2020 Academic Board forum: UTS research contributions to the COVID-19 pandemic

Chair's summary

The forum was held on 14 October via Zoom with around 100 staff in attendance.

Presentations included:

• universities and the public: impact and engagement in a time of crisis by Associate Professor Tamson Pietsch, Associate Professor Social and Political Sciences Program and Director, Australian Centre for Public History, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
• where facemasks are useful for COVID-19 by Professor Brian Oliver, Associate Head of School (Research), School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science
• determinants of SARS-CoV-2 receptor gene expression in upper and lower airways by Dr Alen Faiz, Lecturer, School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science
• stopping the spread of COVID-19: Law or technology by Dr Gabrielle Simm, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law
• COVID-19 impact analytics and scenario planning for NSW by Distinguished Professor Fang Chen, Executive Director, UTS Data Science and Distinguished Professor

with introduction from Professor Kate McGrath, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research).

Presentation

Contact the Executive Officer for the full recording.

My sincere thanks to these presenters for sharing their work with the UTS community.

Professor Joanne Gray, Chair, Academic Board

Speakers and presentations

Introduction

Professor Kate McGrath set the scene with her introduction to the forum topic.

Professor McGrath highlighted the critical role that universities and research plays in society, both for Australia and globally, and how the pandemic has massively accelerated global evolution in research and higher education.

Recognising early on that any potential decline in research capability will have long-term effects on socioeconomic wellbeing, UTS decided to continue as much research as possible during the pandemic. UTS’s research focus shifted quickly to adapt its applicability to COVID-19. UTS researchers have collaborated with various external stakeholders (including government agencies) to positively impact decision-making at various levels in the context of COVID-19.

Professor McGrath reiterated how COVID-19 has brought to the surface the important role universities and research plays, and the increasing relevance of UTS’s vision to be a leading public university of technology recognised for our global impact. UTS will continue to bring together its research capabilities to tackle the problems of now and prepare for long-term recovery.

Watch now (opens in new window for YouTube)

Universities and the public: impact and engagement in a time of crisis

Associate Professor Tamson Pietsch presented on two initiatives — the Australian Centre for Public History’s Public History Hour and the New Social Contract podcast — that show how COVID-19 is creating new audiences and impact for research. The presentation also focused on why undertaking research in and with the public matters now more than ever.

Download the presentation: Universities and the public: impact and engagement in a time of crisis (PDF 947KB) (SharePoint).

Watch now (opens in new window for YouTube)

Where facemasks are useful for COVID-19

Professor Brian Oliver gave an overview of his team's research in the aerosol transmission of respiratory viruses, the aerosolisation of SARS-CoV-2 and the effectiveness of face masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Download the presentation: Where facemasks are useful for COVID-19 (PDF 1.5MB) (SharePoint).

Watch now (opens in new window for YouTube)

Determinants of SARS-CoV-2 receptor gene expression in upper and lower airways

Dr Alen Faiz presented the findings of his research, which assesses the expression patterns of genes required for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) entry into cells, and their regulation by genetic, epigenetic and environmental factors throughout the respiratory tract using samples collected from the upper (nasal) and lower airways (bronchi).

Dr Faiz’s research indicated that genes associated with SARS-CoV-2 viral entry into cells are high in upper airways, but strongly increased in lower airways by smoke exposure. In contrast, ICS decreases ACE2 expression, indicating that inhaled corticosteroids are unlikely to increase the risk for more severe COVID-19 disease.

Download the presentation: Determinants of SARS-CoV-2 receptor gene expression in upper and lower airways (PDF 1.33MB) (SharePoint).

Watch now (opens in new window for YouTube)

Stopping the spread of COVID-19: Law or technology?

Dr Gabrielle Simm presented on stopping the spread of COVID-19: Law or technology?

Law is often seen as lagging behind technology, but this is not necessarily the case. International law plays an important role in promoting global health, with the World Health Organization (WHO) taking the lead in coordinating the global response and recommending measures to stop the spread of infectious diseases.

COVID-19 has revealed some weaknesses in the WHO's International Health Regulations (last updated in 2005) following SARS CoV-1, namely the need for an amber traffic light rather than just red or green, and more detail on the response to pandemics.

When we think of technology, we often think of digital technologies, like telehealth, drones or COVID-19 contact tracing apps. However, like masks or other forms of PPE, law is also a technology: something that humans have invented to perform a task to help us achieve our goals.

Mandatory lockdowns used to stop the spread of the pandemic and, in some countries, use of contact tracing apps rely on the force of law to boost their effectiveness. Hence, technology is always embedded in its social context, which includes law. When searching for a solution to problems like COVID-19, we need to remember the billions of people, particularly in the developing world, without access to digital technologies who have a right to health under international law.

Watch now (opens in new window for YouTube)

COVID-19 impact analytics and scenario planning for NSW

Distinguished Professor Fang Chen presented the COVID-19 impact analytics and scenario planning for NSW.

Governments from 188 countries have deployed more than 1,500 measures to control the spread of COVID-19. An interactive dashboard highlights the timing of government intervention. Users can filter data based on the country of interest, country size, region, government type, measure type and measures timing. The dashboard is based on data from the Assessment Capacities Project (ACAPS), the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the World Justice Project, and the World Bank.

Professor Chen’s team developed a number of tools to compare interventions taken by other countries to the ongoing state of infection rates and responses in NSW. This allowed NSW to 'look ahead' at the relative timing and impact of lockdown restrictions, stimulus interventions, and easing of restrictions. The tool allowed comparisons to be made against countries similar to Australia from a range of different perspectives.

A number of tools to identify and describe the impact of lockdown restrictions and changing citizen behaviours in different local government areas were developed. The real time interactive tools and analytics highlighted change in rental prices across NSW, impact on traffic and traffic delays, impact on regions with vulnerable populations (for example with larger number of aged care locations), and impact on areas with business types most impacted by social distancing or mobility restrictions.

The team has extended the tools to focus on regional NSW, in particular areas that had previously been impacted by bushfires. The goal was to understand the compounding impact of natural disasters and pandemics in NSW to help identify the most affected communities.

All the above tools and results were updated weekly and insights made available to the NSW Premier's Behavioural Insights team.

Download the presentation: COVID-19 impact analytics and scenario planning for NSW (PDF 2.04MB) (SharePoint).

Watch now (opens in new window for YouTube)