VIRTUAL EVENT: Universities, experts, research and the COVID-19 pandemic

Universities across the world have immediately responded to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic by starting, accelerating and communicating relevant research, not just in the medical and public health fields, but across the social sciences and humanities. Besides, many academic experts at UCL and in our partner institutions internationally have been providing advice to policy-makers on various aspects of the pandemic and the measures taken to address it.

In this webinar, leading academics from UCL and two of our partner universities in Rome (Sapienza) and Paris (Sciences-Po) will discuss how researchers are contributing to public policy debates on the COVID-19 pandemic; debate the complex relationship between experts and politicians, and outline the role of social sciences - beyond medical research - in our understanding of the pandemic’s impacts.

Chair: Dr Uta Staiger, Director of the UCL European Institute, Pro-Vice Provost for Europe at UCL

Panellists:

• Prof. Christina Pagel, University College London
  Professor at the Clinical Operational Research Unit, UCL Department of Mathematics
  Member of the Independent Sage group, an independent group of scientists providing transparent advice with the purpose of helping the UK navigate COVID-19 
• Prof. Paolo Villari, Sapienza University of Rome
  Full Professor of Hygiene and Director of the Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases
  Member of the Task Force against Coronavirus for the Sapienza Community.
• Prof. Ettore Recchi, Sciences-Po Paris
  Professor of Sociology, Observatoire Sociologique du Changement
  Part-time professor, Migration Policy Centre, European University Institute, Florence
  Principal Investigator of the project "Coping with Covid-19: Social Distancing, Cohesion, and Inequality in France in 2020”

--

The UCL Cities partnerships Programme, in collaboration with the UCL European Institute, is organising a series of four webinars with leading researchers, policy makers and arts professionals. Each session will discuss the extraordinary challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic to our teaching, research, mobility, and cultural and artistic practices. The series includes contributions from some of UCL’s key European partners in Paris and Rome.

Launched in 2018, the Cities partnerships Programme is a cross-UCL initiative to support, fund and promote the work that UCL academics carry out with partners in a selected number of global cities, with the aim of developing sustainable, multidisciplinary research and teaching partnerships. The programme focuses on specific cities, each for a three-year period: Rome (2018-2020), Paris (2019-2021) and Stockholm (2020-2022). The initial focus on Europe is an expression of UCL’s commitment to our European partners.

The webinars will take place on 22 June, 24 June, 29 June, and 3 July. See the registration link for more information about panellists and registration.