WHEN the first lockdown was imposed in March, the University of Bradford called on its army of academics to come up with projects which might benefit society during and after the pandemic.
More than 20 were funded and the resulting studies variously published in professional journals and even taken up by businesses and hospitals.
Now a handful of them will feature in a special webinar held today from 6pm to 7.30pm.
One such was an investigation into panic buying by Dr Elvira Ismagilova, Lecturer in Marketing and Business, in which 1,000 UK residents were questioned, found a positive link between panic buying and the increased spread of Covid-19, along with some interesting behavioural traits.
She said: “We found that people who participated in panic buying tended to justify their behaviour, using something which in psychology is called ‘neutralisation technique’. So, for example, it’s saying things like the supermarkets should have put limits in place beforehand and that buying so many packs of toilet paper is not harming anyone.
“We also found messages around panic buying could have been much clearer.
“If you simply tell people not to panic buy, that doesn’t necessarily work. However, if you show them the consequences of panic buying, that has a more beneficial effect.
“The panic buying situation was made worse by people reacting to social media posts.
“People are susceptible to herding behaviour, so if they see others doing something, there is a pressure to do the same.
“At the start of the pandemic, there was a sense of not having any control over the situation. Panic buying was one way in which many people could take some form of control and in so doing feel better.”
She added: “Our study found a significant positive relationship between panic buying and having Covid-19. Thus, an increase in the spread of Covid-19 is also to be included as yet another negative consequence of panic buying, as queueing and huddling can facilitate transmission of the virus.”
Collaborators on the study included Dr Daniele Doneddu (Swansea University), Dr Vignesh Yoganathan (The University of Sheffield), Dr Victoria-Sophie Osburg (The University of Sheffield, Montpellier Business School). The team's work, which is due to be published shortly, could help inform crisis management communications planning.
Deputy Vice Chancellor Professor John Bridgeman said: “Earlier this year, we had an open call-out to our academics to put forward covid-related research ideas and eventually funded over 20, across a range of subjects. We wanted to look at ways our academics could do research which would be of short, medium and long term benefit in the fight against covid.
“We wanted to celebrate by taking a handful of those projects and showing what they achieved. This demonstrates the University's impact locally and nationally in response to the pandemic.”
The webinar, ‘How can research deliver contributions to the understanding and response to Covid-19 and its impacts?’ The event will be hosted online. A link to join was sent to registered participants a few days before the event.
Other projects included:- Dr Kathryn Lord, Senior Research Fellow in the Faculty of Health Studies led a nationwide study which tracked hundreds of people living with dementia during the first lockdown, looking at how the loss of service provision affected their mental wellbeing.
More than 500 people took part in the initial survey; the results were published in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry in July and form a strong argument for the restoration of dementia services and parity of support for the professionals who work therein with other branches of healthcare, such as the NHS.
Professor of Visual Computing Hassan Ugail used AI ‘game theory’ to develop an effective computational tool for modelling optimal human distancing in offices and other workspaces and social environments. The tool will help decision makers to plan environments effectively, ranging from meeting areas, social spaces for larger gatherings and even classrooms for students and children.
The impact of Covid-19 pandemic on asylum seeker and refugee health in Bradford District and West Yorkshire, delivered by Mel Cooper, Reader in Maternity and Migrant Health A post Covid-19 recovery plan for small and micro businesses and entrepreneurs in Yorkshire, delivered by Senior Lecturer David Spicer QualDash for Covid-19: Mai Elshehaly, Lecturer in Computer Science, discusses a web-enabled ‘dashboard’ already deployed in five NHS hospitals, as part of a project funded by the NIHR Health Services & Delivery Research programme to support clinical teams monitor the quality of patient data.
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