COVID19 – should schools close early for Christmas?

Sarah Lewis, Marcus Munafo and George Davey Smith     We have previously written about the limited risk posed to pupils, teachers and the community by schools being open during the Covid19 pandemic. Schools have now been open for almost a full academic term (3 months), so it is time to take another look at […]

Are schools in the COVID-19 era safe?

Sarah Lewis, Marcus Munafo and George Davey Smith Follow Sarah, George and Marcus on Twitter The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-COV2 virus in 2020 has so far resulted in a heavy death toll and caused unprecedented disruption worldwide. Many countries have opted for drastic measures and even full lockdowns of all but essential services […]

Lessons from organising and participating in the University of Bristol Faculty of Health Sciences PGR Symposium

PhD student Winfred Gatua was part of the team that organised a recent Postgraduate Research Symposium. In this post, she shares how organising this event helped him develop important skills for her research and beyond.

COVID-19: Pandemics and ‘Infodemics’

JGI Seed Corn funded project  Drs Luisa Zuccolo and Cheryl McQuire, Department of Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol.  The problem  Soon after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11th 2020, the UN declared the start of an infodemic, highlighting the danger posed by the fast spreading of unchecked misinformation. Defined as an overabundance of information, including deliberate efforts to disseminate […]

Study collecting the views of young people, parents of children with long COVID, and doctors, finds that long COVID in children is poorly understood by doctors

Dr Katharine Looker ‘Enhancing the utilization of COVID-19 testing in schools’, is a study which will look at the characteristics of long COVID and COVID-19 infection in children. ‘Long COVID’ is commonly used to describe signs and symptoms that continue or develop after acute COVID‑19. The study is being funded as a result of a […]

Using genetics to understand the relationship between young people’s health and educational outcomes

Amanda Hughes, Kaitlin H. Wade, Matt Dickson, Frances Rice, Alisha Davies, Neil M. Davies & Laura D. Howe Follow Amanda, Kaitlin, Matt, Alisha, Neil and Laura on twitter Young people with health problems tend to do less well in school than other students, but it has never been clear why. One explanation is that health problems […]

Can we ever achieve “zero COVID”?

Marcus Munafo and George Davey Smith Follow Marcus and George on Twitter An important ongoing debate is whether the UK’s COVID strategy should focus on suppression (maintaining various restrictions to ensure the reproduction rate of the SARS-CoV-2 virus remains at or below 1), or elimination (reducing the number of infections to a sufficiently low level that […]

Are teachers at high risk of death from Covid19?

Sarah Lewis, George Davey Smith and Marcus Munafo Follow Sarah, George and Marcus on Twitter Due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic schools across the United Kingdom were closed to all but a small minority of pupils (children of keyworkers and vulnerable children) on the 20th March 2020, with some schools reporting as few as 5 pupils […]

Using evidence to advise public health decision makers: an insider’s view

This blog post reviews a recent seminar hosted by the MRC IEU, PolicyBristol and the Bristol Population Health Science Institute. Public health is one of the most contested policy areas. It brings together ethical and political issues and evidence on what works, and affects us all as citizens. Researchers produce evidence and decision-makers receive advice […]