We are now more than 18 months into the Covid-19 pandemic. Thanks to the contributions of statisticians, epidemiologists and data scientists the world over, many of the questions and uncertainties that we initially faced have been answered and explained.
There are still many unknowns, of course – including the long-term effects of the virus and disease on individuals, on society, on economies, and on our deeply interconnected world. But with safe and effective vaccines now available, and treatments for Covid-19 being developed and tested, it is fair to say that the pandemic has entered a new phase.
With this new phase, Significance is updating its call for contributions on the topic of Covid. We are particularly interested in articles (between 500 and 2,500 words) that fall into one of the two categories below:
Looking back
- Case studies of statistical/epidemiological/data science projects that made key contributions to our understanding of the pandemic, e.g.:
- Modelling for pandemic progression
- Data collection and reporting for public health decision making
- Design and analysis of drug/treatment/vaccine development
- Design and analysis of vaccine trials
- Analysis of public health measures and their effectiveness and impact on pandemic progression.
- “Explainers” of new, peer-reviewed statistical/analytical methods that have been developed during the pandemic and/or helped to support pandemic-related projects.
- “Lessons learned” articles, which identify key insights from the pandemic that could be applied more broadly in the areas of, e.g.:
- Modelling
- Epidemiology
- Testing and surveillance
- Forecasting
- Data collection
- Data analysis
- Data reporting
- Data visualisation
- Communicating statistics to the public
- Communicating risk to the public
- Media reporting of stats/probabilities
- Use and communication of stats/probabilities by politicians/policymakers
Looking forward
- The effect of the pandemic on society, both local and global
- The effect of the pandemic on economies, both local and global
- The effect of the pandemic on geopolitics
- Environmental implications of the pandemic
- The statistics of viral mutations
- Preparing for the next pandemic
- Updating vaccines, developing new treatments
Potential contributors are invited to contact us at significance@rss.org.uk. Please tell us about the particular topic(s) you are interested in, any relevant expertise you have, any initial article ideas that you may wish to explore, and – where possible – examples of your writing for a general, non-technical audience.
Thank you.
