistics in Society), available at https://doi.org/10.1111/rssa.12910
3) under review – pre-print at medRxiv, available at https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.03.21.23287519 4) under review – pre-print at medRxiv, available at https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.04.06.23288251
4) under review – pre-print at medRxiv, available at https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.04.06.23288251
The COVID-19 pandemic has become one of the most devastating worldwide crises. The pandemic has heavily affected the most vulnerable groups, including Indigenous communities. Our study aimed to evaluate the attitudes and behaviors relating to care and prevention of COVID-19 in a predominantly Indigenous university population in Mexico.
Our new study highlights significant vaccination disparities between the university population and their parents, although no substantial differences regarding attitudes and prevention of COVID-19 between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations were found. Findings suggest that efforts to expand prevention to students’ families and surrounding communities could lead to significant public health gains and should be further investigated. Furthermore, the university setting may improve access to prevention tools against COVID-19.
You can read the paper here:
We are pleased to release the schedule for our Fall 2023 seminar series. As in previous series, the seminar will be held via Zoom at 16.00 Central European Time on Thursdays.
To access the Zoom meetings, please join our mailing list here.
24 August
Urban Planning as a Means of Pandemic Prevention – A Look into the RECIPE Project
Eevi Juuti, University of Oulu
7 September – PANSOC MSCA Candidates
Navigating Bias: The Formation of Environmental Collective Perception and Prejudice during San Francisco Plague, 1900
Daijun Liu, Tsinghua University
Title TBA
Maria Dunbar, Oslo Metropolitan University
14 September
On the Move: Fine-Tuning Plague Dispersal in the North Caucasus and Altai-Sayan during Early Bronze Age Human Migrations (3300–2500 BCE)
Rebecca Main, University of Stirling
21 September
The Political Effects of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic in Weimar Germany
Erik Hornung, University of Cologne
12 October
The Cholera Pandemic of 1903–05 and the Influenza Pandemic of 1918 in the Philippines
Francis A. Gealogo, Ateneo de Manila University
19 October
The Grenfell Mission and the 1918 influenza pandemic in Labrador
Uddhav Khakurel, Oslo Metropolitan University
2 November
Geographical inequalities in health during the COVID-19 pandemic in England
Natalie Bennett, Newcastle University
**For our attendees outside of Europe, please note that Central European Summer Time ends on 29 October**
9 November
Age Patterns of Mortality During the Influenza Pandemics of the 20th Century
Lauren Steele, University of Queensland
30 November
Simulating COVID-19’s impact on mental health: An agent-based modelling approach
Kristina Thompson, Wageningen University
Nan Zou Bakkeli (Consumption Research Norway, SIFO, and affiliated with PANSOC) has just published a new research paper Predicting COVID-19 exposure risk perception using machine learning | SpringerLink in BMC Public Health, funded by PANSOC.
Abstract
Background: Self-perceived exposure risk determines the likelihood of COVID-19 preventive measure compliance to a large extent and is among the most important predictors of mental health problems. Therefore, there is a need to systematically identify important predictors of such risks. This study aims to provide insight into forecasting and understanding risk perceptions and help to adjust interventions that target various social groups in different pandemic phases.
Methods: This study was based on survey data collected from 5001 Norwegians in 2020 and 2021. Interpretable machine learning algorithms were used to predict perceived exposure risks. To detect the most important predictors, the models with best performance were chosen based on predictive errors and explained variances. Shapley
additive values were used to examine individual heterogeneities, interpret feature impact and check interactions between the key predictors.
Results: Gradient boosting machine exhibited the best model performance in this study (2020: RMSE=.93, MAE=.74,
RSQ=.22; 2021: RMSE=.99, MAE=.77, RSQ=.12). The most influential predictors of perceived exposure risk were compliance with interventions, work-life conflict, age and gender. In 2020, work and occupation played a dominant role in predicting perceived risks whereas, in 2021, living and behavioural factors were among the most important predictors. Findings show large individual heterogeneities in feature importance based on people’s sociodemographic backgrounds, work and living situations.
Conclusion: The findings provide insight into forecasting risk groups and contribute to the early detection of vulnerable
people during the pandemic. This is useful for policymakers and stakeholders in developing timely interventions
targeting different social groups. Future policies and interventions should be adapted to the needs of people
with various life situations
Uten internasjonalisering vil forskningen vår falle i kvalitet, våre postdoktorer ville ikke nå opp i kampen om stillinger internasjonalt og vi hadde ikke kunnet bygge opp Senter for forskning på pandemier & samfunn (PANSOC) ved universitetet OsloMet. Les mer om hvorfor i denne kronikken skrevet av senterleder Mamelund: Kvalitet i forskning skrus tilbake femti år (khrono.no)
Kan presset om å publisere bli mer håndterbart om vi feirer alle prosessene, er åpne om avslag og innfører holdningen «nei er utsatt ja»? Det hevder senterleder i denne nye kronikken i Khrono. Han bruker egen avslagshistorie for å underbygge sine argumenter. Les mer her: Nei er utsatt ja (khrono.no)
