Academy of the Disaster Research Unit
Research project
CoronaSys
Addressing the corona pandemic in Armenia through systemic risk management
Duration: 06/2020 – 03/2021
The current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic poses multi-dimensional and highly dynamic challenges to all sectors of society, including health systems, economies, education, and policy-making, down to our very daily routines. The project CoronaSys aims at conducting a real time analysis of the events, contexts, needs, and innovations surrounding the global pandemic with specific scrutiny on actions taken in Armenia and Germany.
This research project is affiliated to Academy of the Disaster Research Unit (ADRU) headed by Prof. Dr. Martin Voss. Please also have a look at our ADRU partner project Increase Health Corona regarding the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran.
Methods
The project intends to promote an inter- and transdisciplinary platform for knowledge exchange and innovation between partners in Armenia and Germany in the fields of public health, systemic disaster risk management research, and the sociology of disasters in light of the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. For this purpose, the ADRU research team prepares supportive reports and assessments based on secondary research and expert consultations.
Innovation
The project aims to build the basis for a long-term Armenian-German collaboration on research in and avenues for systemic risk management. In the ongoing pandemic, it offers direct contributions to improving the knowledge and decision-making base for society’s handling of the infectious disease course via expert discussions, stakeholder mappings, vulnerability profiles, a gap and capacity analysis, innovation monitoring, a comparison of approaches to integrated pandemic management, and a synopsis of socio-political debates on bridging civil liberties and the right to health in democratic disaster risk and pandemic management.
CoronaSys project outcomes will comprise, among others, the following:
- Disaster risk management and health system country profiles for Armenia and Germany in order to provide a discussion base with regard to institutional differences and similarities
- Descriptive assessment of social and socio-medical vulnerabilities within Armenia to identify areas and groups in need of targeted attention
- Study on capacities, gaps, and needs of the Armenian health and civil protection system in the Covid-19 pandemic to understand priorities and available means
- Establishing a German-Armenian collaboration and exchange on research and development in the area of medical and societal measures for dealing with the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic via a series of online workshops and discussions
- Horizon scanning of medical, technical, and social innovations for pandemic management that are currently developed in Armenia and Germany and internationally
- Comparative mapping of existing integrative approaches to pandemic control in Armenia and Germany to further systemic risk management perspectives and approaches
- Synopsis of socio-political debates on strategies for dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic with special emphasis on civil liberties and the right to health in democratic disaster risk and pandemic management