IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v11y2024i1d10.1057_s41599-024-03246-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Where to after COVID-19? Systems thinking for a human-centred approach to pandemics

Author

Listed:
  • Maru Mormina

    (European University Institute)

  • Bernhard Müller

    (Monash University)

  • Guido Caniglia

    (Konrad Lorenz Institute)

  • Eivind Engebretsen

    (University of Oslo)

  • Henriette Löffler-Stastka

    (Medical University of Vienna)

  • James Marcum

    (Baylor University)

  • Mathew Mercuri

    (McMaster University)

  • Elisabeth Paul

    (Université Libre de Bruxelles)

  • Holger Pfaff

    (University of Cologne)

  • Federica Russo

    (University of Amsterdam)

  • Joachim Sturmberg

    (University of Newcastle)

  • Felix Tretter

    (Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science)

  • Wolfram Weckwerth

    (University of Vienna)

Abstract

Whilst policymaking will always remain a highly political process, especially amidst crises, evidence-based pandemic management can benefit from adopting a socioecological perspective that integrates multi- and trans-disciplinary insights: from biology, biomedicine, mathematics, statistics, social and behavioural sciences, as well as the perspectives and experiences of non-scientific stakeholders. We make a case for an “integrated inter- and transdisciplinarity” that overcomes the typical additive nature of current interdisciplinary work and better captures the inherent complexity of public health and other public policy problems. We propose systems science and systems thinking approaches as a useful meta-theoretical, self-reflecting approach for such integration to take place. Enabled by systems thinking, the praxis of “integrated inter- and transdisciplinarity” allows for an understanding of public health crises in a human-centred socio-ecological perspective. This grounds more holistic policy responses, which by mobilising the whole of government and whole of society, put individuals, groups, governments and society at large in critical dialogue to co-produce and co-design interventions that address crises in all their physical, social, psychological, economic and political dimensions.

Suggested Citation

  • Maru Mormina & Bernhard Müller & Guido Caniglia & Eivind Engebretsen & Henriette Löffler-Stastka & James Marcum & Mathew Mercuri & Elisabeth Paul & Holger Pfaff & Federica Russo & Joachim Sturmberg & , 2024. "Where to after COVID-19? Systems thinking for a human-centred approach to pandemics," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-7, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:11:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-024-03246-4
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-024-03246-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-024-03246-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-024-03246-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Arnold, Austin & Cafer, Anne & Green, John & Haines, Seena & Mann, Georgianna & Rosenthal, Meagen, 2021. "“Perspective: Promoting and fostering multidisciplinary research in universities”," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(9).
    2. Osman Taylan & Abdulaziz S. Alkabaa & Mustafa Tahsin Yılmaz, 2022. "Impact of COVID-19 on G20 countries: analysis of economic recession using data mining approaches," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 8(1), pages 1-30, December.
    3. Saima May Sidik, 2022. "How COVID has deepened inequality — in six stark graphics," Nature, Nature, vol. 606(7915), pages 638-639, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fontana, Magda & Iori, Martina & Leone Sciabolazza, Valerio & Souza, Daniel, 2022. "The interdisciplinarity dilemma: Public versus private interests," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(7).
    2. Luka Ursić & Godfrey Baldacchino & Željana Bašić & Ana Belén Sainz & Ivan Buljan & Miriam Hampel & Ivana Kružić & Mia Majić & Ana Marušić & Franck Thetiot & Ružica Tokalić & Leandra Vranješ Markić, 2022. "Factors Influencing Interdisciplinary Research and Industry-Academia Collaborations at Six European Universities: A Qualitative Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-24, July.
    3. Thelwall, Mike & Kousha, Kayvan & Stuart, Emma & Makita, Meiko & Abdoli, Mahshid & Wilson, Paul & Levitt, Jonathan, 2023. "Do bibliometrics introduce gender, institutional or interdisciplinary biases into research evaluations?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(8).
    4. ZHU Chen & MOTOHASHI Kazuyuki, 2022. "Government R&D spending as a driving force of technology convergence," Discussion papers 22030, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    5. Sherman, Melina & Klinenberg, Eric, 2024. "Beyond burnout: Moral suffering among healthcare workers in the first COVID-19 surge," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 340(C).
    6. Chen Zhu & Kazuyuki Motohashi, 2023. "Government R&D spending as a driving force of technology convergence: a case study of the Advanced Sequencing Technology Program," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(5), pages 3035-3065, May.
    7. Sanjaya, Angelie Natalia, 2023. "Strategi dan Inovasi "Mengganggu" sebagai Antisipasi Resesi 2023," OSF Preprints hrb7p, Center for Open Science.
    8. Lisa Gibbs & Alexander J. Thomas & Alison Coelho & Adil Al-Qassas & Karen Block & Niamh Meagher & Limya Eisa & Stephanie Fletcher-Lartey & Tianhui Ke & Phoebe Kerr & Edwin Jit Leung Kwong & Colin MacD, 2023. "Inclusion of Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in COVID-19 Public Health Research: Research Design Adaptations to Seek Different Perspectives in Victoria, Australia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-17, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:11:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-024-03246-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.