The researchers, Dr Chris Zebrowski, Dr Daniel Sage, and Nina Marie Jorden have received funding from the ESRC (UKRI) for a project titled ‘Enhancing the use of ResilienceDirect in the COVID-19 response: a comparative analysis of Local Resilience Forums’. The project aims to explore and enhance how digital collaboration platforms are used to remotely plan and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
‘Where there is much to be positive about regarding the UK’s strong vaccine rollout, a public inquiry into how this pandemic has been handled in the country since the first signs of COVID emerged will be required, to ensure mistakes aren’t repeated in the future.’
The article draws on research into the UK’s COVID-19 response completed by through this project, identifying five key questions that need to be ‘urgently addressed’ in a public inquiry.
1. Why did so many people die?
2. Why wasn’t a formal state of emergency invoked?
3. Why were decisions so heavily centralised?
4. Was so much secrecy necessary?
5. Did austerity play a role?
To find out more about the questions identified as essential to be answered in a public inquiry, please read the full article on The Conversation.