New reading: COVID-19 has sparked new relationships between the academic and policy worlds. How do we maintain them when the threat recedes?

Stephen Reicher reflects upon the ‘unprecedented coming together’ this pandemic has encouraged, and highlights three key areas that must be addressed if we are to maintain this new spirit of collaboration

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Volunteering opportunity: Join the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker

Volunteering opportunity for graduate and postgraduate students

The Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT)  is a unique tool that tracks measures introduced by governments to contain the spread of COVID-19, providing critical data for research, informing the international media, and governmental policymaking. Run by Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government, the tracker is powered by a global community of volunteers who share the common purpose of rigorous, objective, accurate data collection to protect public health. The data collected by our volunteers is used by global policymakers (eg. UN, WHO, World Bank, IMF), media (eg. New York Times, the Economist, Al Jazeera, Financial Times) and country governments all around the world. We’re seeking volunteers to join this team and contribute around 5 hours per week for 3 months. No particular expertise is required, but familiarity with public health or policy issues, a range of languages, and attention to detail certainly help. We have regular, optional team meetings to support each other, and keep up to date about how the project is coming along. If you’d like to sign up, please register here.

To learn more:

• Watch a short video about OxCGRT
• Read this profile of OxCGRT in the Wall Street Journal 
• Explore the OxCGRT website and the visualisations created by Our World in Data

Watch project lead Dr. Thomas Hale talk about how data on government responses helps us fight the disease.