Disease outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics are increasingly important global health issues. The outbreak of a virus has immense economic and social consequences, and to effectively inform policy, it’s highly important to study how people (communities, responders, and others) experience, engage and negotiate these circumstances.
Outbreaks such as Ebola, Zika, cholera and most recently coronavirus have highlighted the importance of understanding the social contexts in an epidemic response.
Based on the curriculum developed by the EU sonar-global consortium, the University of Amsterdam has developed a three week summer school called “Epidemics and Social Science: a Holistic Approach” to address these issues.
Meant for graduate students (or advance undergrads) and professionals with a social science background, the course reviews the contribution of the social sciences to disease outbreak preparedness, response and recovery – encouraging participants to approach epidemic threats from a variety of sociocultural perspectives. For more information, please refer to the UvA summer school course website.
