"research" blog posts
Reflecting on the power of collaboration during the Covid-19 pandemic
Posted on: 6 October 2021 | Category: October Posts

Dr James Austin works in the Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences in our Faculty of Health and Life Sciences. Here he reflects on the vital work he and his colleagues undertook in 2020, the lessons learned and the benefits of collaboration across disciplines and continents.
The unspoken pandemic: how our mental health services could be redesigned
Posted on: 30 July 2021 | Category: July Posts

Mental health services have been severely challenged and disrupted during Covid-19. In this blog, Professor Philippa Hunter-Jones, Chloe Spence and Dr Rachel Spence from our Management School, discuss the lessons learned from their ‘Let’s Keep Talking’ Project, and how the pandemic has presented an opportunity to improve responses to mental health needs enhanced by adaptions to service design.
How does depression affect the way we perceive politics during the pandemic?
Posted on: 23 June 2021 | Category: June posts

Life changes due to Coronavirus responses are predicted to have serious implications for people’s mental health - as warned by the World Health Organisation and other experts. Dr Luca Bernardi, one of our Lecturers in Politics, has carried out two research projects exploring the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and political attitudes. In this blog he talks about his project focusing on the UK specifically, which he is conducting jointly with Professor Ian H. Gotlib of Stanford University, and what the findings are so far.
How has the pandemic affected people with dementia and carers?
Posted on: 11 May 2021 | Category: May posts

Dr Clarissa Giebel is a Research Fellow within the University's Institute of Population Health. Her research focuses on enabling people living with dementia to live well and independently at home for as long as possible, whilst addressing potential health inequalities in accessing the right care. During the pandemic, she has been leading the first Covid-19 dementia study in the country, exploring the effects of social service closures on the lives of people with dementia and unpaid carers. In this blog she tells us more about the study.
How science and society came together for the Events Research Programme
Posted on: 5 May 2021 | Category: May posts

After a momentous weekend in Liverpool, we caught up with Professor Iain Buchan – now officially known as ‘The Party Professor’ – to find out about the Events Research Programme, and how he and teams across the UK will be working together to find out if live, large-scale events can resume safely and securely post-Covid.
The Archive in Cyberspace: online teaching with Special Collections materials
Posted on: 9 March 2021 | Category: March posts

Dr Phoenix Alexander is the Science Fiction Collections Librarian at the University of Liverpool Library, where he curates the largest catalogued collection of science fiction in Europe. During the 2020 academic year, the Library’s Special Collections and Archives department was closed to all researchers, and it became necessary for the archivists and librarians to think of innovative solutions to make the collections accessible in digital spaces. This blog post talks about some of the ways in which Phoenix and his colleagues approached the challenges of teaching with special collections materials during a pandemic.
The importance of teamwork in SARS-COV-2 research
Posted on: 1 March 2021 | Category: March posts

Hannah Trivett is a PhD student who has been working on Covid-19 genome sequencing. She tells us how important a team work ethic has been in tackling the pandemic and contributing to the national scientific efforts in finding out more about the virus.
How to empower citizens to fight fake news during Covid-19
Posted on: 22 February 2021 | Category: February posts

Misinformation, or semi-fake news, has been seen in abundance during the Covid-19 pandemic. Dr Elinor Cami and Dr Elena Musi and their project team worked with colleagues from the University of Dundee to launch a chatbot enabled website to help improve people’s ability to spot semi-fake news. Here they tell us how the project is going and how it will continue to help people post Covid-19.
Behind the Screens: images of research in the time of coronavirus
Posted on: 26 January 2021 | Category: January posts

Dr Katherine Roscoe is an Early Career Researcher in the Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology funded by the Leverhulme Trust, and also deputy co-chair of the Research Staff Association. In this post, she writes about her experience of being an organiser for the 'Images of Research in the Time of Coronavirus' competition as part of the Research Staff Conference 2020.
Covid-19: the uninvited guest
Posted on: 18 January 2021 | Category: January posts

Hannah Jefferies is a Digital Project Manager within the External Relations department. In this post, she tells us about her experience of Covid-19, and how she and her family took the opportunity to contribute to research to bolster efforts in combatting this awful disease.
Ness Botanic Gardens: adapting and transforming during Covid-19
Posted on: 16 December 2020 | Category: December posts

