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COVID collaboration
Using interdisciplinary research
to battle timely global issues.
By Jun Wen and Wei Wang
Perhaps no topic in recent history
has garnered as much public and
academic attention as COVID-19.
News of this pandemic has saturated the
international airwaves since it was first
reported in late 2019. In its wake, life has
ground to a near complete halt: businesses
are shuttering, many professionals are
working from home and education has
shifted online – all while parts of the world
struggle to cope with a disease outbreak
unlike any in recent memory.
Keeping pace with the pandemic’s
evolution is a priority for many. But while
media coverage of COVID-19 is vast, it is
also contradictory. News stories can be
biased – politically and otherwise – when
providing information about the virus and
how best to manage it. A certain degree of
inconsistency is to be expected; after all,
this disease is something of a moving target
in and of itself, like its viral ribonucleic acid
(RNA) structure. New discoveries about
its transmission, behaviour and treatment
seemingly emerge every day.
It is therefore unsurprising that medical
professionals, newscasters and other
involved parties may have differing opinions
on what the virus means for local citizens
and the greater world. We are grappling
with new laws and regulations, engaging
in unfamiliar activities and being forced to
confront a novel reality. Some are doing so
without their usual support systems.
Few people could have foreseen this
level of isolation and anxiety even three
months ago. Put simply, nothing about
our current circumstances is normal, and
the unpredictability of this unprecedented
pandemic has proven challenging for
everyday people and academics alike.
The gravity of COVID-19 makes it all the
more important that the public be provided
with clear, objective information. Science
is immeasurably valuable, but not always
digestible. One way to address potential
misunderstandings about the virus is to
bring the medical and social sciences
together. By combining the strengths
of these two domains, researchers and
media outlets can provide timely, accurate
information to those who need it most.
THE HARD AND SOFT APPROACH
The ‘hard’ sciences, such as medicine, are
essential in the fight against COVID-19.
Relevant information about the virus, how it
functions, and a possible future vaccine can
only be uncovered by medical and other
life science experts. Yet the potential for
miscommunication arises when scientific
findings are not well translated for the
general public.
The nuances of viral spread are at times
beyond the reach of everyday people.
But awareness is our strongest ally: only
by arming ourselves with knowledge will
we have the best chance of controlling
COVID-19 while protecting our own and
others’ health.
As a complement to the hard sciences,
social science researchers can assume
a key role in promoting the spread of
accessible information. The advantages of
social science contributions are multifold:
not only can we learn about COVID-19
from an epidemiological standpoint, but we
also begin to process how the pandemic
has altered daily life as we know it.
Indeed, as citizens and professionals
await a vaccine in hopes of eradicating
this pandemic, social scientists can wield
their communicative power to explore the
ways in which the virus has changed how
society functions.
At its core, social science is reliant on
human behaviour and interaction. This
dependence makes it an ideal partner to
the medical sciences when it comes to
transforming highly complex information
into news that a lay audience can
understand. While social scientists generally
take a broader view of human phenomena,
medical scientists often prefer a more
granular approach – hence their focus on
the innermost workings of human health.
A POWERFUL ALLIANCE
Science should not be siloed. Just as
bifocals can be used to clarify a person’s
vision, by combining these two scientific
lenses, we can see a more holistic and
accurate picture of COVID-19.
The need for interdisciplinary work
around COVID-19 is clear, as true
knowledge discovery rarely occurs in
isolation. Consider, for example, how many
disciplines have contributed to research on
obesity – another global health problem.
We know more about this condition
than ever thanks to input from biologists,
geneticists, nutritionists, neuropsychologists,
psychiatrists, public health experts and
others. Such “meetings of the minds”
can move scientific domains beyond
methodological comparison to identify new
ways of addressing research questions.
STRENGTH IN DIFFERENCE
Yet it is worth noting here that difficulties
in communicating medical science do
not only affect media consumers; similar
obstacles exist between medical and social
scientists. Even when these scientists
decide to join forces in the fight against
COVID-19, numerous challenges can
arise. Several barriers must be broken if
interdisciplinary work is to be carried out
successfully.
For instance, these two academic camps
– the so-called hard and soft sciences –
have long been viewed differently. In the
hierarchy of science, the hard sciences
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