University of São Paulo Journal explores Brazilian and US pandemic response

The USP Journal described the CompCoRe Interim Report in an article titled “Tensões políticas levaram Brasil a fracassar no combate à covid-19, aponta relatório”(“Political tensions have led Brazil to fail to combat covid-19, report says,”). The article discussed the similarities between the Brazilian and US responses to the pandemic, quoting Marko Monteiro (Brazil team) on how political polarization has been detrimental to the effective containment of the virus. Full article in Portuguese here and English translation here.

Eisenberger gives talk on legal aspects of statistical modeling

Iris Eisenberger spoke about “Human Rights Requirements and Statistical Modelling” as part of a conference on “Digital Governance in the Times of Covid-19” organized by Bar Ilan University. She presented findings from her study on legal issues related to modeling.

Eisenberger and team present first findings from REASON

Iris Eisenberger and Nikolaus Pöchhacker (Austria team) shared early findings from their project on “REASON – Legal requirements for statistical modelling” at the University of Graz. By analyzing the Austrian government’s press conferences on the coronavirus,  they show that referencing “science” helped resolve the tension between rational decision-making and epistemic uncertainty. However, these appeals to “science” remained vague and did not cite specific research organizations, scientists, or publications.

Tanaka cites CompCoRe results at SciREX Open Forum

Risk communication scholar and CompCoRe member Mikihito Tanaka (Japan team) addressed CompCoRe findings in a talk on “New Development of Risk Communication: Insights from the Pandemic.Tanaka spoke at  SciREX, a government program on Science for RE-designing Science, Technology and Innovation Policy, a program funded by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).

Jornal da Unicamp publishes article highlighting Brazil’s participation in CompCoRe

An article titled “Por que respostas tão diferentes à pandemia?” (Why are there such different responses to the pandemic?) noted Brazil as an important case in the study and reviewed initial CompCoRe findings. Comments from Brazil team members Marko Monteiro and Alberto Urbinatti describe how the project is helping to shed light on Brazil’s pandemic response.

Pearce speaks about erosion of public trust in science in the UK

Warren Pearce gave a talk titled “Scientific emergency or emergency for science? Alternative experts and civic dislocation in the UK’s Covid-19 response” as part of Warwick Sociology Seminar Series. He demonstrated that the UK has experienced increasing ‘civic dislocation’ (Jasanoff 1997) during the pandemic, as public confidence in the country’s institutions to deliver reliable information and advice has eroded and reflected on possible ways forward.

Laurent secures funding for Covid research

Brice Laurent (France) won a grant from the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (French National Research Agency) for a project on political and social issues of expertise during the Covid crisis. The funds help to support Laurent’s study of the French case and participation in CompCoRe. 

Pearce publishes paper on Covid science advice

Warren Pearce (UK) published a paper about uncertainties in UK science advice in Humanities & Social Science Communications. The paper argues that contradictory representations of Covid infection rates in the UK stem from the dual roles of science advisors as both knowledge producers (through epidemiological models) and knowledge users (through policy advice).

Eisenberger wins grant for project on law and statistical modeling

Iris Eisenberger (Austria) and her colleagues received funding from the Province of Styria to study “Legal Requirements for Statistical Modeling” in Covid policy. The project is examining whether requirements for using statistical models can be derived from constitutional principles of democracy and the liberal state.
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