An OsloMet Centre of Research Excellence studying the societal aspects of pandemics
The video for the webinar “Risk perception, resilience, and future population health challenges due to COVID-19 in Southeast Alaska” with Taylor van Doren can be watched here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wJ9crhaDJRYC5r8AfQf1wOsDVPExteEQ/view?usp=share_link
Find more past webinars here:
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.
On Thursday, 19 January, at 1600 CET, Taylor P. van Doren, Sitka Sound Science Center, will present: “Risk perception, resilience, and future population health challenges due to COVID-19 in Southeast Alaska.”
It has been broadly observed that Indigenous communities worldwide suffer greater negative outcomes than non-Indigenous populations in the same region, but there has not been a lot of work to elevate the experiences of experiencing a pandemic from the perspective of Indigenous people themselves. Over the course of the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sitka Sound Science Center and its collaborators, the Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska and the RAND Corporation, collected 22 in-depth interviews with Alaska Native individuals from three island communities in Southeast Alaska to better understand how these people (and their towns) perceived the risks of the COVID-19 pandemic and how they leaned on culturally-grounded, community-centered behaviors to mitigate those risks and display considerable resilience in the face of the pandemic threat. Through additional original data sources gathered during the course of the pandemic, I will explore some of the quantitative data that supports the ethnographic research, and think about paths forward for community-centered pandemic research in rural Southeast Alaska to expand our knowledge of how people experience pandemics.
Contact jessicad@oslomet.no for a link.
We are pleased to share two new papers from PANSOC:
Social and demographic patterns of influenza vaccination coverage in Norway, influenza seasons 2014/15 to 2020/21 in Vaccine by Klüwer et al. (including Svenn-Erik Mamelund).
An Agent-Based Simulation Model of Epidemic Spread in a Residential School for Children with Disabilities in the Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research by Jessica Dimka.
We invite people who are interested in applying for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions fellowship with PANSOC to submit an initial application by 31st January, 2023. Please read about eligibility requirements and other details here: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellow 2023 – calls for expression of interest in Pandemic studies.
If you missed the webinar “Tracing the temporal and spatial course of the Spanish flu in Germany” with Tobias A. Jopp and Mark Spoerer from the University of Regensburg, catch up here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bMJyCdaY_TqPRUoVqKjhXCyZqvfnsVw1/view?usp=share_link
And other past webinars can be found here:
We are so pleased that the PANSOC webinar series continues to be successful and will return next semester! As usual, they will be held on Thursdays at 1600 CET (Oslo time). See below for dates, speakers and tentative titles, and contact jessicad@oslomet.no for the zoom link.
Speakers:
19 January: Taylor P. van Doren, Sitka Sound Science Center: “Risk perception, resilience, and future population health challenges due to COVID-19 in Southeast Alaska.”
2 February: Marama Muru-Lanning, Associate Professor and Director of the James Henare Māori Research Centre, University of Auckland: Title TBD
16 February: Mikaela Adams, University of Mississippi: “Influenza in Indian Country: Indigenous Sickness and Federal Responsibility during the 1918-1920 Pandemic.”
2 March: Luissa Vahedi, Washington University in St. Louis: COVID-19 and Violence against Women and Girls: Understanding Synergies, Long-term Consequences, and Lessons Learned for a More Equitable Future.”
16 March: Elisa Perego, University College London, “Long Covid: history, research, future challenges.”
23 March: Helga E. Bories-Sawala, University of Bremen: “The forgotten pandemic that created today’s America. A look at the history textbooks of Québec.”
30 March: Emma Tinker-Fortel, University of Missouri: Title TBD [Alaska Native mortality during the 1918 flu] Cancelled.
20 April: Courtney Heffernan, University of Alberta: “Tuberculosis in Indigenous communities in Canada – where have we come from, where are we going.”
27 April: Marcia Anderson, Vice-Dean, Indigenous Health, University of Manitoba: Title TBD.
Senterleder Mamelund har skrevet ny kronikk i Aftenposten og spør “Er vi så fornøyde med egen håndtering at vi sparer oss til fant og blir dårligere forberedt på neste pandemi?”. du kan lese kronikken her: Svenskene ruster opp pandemiforskningen. Hvorfor ikke Norge? (aftenposten.no)
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)
On 1 December at 1600 CET, Tobias A. Jopp and Mark Spoerer, University of Regensburg, will present “Tracing the temporal and spatial course of the Spanish flu in Germany.” Contact jessicad@oslomet.no for a link.
Abstract: Compared to its tremendous impact, the Spanish flu of 1918-20 is notoriously poorly studied. Based on newly collected mortality data specifically for the female population (not “contaminated” by battlefield casualties), we calculate monthly all-cause excess mortality for the first three waves of the pandemic for 42 German regions. We define a measure of the intensity of the Spanish flu’s incidence on the regional level and examine various impact factors in a regression framework which include distance from the Western Front (from where the flu came), population density, agricultural labour share, female labour force participation in the industrial sector, and density of the railway network.
This will be the last webinar this semester, but stay tuned for next semester’s calendar!
