Awards Announcement: Addressing Research Needs Triggered by the Pandemic

WUN is pleased to announce the results of its 2020 special initiative to address research needs triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Eight awards were made to support time-sensitive research projects whose value depends on being able to collect or analyse data obtained during the pandemic, and on which the collaboration of WUN partners confers real advantage. 

Peter Lennie, Executive Director of WUN, said “We had an overwhelming response to this special call, and received many strong and exciting proposals. The eight successful projects take special advantage of member universities’ cultural and geographical diversity in tackling urgent and important problems that have arisen from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

From among 49 applications, the eight awarded projects are comprised collectively of researchers from 19 WUN member universities. 

Research projects awarded are in alphabetical order (lead university in bold): 

Capability wellbeing and COVID-19: general population survey in the UK, Australia and The Netherlands

Research Team: The University of Bristol; Maastricht University; The University of Sydney

COVID-19 and migration systems in transition: how is the coronavirus crisis impacting upon the regulation of migration and what are the effects on employers and workers?

Research Team: The University of Leeds; Renmin University of China; The University of Western Australia

Development of a modified droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) assay for highly accurate and sensitive detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA for screening of infected individuals and environmental monitoring

Research Team: The Chinese University of Hong Kong; University of Cape Town; The University of Sydney

Isolation-Care Tele-Robotic System and its efficient utilization for the prevention of nosocomial infection of the COVID-19

Research Team: The University of Sheffield; The University of Sydney; Zhejiang University

MommyDaddyCovid stress study

Research Team: University of Alberta; University of Rochester; University of Southampton; University of Massachusetts Amherst

The impact of COVID-19 on the mental health and wellbeing of academics and students around the world

Research Team: University of Alberta; University of Bristol; University of Cape Town; University College Dublin; University of Massachusetts Amherst; The University of Western Australia

Understanding evidence pathways and government decision-making in response to Covid-19: a multi-country comparative analysis

Research Team: The University of Auckland; University of Bergen; The University of Sheffield; University of Southampton

University students in the time of Corona (COVID-19)

Research Team: The Chinese University of Hong Kong; University of Ghana; The University of Leeds; National Cheng Kung University; The University of Sheffield; University of Southampton; The University of Western Australia

Further information on WUN research programs can be found here.