How the Pandemic has Affected Mental Health in South-East Asia
Researchers in the WUN Global Research Group – SDGs in Asia are testing the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychological distress in different populations. This article originally appeared in
The UK National Health Service’s migration infrastructure in times of Brexit and COVID-19: Disjunctures, continuities and innovations
Photo by Rusty Watson on Unsplash This new paper, published in International Migration, is looking at ‘migration infrastructures’ in the UK National Health Service (NHS) following Brexit and during the
Disaster risk governance differs for COVID-19 vs. other crises
A new study examines how government response to disasters differs when the risks stem from a communicable disease. The study, which will appear in the journal Frontiers in Public Health,
Pandemic worsens inequalities at all levels
Researchers gathered last month in South Africa to consider how governments handled COVID-19 and how those choices led to deepening inequalities at all levels of society. “The broad topic we
Academics report ‘pandemia’ work conditions in recent surveys
Work conditions at universities have eroded during the pandemic, report academics in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia in a recent survey. One survey respondent used the term “pandemia,” which
Pandemic worsens inequality for migrant workers
The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified the challenges facing migrant workers in Australia, China, and the United Kingdom, say researchers. “In each of the three countries, COVID has worsened existing inequalities
Innovating the mathematics curriculum in times of change
Academics increasingly recognise the need to decolonise learning, not merely by bringing in marginalised materials or perspectives but by looking more fundamentally at educational practices. In this context, mathematics has
WUN Research Group Hosts Gender and (Im)Mobility Conference
The International Conference on Gender and (Im)mobility in Uncertain Times, held on March 11-12, was hosted online by The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). The conference was organised by
Researcher profile: Alberta professor leads team to study COVID-impact on women’s health care
Nursing professor Salima Meherali is leading international research looking for ways to address serious gaps the COVID-19 pandemic has created in health-care services for teen girls in low- and middle-income
Exploring a global vaccine certification program
The WUN research group ‘Norms, standards, and enforcement of the COVID-19 International Certificate of Vaccination’ is investigating how a global vaccination certification protocol might be developed and implemented. The project
Policies for pandemic response: how is evidence shaping action?
Researchers and policy experts from across the globe are collaborating to monitor and analyse the role of evidence in policy-making during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their data cover more than 100 countries, publicly accessible in the INGSA COVID-19 Evidence-to-Policy Tracker. Click through to read more about this WUN-supported initiative.
WUN research group to hold international symposium: 2020 A Year Without Public Space
A WUN Interdisciplinary Research Group is hosting an international symposium that reflects on the challenges and opportunities in thinking about what counts as public space during a global pandemic. WUN Executive Director Peter Lennie and Chair of Global Higher Education and Research Global Challenge Chair Jose Escamilla, join PI Hendrik Tieben to discuss ‘Campus as Public Space in the Age of Pandemics’. Click through for the program and registration information.
Setting a new standard for COVID-19 testing
With a potentially large proportion of COVID-19 cases showing no symptoms but still infectious, sensitive and accurate methods of testing for the virus are essential to reduce the dangers of transmission within communities. A newly established WUN research group is helping to refine testing methods of testing for SARS-Cov-2.
Click through for the full story.
Healthy cities and community needs: reconfiguring public spaces in the age of pandemics
Some of the most striking spaces of the twentieth century were conceived with the modernist ambition to make urban living healthier. In the twenty-first century, the COVID-19 crisis and the changing use of public space is encouraging a return to such thinking. These debates have crystallised discussions of how to make public spaces work best for local communities—questions that the WUN group on sustainable, healthy cities has been exploring in their research and practice for several years. Click through to discover more.
Webinar on restarting research during the pandemic: summary of insights from across five continents
The third instalment of WUN’s webinar series sharing experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic focused on research: how universities are managing priorities during campus closures and conditions on returning to work. Click through for a summary and recording of the event.
Global study on the pandemic’s impact on university staff and student wellbeing
An international consortium of WUN member universities along with WUN+ partners is examining the experiences of staff members and students at universities around the world, seeking to reveal the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on their mental health and wellbeing. Click through to learn about the project and to access their global survey for academic staff members.
Advancing telerobotics to make hospitals safer for health workers
With health care workers across the world taking on extreme risks during the COVID-19 pandemic, WUN is supporting a team of engineers and scientists to make treating patients safer for hospital staff. Read more here about the collaboration between members Zhejiang University and The University of Sheffield to develop a robot that will reduce the risk of infection on isolation wards.
WUN Webinar on ‘Restarting Research During the Pandemic’ to be held on 10 September – Register Now
On 10 September, we will explore what strategies have emerged from both an institutional and researcher perspective, and in response to challenges presented by different disciplines, to restarting research during the pandemic. We will discuss what we’ve learned from both success and failure, and how the diversity of experiences from around the network can help inform the way we restart of research in this new landscape. Click through for more information and to register.
Adaptive sociality: WUN-funded research explores student learning during COVID-19
It will take years to understand the impacts, positive and negative, of the mass experiment in distance learning catalysed by COVID-19. Supported by WUN, researchers have started to explore the experiences of university students, using cases across four continents to bring out comparative insights.
Maintaining student engagement and attention online: insights from the latest WUN webinar
In the second of the WUN webinars on challenges universities are facing during the COVID-19 pandemic, teaching and learning experts shared their experiences and techniques for helping students stay engaged with their courses during online delivery. Every university in the Network has been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and has had to adapt at pace. However, these common challenges have taken diverse forms and prompted distinctive solutions, with each university responding to a specific and locally grounded set of dynamics.
Click through for a summary of the discussion and to watch a video of the webinar in its entirety.
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. Awarded project teams are comprised of researchers from across 19 WUN member universities.
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 pandemic.”
Click through to learn more about the awarded projects.
Maintaining Student Engagement and Attention During Remote Course Delivery
WUN is hosting a series of webinars to help member universities benefit from each other’s experience in addressing some of the unprecedented pandemic-related challenges facing them. The next in our series, to be held on Thursday 23 July will discuss the challenge of maintaining student engagement and attention during remote course delivery.
Universities around the network have deployed various approaches, reflecting the different geographical and cultural contexts in which they work, to help keep students engaged as classes have shifted from the classroom to computer screen. In this webinar we will explore what successful strategies have emerged, what we’ve learned from failures, and how the diversity of experiences from around the network can help inform each of us as we continue to teach remotely.
Click through to learn more and register for the webinar.
Mental health and COVID-19: How WUN universities are supporting their students
Before COVID-19 there were transnational trends in student mental health as well as local particularities, as students face adjustment challenges, the demands of a competitive environment and external pressures like finances and employability.
As the pandemic and related containment measures take hold, click through to learn about how WUN universities are supporting students’ mental health.
Climate and shock: resilience in food production systems after COVID-19
As the coronavirus pandemic spreads, interruptions to public services and the imposition of social distancing have had major impacts on global agriculture and food supply. Professor Mark Eisler of the WUN supported Global Farm Platform discusses likely impacts of the crisis and the potential for rebuilding systems in more environmentally and economically sustainable way.
Click through to read more.
Student Mental Health During the Pandemic
WUN is hosting a series of webinars to help member universities benefit from each other’s experience in addressing some of the unprecedented pandemic-related challenges now facing them. Each webinar will last an hour, and will be organised around the sharing of insights about a specific challenge, followed by a broad Q&A.
The focus of our first webinar, to be held on Tuesday 5 May (click through for local times) will be student mental health. The webinar will begin with the sharing of both research and practice insights and experiences from members of the WUN Student Mental Health Working Group. This will be followed by a broader discussion with all attendees.
