COVID-19 PHSM Network
Why do we need a network?
The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented global health crisis that requires international, transdisciplinary collaboration to address its broadscale societal and public health impacts. In comparison to what was possible during previous pandemics, the information age and rapid advances in data-driven research offer policy makers and scientists tools to identify strategies and policy solutions that can effectively mitigate the health effects of COVID-19 while minimizing the social, economic, and environmental impacts of the pandemic. The validity of any such research or analysis rests on the provision of complete and accurate data on COVID-19 policy interventions at all levels of policy making.
In the last year, researchers as well as stakeholders from the public and private sector around the world collected an enormous volume of data on public health and social measures (PHSMs) made in response to COVID-19. However, these policy tracking projects face major challenges in their efforts to collect such data and in ensuring the quality of the data already collected. Such challenges include recruiting and training data collectors to document PHSMs across different country contexts and grappling with multiple existing taxonomies to describe strategies and policies. In response to these common challenges, we, a consortium of the largest groups collecting PHSMs data generated in response to the pandemic, invite all relevant and interested stakeholders to join the COVID-19 PHSM Network.
Goal
The COVID-19 PHSMs Data Coverage Network provides the opportunity for different policy trackers to i) network, exchange and share key experiences and takeaways with the aim of inviting different groups to ii) explore and consider possibilities for collaboration and scientific exchange and iii) reflect on how to use lessons learned from current experiences with data collection to respond to future pandemics.
With an eye towards providing a public good of a complete and accurate dataset on government responses to COVID-19, the network brings together relevant stakeholders to discuss current challenges in data collection, data quality and data coverage, explore potential ways to cooperate, and share funding opportunities among different trackers. Participants will also discuss guidelines for navigating the taxonomy for PHSMs, including economic interventions (EI) and explore the extent to which greater collaboration or coordination is possible in this regard.
In bringing together policy trackers with international organisations and institutions, the network also aspires to help build proper institutional structures and communication flows between these groups to support efficient and high-quality data collection.
Shared Statement by PHSM Network Partners
The PHSMs Network is an outgrowth of the COVID-19 PHSMs Data Coverage Conference which took place over three days in February and March 2021. An important outcome of this conference was the creation of a shared statement written by participating trackers which lays out a framework for cooperation and collaboration for tracking COVID-19 PHSMs:
Shared Statement by the Public Health and Social Measures Trackers participating in the First COVID-19 PHSMs Data Coverage Conference
If you want to sign the joint statement on behalf of an institution, please reach out to our mail: admin@coronanet-project.org
COVID-19 Public Health and Social Measures (PHSMs) Research Outcome Conference
The COVID-19 PHSMs Research Outcome Conference provides an important forum for scholars to share and exchange information on research findings based on the datasets that are produced by PHSM Network members. We will cover a diverse spectrum across disciplines from epidemiology over social science to policy and economics and we aim to include voices and views from different backgrounds, both professionally and geographically. The conference will also create space for public health scholars to debate future pandemics and preparedness measures.
The conference will take place between October 5-6 2021 (7am – 9pm GMT+1). Each day will have 7 slots where one slot is 105 minutes (including a 15 minutes break). For more details on the conference agenda, check out the sections page on our website.
The conference will be held online. Register for free here!
Hosting Organizations
The CoronaNet Research Project, represented by Cindy Cheng and Luca Messerschmidt, will host the conference in collaboration with the Chair for International Relations (Tim Büthe) at the Hochschule für Politik (Technical University of Munich).
Co-hosting Organizations
Co-hosting partners are:
- ACAPS: Covid 19 Government Measures Dataset, represented by Angeliki Nika, Alex Howes and Steve Penson
- Health Intervention Tracking for COVID-19 (HIT-COVID), represented by Sophia Zweig, Alex Zapf, Qulu Zheng, and Hanmeng Xu
- International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA), represented by Tatjana Buklijas and Naomi Simon-Kumar
- Oxford Coronavirus Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT) at the Blavatnik School of Government, represented by Thomas Hale and Yuxi Zhang
- Oxford Supertracker (OxST), represented by Bernhard Ebbinghaus and Lukas Lehner
- Project Lockdown (PL), represented by Jean F. Quéralt
- Response2covid19 (R2C19), represented by Simon Porcher
Partner Institutions
CoronaNet is part of the PERISCOPE consortium, a project funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme (agreement no. 101016233)
A big thank you goes to the conference icon creator and artist:
Alexandra Williams (Instagram: @belladonna_doodles)
phsmconference.wordpress.com 