COVINFORM Newsletter #4 | February 2022 |
|
|
Welcome to our fourth newsletter!COVINFORM - COronavirus Vulnerabilities and INFOrmation dynamics Research and Modelling - is an EU-funded project aiming to understand the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on society in general and vulnerable groups in particular. The project assesses COVID-19 responses in a multilevel governance framework; and will develop an online portal and toolkit for stakeholders in the governmental, public health, and civil society/community domains. Since our last newsletter in October 2021, we have published two more bi-monthly reports, launched our first podcast, several blog articles, and a call for papers. Partners have also attended workshops and conferences. |
|
|
Bi-monthly report #6: The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers. |
|
|
In Italy, 144,812 cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in healthcare workers (HCWs), out of which 1,444 were reported in October 2022. The World Health Organization (WHO) suggested that worldwide 115,000 HCWs died from COVID-19 between January 2020 and May 2021. The unpreparedness of health systems worldwide has left HCWs exposed to a higher risk of contagion than the general population, enclosing them into a high vulnerability group. This bi-monthly report summarizes the impact of COVID-19 on HCWs. The report is available for download here. |
Bi-monthly report #7: Viruses of the mind. Coping and joking about COVID-19 |
This report presents outcomes of an explorative analysis of memes conducted in the context of the COVIFORM project. Our aim was to gain an understanding of how humour was used to cope with the events of the pandemic and communicate with others, to share specific narratives, and comment on experiences during the pandemic. The report is available for download here. |
|
|
COVINFORM podcast: Beyond Numbers: COVID-19 and SocietyIn January 2022, COVINFORM has launched its podcast to examine inequalities and impacts that measures had on different social groups. The first episode asks about the impact on vulnerable groups and how we can use the theory of intersectionality to understand the impact of different pandemic measures. Focusing on situating the pandemic in the context of societal inequalities, Viktoria Adler and Jil Molenaar discuss the theory on intersectionality, vulnerability, and examples of how the pandemic affected some groups of people more than others. The podcast is available here, as well as on Spotify and iTunes. |
|
|
Kick-off of the COVINFORM fieldwork & work package leader in RomeCOVINFORM has kicked off its multi-national empirical research in ten target countries, starting with expert interviews with governmental and public health actors. This will be followed by interviews with community actors, communication experts, and residents. This is complemented by case studies focusing on specific vulnerable groups. To plan the complex fieldwork plan, work package leaders have met in a productive meeting in Rome, organised by the University of Rome La Sapienza. |
|
|
The latest news from our blog |
|
|
| “Can we at least freak out?” Memes and COVID-19 As we have lived in a turmoil of surprising events, people have coped with changes and unprecedented situations in various ways. One of them was memes, a source of escapist satire. |
|
|
Antisemitic narratives find ground in COVID-19 anti-vax conspiracy theories In a report by the Media Diversity Institute, we observed that antisemitic narratives have found fertile ground within anti-vax conspiracy theories throughout Europe. |
| |
|
| Generation COVID As every year, Human Rights Day takes place on 10 December. This year, 2021, it draws attention to the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on equal opportunities for young people. |
|
|
Pandemic mitigation for everyone: Ethnic differences in Wales It is often repeated that in this pandemic storm we have to face the same rough sea but are on different boats. If this is true, it means that people also experience the pandemic & government-instated regulations differently. |
| |
|
Presentations- Crisis Communications Network Europe. Gray Rhino, Black Swan or Elephant in the Room: The Role of Crisis Communications in disruptive events. Presentation of 'Analysing Communication about COVID-19 in the European Union. Results of the Europe wide analysis project COVINFORM' | 18.10.2021
- SRA 2021: Risk Science and the Policy Interface. Presentation of 'Analysis of COVID-19 crisis communication in 15 countries' within the Symposium 'Learning from the COVID-19 pandemic to prepare for future crises: From theoretical approaches to evidence-based crisis management and communication' | 06.12.2021-09.12.2021
- Crisis and sustainability post-COVID-19. Strengthen your knowledge in studies on the transformations that COVID19 (and the crisis in general) is bringing and will bring to the socio-economic system. Course | 21-25 February 2022
- Lisbon Forum 2021: Intercultural dialogue in the infodemic era | 09.12-10.12.2021
|
|
|
Call for Papers- X AISU Congress "ADAPTIVE CITIES THROUGH THE POSTPANDEMIC LENS Ripensare tempi e sfide della città flessibile nella storia urbana / Times and Challenges in Urban History" - open until 31 March 2022. Session organised by COVINFORM partners focusing on the pandemic's impact on vulnerable groups. Read more here.
|
Upcoming events- American Association of Geographers – Annual Meeting 2022, New York (online). Session "Interlocking Oppressions and COVID: Organized by Patricia J. Lopez (Dartmouth College), Abigail H. Neely (Dartmouth College), and Matt Sparke (University of California, Santa Cruz). Presentation "Reproductions of vulnerability: The inequitable realities of the Welsh policy and pandemic response procedures" by Diana Beljaars, Sergei Shubin, and Louise Condon (Swansea University)
- 6th Research to policy meeting: Informing the post-acute phase and "new normal" | 7 March 2022
|
|
|
Update from the PREPARE cluster: PREparedness and resPonse for emergency situAtions in euRopEThe PREPARE cluster brings together 12 projects recently funded by the European Commission working on different aspects of crisis management: CO-VERSATILE, COVID-X, COVINFORM, EUR3KA, LINKS, NO-FEAR, PANDEM-2, PERISCOPE, PHIRI, RiskPACC, STAMINA and STRATEGY. While each project has distinct aims and challenges, they all work towards a common goal. The latest news from the cluster: - For the first time, the PREPARE Cluster publicly discussed the topic of crisis preparedness at the PHIRI Scientific Stakeholders’ Dialogues that took place on Friday 18th of February.
- Visit now the new page on the Health Information Portal dedicated to the Rapid Exchange Forum, organised bi-weekly by PHIRI.
- The recording of the PHIRI event “Digital and Innovative Tools: The Challenges of Contact Tracing in Public Health” that took place on Tuesday 15th of February is now available on YouTube.
|
|
|
News from our sister projects- RESISTIRÉ’S brunch series: Webinar #1 Improving national responses to gender-based violence | 1 March 2022, 11:30 – 13:00 CET. Register now.
- RESISTIRÉ recommendations to reduce the gendered impact of Covid-19 policies: 8 Factsheets
- RESPOND policy brief: Supporting Mental Health of Vulnerable Groups during COVID-19: Early Findings and Recommendations from the RESPOND Project. Available online.
- PERISCOPE COVID Atlas. Available online, the COVID Atlas is a tool that provides visual analytics about several aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on its impact on health, economics and society.
- SHARE-COVID's latest publications, e.g. on the pandemic's impact on older people, can be found online.
|
What's next?- Case study meeting in Vienna | 2-3 March 2022. COVINFORM partners meet in Vienna to discuss the progress of the project's case study on the pandemic's impact on specific vulnerable groups.
- Our next podcast episode on "Communication & Public Health Campaigns" will be out soon!
|
|
|
| Get in touch! Follow us and get in touch to learn more about our activities and outcomes. We are looking forward to your message! |
|
|
Copyright © 2022 COVINFORM, all rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you've shown an interest in the COVINFORM project, or opted in at our website to receive our COVINFORM newsletter. If you wish to unsubscribe, click here. |
|
|
| This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 101016247. |
|
|
| |