WHO Global Research and Innovation Forum on COVID-19

Prof Emily Chan, Mr C S Wong and Mr Zhe Huang of CCOUC team have been invited by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness (GloPID-R) to join a 2-day WHO virtual meeting of the Global Research and Innovation Forum on COVID-19 during 1-2 July 2020 via Zoom. With more than 1,200 key experts, partners and stakeholders participating, this meeting is a follow-up to the one held in February 2020, of which the global research roadmap for COVID-19 was formulated. On the second day of the meeting, Prof Emily Chan delivered a presentation entitled “Next steps and new frontiers: Emerging social sciences research priorities”, in which she presented the social science research priorities in providing evidence to inform policy and practices, sharing of localised adaptations that work and the role of communities in response and mitigation, addressing uneven impact of COVID-19 on different social groups, as well as methodological innovations and community of practice. She also highlighted the importance of research collaboration.

The first day of this meeting centred on reviewing critical research findings and their impacts on the response to COVID-19 as well as the progress with the implementation of the global research roadmap. A review of the latest COVID-19 treatments was also conducted. Topics covered included:

During the second day, emerging research questions, science gaps and new research priorities concerning the roadmap were highlighted. Panel members also discussed the most up-to-date developments of COVID-19 vaccines. The following topics were covered:

The global research roadmap was developed by the WHO and GloPID-R together with scientists, researchers, national public health experts and major research funders around the globe to facilitate the conduct of research, product development and innovation tackling COVID-19. The two main aims of the roadmap are:

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