Control, Consensus, Chaos: The Global Response to the Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic affected numerous countries across the globe. However, some nations managed to contain the virus while others gravely struggled to do so. The wide-ranging responses and impacts of the pandemic spurred research that spanned multiple countries in order to gain deeper insights into the future of pandemic preparedness.
In this talk, Sheila Jasanoff presented a study that compared pandemic responses in eighteen countries. Research teams in each country closely followed the crisis in three interlocking sectors—health, economy, politics—providing vital information on how and why COVID-19 produced such different outcomes. Jasanoff, who co-directed the study, talked about the most surprising findings from this massive undertaking and discussed how they can inform our understanding of the human impacts of a pandemic.
About the Academic
Sheila Jasanoff is Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies at the Harvard Kennedy School. A pioneer in her field, she has authored more than 120 articles and chapters and is author or editor of more than 15 books, including The Fifth Branch, Science at the Bar, Designs on Nature, and The Ethics of Invention. Her work explores the role of science and technology in the law, politics, and policy of modern democracies. She founded and directs the STS Program at Harvard; previously, she was founding chair of the STS Department at Cornell. Jasanoff served on the AAAS Board of Directors and as President of the Society for Social Studies of Science. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Her honors include the SSRC’s Hirschman prize, the Humboldt Foundation’s Reimar-Lüst award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Ehrenkreuz from the Government of Austria, and membership in the Royal Danish Academy.
