Welcome to our fifth 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 February 2022, we have published two more bi-monthly reports, published three more episodes of our podcast, several blog articles, a project video, and a journal article. Partners have also presented outcomes at workshops and conferences.
Bi-monthly report #8: After two years of pandemic – part 1
COVINFORM partners talk about the experiences, challenges and lessons learned. Monika Stickler from the Austrian Red Cross and Paloma Miravet from the Spanish Samur talk about their work, the institution they work for, and their experience during the pandemic, focusing on the challenges and consequences of the pandemic and also on the lessons learned during the past two years.
Watch the video here.
Bi-monthly report #9: After two years of pandemic – part 2
COVINFORM partners talk about the experiences, challenges and lessons learned. Andreea Furtuna from the Romanian Red Cross, Itamar Laist from the Israeli Magen David Adom, and Massimo Fantoni from the Italian Gemelli University Hospital talk about their work, the institution they work for, and their experience during the pandemic, focusing on the challenges and consequences of the pandemic and also on the lessons learned during the past two years.
Watch the video here.
COVINFORM has launched an Instagram channel – follow us to find out our latest creative outputs!
COVINFORM podcast: Beyond Numbers: COVID-19 and Society
In January 2022, COVINFORM launched its podcast to examine inequalities and impacts that measures had on different social groups.
Since then, we have published four episodes:
- E01 – 1: Intersectionality & Vulnerability
- E02 – 2: Communication & Public Health Campaigns
- E03 – 3: Data, Interpretation & Misinformation
- E04 – 4: Inequality – Gender, Mental Health & Migration
The podcast is available here, as well as on Spotify and iTunes.
Project video: „Intersectionality and the COVID-19 pandemic”
COVINFORM follows an intersectional approach. But what is intersectionality and why is it important? This video sheds light on intersectionality theory and why this theorey is useful to understand the unequal impacts of the pandemic on different groups in society.
Consortium meeting in Lisbon
COVINFORM has held its first full consortium meeting since the project started. The consortium met in Lisbon, Portugal, for a three-day meeting. Hosted by Factor Social, the partners discussed insights and further planned the research activities.
The latest news from our blog
People’s cultural norms and values are decisive in shaping whether facemasks were perceived as a legitimate protective measure against COVID-19.
Italy in lockdown: The ultra-secular battle of laughing to avoid crying
The forced isolation to which the whole world had been subjected in March 2020 has triggered a reaction to social change caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. This response diversified according to the national and cultural context.
Nobody told us what to expect (except health professionals and our own simulations)
The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board calculated that preparing for a pandemic would have cost the world 5 dollars per person, compared to the USD 16 trillion the IMF estimates the world had spent on pandemic responses by the end of 2021.
New publication
- Molenaar, J., & Van Praag, L. (2022). Migrants as ‘vulnerable groups’ in the COVID-19 pandemic: A critical discourse analysis of a taken-for-granted label in academic literature. SSM-Qualitative Research in Health, 2, 100076. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
ssmqr.2022.100076
Presentations & events
- STAMINA’s 1st International Summit on Pandemic Management | 18 May 2022. COVINFORM joined this event by the STAMINA project n València (Spain), organised and hosted by the València Local Police. This Summit aimed to be a forum for discussion and debate for high-level experts to present lessons learnt from the ongoing pandemic to share and discuss ways to apply these learning to be better prepared for and manage future health crises. Find out more here. A recording of the event can be found here.
Update from the PREPARE cluster: PREparedness and resPonse for emergency situAtions in euRopE
The 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:
- Prepare European manufacturing for future disruptions. EU’s CO-VERSATILE project reached a new milestone in facilitating collaboration between the European manufacturing market players. Novel platform – the Digital Technopole – will lift Europe’s preparedness to counteract future disruptions to new hights. Check out the Digital Technopole Digital Technopole – Home (co-versatile.eu). Learn more about the platform and about the project results recently shared at SME Resilience Days | CO-VERSATILE
News from our sister projects
- RESISTIRÉ call for pilot projects: RESISTIRÉ is funding pilot projects to reduce the gender+ inequalities due to the pandemic in two domains: Education and Gender-based Violence. Find out more here.
- RESPOND report on strategies that stakeholders are prioritising, to mitigate and respond to the mental health challenges of the 3COVID-19 outbreak. Available online.
- PERISCOPE Innovation Challenge | 7 October 2022, 9.00-13.00. PERISCOPE organizes a workshop, with the support of the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE), specifically targeted to identify these next best practices. The purpose of the workshop is also to bring these ideas to the Commission, and hopefully build attention that could lead to future calls and research to build preparedness.
- SHARE-COVID’s latest publications can be found online.
What’s next?
- COVINFORM partners will present insights at the 17th EASA Biennial Conference „Transformation, Hope and the Commons”, taking place between 26-29 July, 2022 in Belfast. More information can be found here.
- The COVID-19 Pandemic in Wales: Reproductions of vulnerability | 6 July 2022. Organised by the team at Swansea University, this webinar traces how particular understandings of the concept have informed the pandemic responses from healthcare, the Welsh and local governments, and community organisations in Wales with focus on the Swansea area. Find out more here.
- Our next podcast episode on „Government & Recommendations” will be out soon – stay tuned!
Follow us and get in touch to learn more about our activities and outcomes.
Web: https://www.covinform.eu/
Email: office@covinform.eu
Twitter: https://twitter.com/COVINFORM_EU
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/covinform_eu/
YouTube: https://bit.ly/3xN9oLy
We are looking forward to your message!