Start of NRP 80 with 25 research projects
The Swiss National Science Foundation has approved 25 research projects from the humanities and social sciences for the National Research Programme “Covid-19 in Society”. From December 2022, the research teams will study the impact of the pandemic on individuals and social groups as well as on economic, political and cultural processes in Switzerland in order to derive lessons for the future.
The National Research Programme "Covid-19 in Society" (NRP 80) sets out to provide valuable insights regarding the societal dimensions, processes and measures for handling pandemics. The call for proposals met with great interest: A total of 227 pre-proposals from disciplines in the humanities and social sciences were submitted at the beginning of the year and evaluated by an international panel. Of these, 46 were invited to submit a project proposal; 45 responded. All 45 proposals were comprehensively evaluated by at least two external reviewers and the NRP 80 Steering Committee. The evaluators assessed the scientific quality of the projects and their relevance for the political sphere and society at large, as well as the potential transferability of the results to the practical field and the coverage of different topics.
The 25 research projects recommended by the NRP 80 Steering Committee and confirmed by the SNSF Research Council address a wide range of research questions. Some of the researchers will examine the impact of the pandemic and the policy measures on trade, labour demand and job search, or on the behaviour of households and businesses. Other researchers will investigate the issue of domestic violence, the impact of the pandemic on family law or the situation of migrant women working in private households. Furthermore, the topics of intergenerational cohesion and the question of how social isolation and loneliness can be avoided in pandemics will be addressed. Some of the research projects will focus on the consequences of the pandemic for young people and for people living in nursing homes. The NRP 80 research projects will focus on different (language) regions as well as different areas (such as urban and rural).
The budget for the 25 research projects amounts to more than 11.2 million francs. Just under half of the selected projects are led by a female researcher. The researchers will be able to start their work in December 2022.