14 September 2023 Seminar: Plague and Bronze Age Migrations

masv on 11. September 2023

For the third Pandemics & Society Seminar of our Fall 2023 series, we are pleased to welcome Rebecca Main (University of Stirling). The seminar will be held on Thursday, 14 September at the normal time (1600 CEST). More information about our speaker and the presentation is below. You can sign up for email notifications about the seminar series, including the Zoom details, here.

Abstract

As one of the oldest and deadliest diseases encountered by humans, plague, caused by Yersinia pestis bacteria, provides an excellent opportunity to advance our understanding of how infectious diseases emerge, persevere, and infect humans for centuries or millennia. The talk introduces the audience to the research project and presents a case study of plague dispersal in two distantly separated regions of the Eurasian steppe – the North Caucasus and Altai-Sayan – during the period of Early Bronze Age human migrations.

About the Speaker

Alongside her positions as Research Assistant and Programme Tutor, Rebecca Main is a doctoral researcher at the University of Stirling. Her research historicises non-textual, palaeoscientific data to determine the natural forces (climate and ecological change) and human activities (mobility and migration, trade, economy, and conflict) responsible for the emergence and spread of Yersinia pestis (plague) in Neolithic and Bronze Age Eurasia. Her research interests are in all-things ancient, delving into evolutionary genetics as well as prehistoric culture, disease, demography, diet, migration, and environmental change.

7 September 2023 Seminar: Historical endemic diseases and syndemic demographic effects

masv on 4. September 2023

For the second Pandemics & Society Seminar of our Fall 2023 series, our own Maria Bekker-Nielsen Dunbar (PANSOC) will discuss her MSCA Project Proposal on historical endemic diseases. The seminar will be held on Thursday, 7 September at the normal time (1600 CEST). More information about our speaker and the presentation is below. You can sign up for email notifications about the seminar series, including the Zoom details, here.

Abstract

Tuberculosis is a disease which has long affected humans and can be fatal if not treated. While incidence is low in Norway currently, some cases are found annually, and latent tuberculosis and anti-microbial resistant tuberculosis remain a public health concern today. Historical records gathered during the nineteenth century have not been examined and may provide insights into the use of isolation as a treatment option. I will construct models to analyse data from these records following lines of inquiry developed using the syndemics framework.

About the Speaker

Maria Bekker-Nielsen Dunbar is an an early career researcher in infectious disease modelling at the Centre for Research on Pandemics & Society at OsloMet. She has experience of applications of modelling approaches to problems in environmental epidemiology and infectious disease epidemiology. Her current research interest is endemic diseases and how different population groups are disproportionately at risk of and affected by them.

Evi Juuti has been visiting us in August

masv on 29. August 2023

Evi Juuti has been visiting PANSOC for two weeks in August.

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.

Evi hold a talk at our webinar while here. You can read more about Evi and her projects here: First Fall 2023 Webinar: Built Environments and Pandemics – Centre for Research on Pandemics & Society (PANSOC) (oslomet.no) and also watch the recordings of her webinar talk here: Webinar Recording: Built Environments and Pandemics – Centre for Research on Pandemics & Society (PANSOC) (oslomet.no)

Meet Our New Master’s Student!

masv on 22. August 2023

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.

First Fall 2023 Webinar: Built Environments and Pandemics

masv on 21. August 2023

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.

Congratulations to our postdoctoral researcher on a successful PhD defence!

masv on 15. August 2023

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