Articles about 'pandemic'

Meet the volunteer scientists who turn swab samples into diagnoses – again and again and again.

Cambridge researchers are supporting a project to 3D-print face shields and face masks in Malawi. The work is helping them create a 'blueprint' for using digital fabrication technologies in future emergencies.

Universities have stepped up to meet the challenges presented by the pandemic. Tomas Ulrichsen, an expert on universities and their role in innovation systems, argues that the UK must protect its R&D and innovation capabilities in the short term, and build on these strengths for the future.

When infectious diseases expert Mike Weekes realised he and colleagues had know-how that could help protect staff, patients and students in a pandemic, they set up a unique testing facility – the first of its kind, they believe, in a UK university.  

George Doji, host of Museum Remix at the University of Cambridge Museums, describes the digital experiment in museum storytelling that began when the collections were forced to close their doors. 

Increased working, learning and interacting online during the pandemic has widened the gap for those who lack digital skills or access, writes Gemma Burgess, an expert on social inequality and housing in the UK. She suggests strategies to tackle the digital divide and avoid millions of the poorest in the UK being left even further behind.

Katy Pitts, Principal Assistant and Safety Officer at the Department of Biochemistry, could probably now write the How-To manual on re-opening a biochemistry department in a global pandemic. She tells us of the highs and lows of recent months – and how an encounter with ‘The Distancer’ has (literally) opened doors for all.

Cambridge zoologists Bill Sutherland and Silviu Petrovan warn that we must dramatically change the way we interact with animals to reduce the risk of this happening again.

The COVID-19 crisis is forcing us all to change direction, to rethink what we do and how we do it. In a new series, launched today, we ask our experts: beyond the pandemic, where should we go from here?

Head of Public Engagement, Dr Lucinda Spokes, describes the difficult decision to pull the plug on the 26th Cambridge Science Festival in March this year and reflects on the breathtaking flexibility of the Festival going digital – at least for now.