Topic description and stories

Cambridge researchers have played a vital role in the fight back against COVID-19, from the use of genomics to track its spread and mathematic modelling to understand infection rates through to innovative screening programmes to keep its students and staff safe.

Underactive immune response may explain obesity link to COVID-19 severity

20 March 2023

Individuals who are obese may be more susceptible to severe COVID-19 because of a poorer inflammatory immune response, say Cambridge scientists.

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Electric car charging in Birmingham city centre

Green COVID-19 recovery packages can boost economic growth and tackle climate change, researchers say

05 May 2020

Researchers find long-term, climate-friendly stimulus policies are often superior in overall economic impact – not just in slowing global warming.

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“It’s been very humbling”: returning to the clinic during the pandemic

04 May 2020

It’s been decades since Professor Paul Fletcher last donned scrubs, but he now finds himself helping treat psychiatric patients, sometimes in full...

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Food insecurity in the UK – why we need a new normal

01 May 2020

The pandemic is exacerbating problems of food access. We can't return to a reliance on charity food aid to fill the gaps, write CEDAR researchers.


School’s in: how to make the most of home-schooling in lockdown

30 Apr 2020

Five Cambridge education experts share tips, free resources (and moral support) to help you make the most of home-schooling in lockdown.

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Tackling COVID-19: Professor Ian Goodfellow

30 Apr 2020

Ian Goodfellow is no stranger to infectious disease outbreaks. In 2014 he left behind the safety of his Cambridge lab to join a taskforce fighting...

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A reporter takes a photo of Donald Trump during a White House coronavirus briefing in April

Economic damage could be worse without lockdown and social distancing – study

29 Apr 2020

The worst thing for the economy would be not acting at all to prevent disease spread, followed by too short a lockdown, according to research based...

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Coronavirus pandemic: making safer emergency hospitals

28 Apr 2020

Simple, low-cost ventilation designs and configuration of wards can reduce the dispersal of airborne virus in emergency COVID-19 hospitals, say...

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Connecting healthcare and manufacturing: the challenges of COVID-19

27 Apr 2020

Prof Tim Minshall, Head of the Institute for Manufacturing, looks at the successes as well as the gaps in collaborations between industry and the NHS.

Opinion: Coronavirus: new survey suggests UK public supports a long lockdown

23 Apr 2020

Some commentators argue that British people want the lockdown to end “as quickly as possible”. But a recent survey from the Winton Centre for Risk...


Dr Restif (left) with collaborators from the University of Ghana in Accra, July 2019

Tackling COVID-19: Dr Olivier Restif

23 Apr 2020

“We have been expecting a pandemic like this for nearly twenty years,” says Olivier Restif, who uses mathematical modelling to understand how...

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UK and US firms ‘lag’ in race to commercialise COVID-19 diagnostic tests

22 Apr 2020

The diagnostic industry in countries such as Germany, South Korea and China lead the pack on getting coronavirus tests ready for market. Researchers...

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Opinion: Local food solutions during the coronavirus crisis could have lasting benefits

22 Apr 2020

Solutions found during the current pandemic could benefit food security, human security, & international development.

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