Thom Williamson is the Operations Administrator at Ness Botanic Gardens located on the Wirral peninsular. In this blog, he tells us what it has been like working at Ness this year, and how great it has been to reopen so that the public can enjoy the great outdoors safely in challenging times.
How Covid-19 has highlighted the value of citizenship
Posted on: 23 November 2020 | Category: November posts

Mate Subašić is a PhD student in our Department of Politics. His research is focused on nationalism, identity politics and trans-border groups in South East Europe. Here he discusses how, in his view, Covid-19 has highlighted the importance of citizenship within Europe.
Life as a PhD Student in Lockdown
Posted on: 16 November 2020 | Category: November posts

Rebecca Jensen is a PhD student in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences. During the first national lockdown she was unable to continue her original research from home, and so she decided to volunteer for the ISARIC/WHO CCP study which looks at the urgent questions posed by Covid-19. Here she tells us what that was like, and how she is coping with the second national lockdown.
Library in the time of Corona
Posted on: 9 November 2020 | Category: November posts
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Amy Lewin is the Marketing and Innovation Coordinator for the University's Libraries, Museums and Galleries. Read her blog to find out how our campus libraries coped with lockdown, and how they have safely reopened to provide vital resources for our staff and students.
'Building Back Better' from COVID-19 Requires Black Lives to Matter
Posted on: 21 September 2020 | Category: September posts

Dr Leona Vaughn is a Derby Research Fellow in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and co-author of the recent report 'Racial Inequalities and COVID-19: Building Back Better For All'. Here she tells us what prompted her to write about this important issue.
Living in Merseyside at the time of COVID-19: What are the psychological and social impacts?
Posted on: 16 September 2020 | Category: September posts

Kate M Bennett and Rhiannon Corcoran are both Professors working in the University's Institute of Population Health. Together they are undertaking an important research study to investigate how Covid-19 has affected people living in Liverpool - their resilience, community cohesion and wellbeing. Read their blog to find out more.
Glimmering hope amidst the new ‘normal’ - a view from Malawi
Posted on: 8 September 2020 | Category: September posts

Dr Gareth Lipunga works as a study clinician on University of Liverpool-led projects in Malawi at the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome (MLW) Trust Clinical Research Programme. Here he tells us how the pandemic has affected his life and work, and his hopes for the future post-lockdown.
Utilising novel data streams in the fight against COVID-19
Posted on: 5 August 2020 | Category: August posts

Matthew Carter is a PhD student and part of the EPSRC CDT in Distributed Algorithms. Read his blog to find out how researchers at the University of Liverpool are utilising novel data streams, data science and machine learning to help in the fight against COVID-19.
Helping migrant workers in India during Covid-19
Posted on: 3 August 2020 | Category: August posts

Dr Supriya Garikipati is Reader in Gender and Development in our Management School. The impact of Covid-19 on migrant workers in India has been devastating, with many struggling for basic supplies and forced to flee their homes. Here she tells us about how her research work and connections enabled her to mobilise support and make a real difference to the lives of vulnerable people during a time of extraordinary crisis.
When research gets personal
Posted on: 10 July 2020 | Category: July posts

Marketing Director, Alison Kerwin, talks about the personal cost of COVID-19 and why she chose to fundraise for the University’s COVID-19 research programme in memory of her dad.
Working in our outbreak lab during the COVID-19 pandemic
Posted on: 1 July 2020 | Category: July posts

Shona, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Clinical infection, Microbiology and Immunology, has led the expansion of the University's outbreak lab which processes thousands of COVID-19 positive samples each week. Read her blog to find out what it's been like scaling up operations and the challenges the team have overcome during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Why our work in the lab is more meaningful than ever during the coronavirus outbreak
Posted on: 17 June 2020 | Category: June posts

PhD student, Benjamin Jones talks about how working in a virology lab has meant some aspects of his daily routine have stayed almost unnervingly similar despite the disruption all around.
How life as a scientist has changed during the COVID-19 pandemic
Posted on: 15 June 2020 | Category: June posts

Rebee is a PhD student in Professor Julian Hiscox' lab which focuses on emerging and respiratory viruses. Read her blog for an insight into how her life has a scientist has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic.