TPM research in relation to the coronavirus

Several TPM scientists are currently conducting research directly or indirectly linked to the corona crisis. A growing list of initiatives:

• uNLock corona test application
  The 'uNLock consortium', in which TPM researchers Marijn Janssen, Jeroen van den Hoven and Olivier Rikken participate, has taken the initiative to develop an open source, non-profit application. The app will facilitate the verification of corona tests while ensuring maximum security of users. It’s a medical passport based on blockchain technology, which can be used to keep track of whether you have been tested for covid-19, what the result of the test is, whether you have already had covid-19, whether you have healed, etc. This is registered in a privacy friendly way by blockchain technology where the user is in control of the data and the user shares statements in a secure GDPR way with a third party.
  Currently the open consortium includes the Rabobank, CMS, TNO, Ledger Leopard (a major occupational health services provider), EY, IBM, Leiden University, Dutch Blockchain Coalition and TU Delft. Read more (in Dutch).
• HERoS project
  Traditional models of disease outbreaks largely focus on infection rates, not taking into account the tremendous uncertainties associated to human behavior in the response to an epidemic. In the EU H2020 HERoS project (Health Emergency Response in interconnected Systems), researchers of the faculty of TPM, as part of a larger consortium, will integrate behavioral and informational dynamics in epidemiological and supply-chain models.
• Corona in refugee camps
  Tina Comes works on a project funded by 4TU.RE to study the implications of corona in refugee camps.
• Long-term implications of rapid decisions in times of corona
  Tina Comes works together with Marjolijn Haasnoot on an op-ed regarding the long-term implications of the rapid decisions that are now being made.
• Kenny Meesters reinforces Landelijk Operationeel Team Corona
  Kenny Meesters reinforces the Landelijk Operationeel Team Corona (LOT-C) as information manager. He will be structuring flows of information.
• Blog moral values and behaviour in times of corona
  Caspar Chorus wrote a blog presenting insights from the behavioural sciences, with two main topics: a)Why our moral values hardly echo through in our concrete moral actions (panic buying, social distancing); and what can be done to change that. b)Why society is heading towards a gigantically uncomfortable taboo trade-off between human lives and the economy; and how to deal with that.
• The impact of agent-based models during a pandemic
  Emile Chappin is one of the authors of an article in JASSS (an important modelling journal). Title is “Computational Models That Matter During a Global Pandemic Outbreak: A Call to Action”. It addresses the scientific challenges of arriving at meaningful agent-based models in / before the current crisis, describes current models that play a role in crisis policy, describes the agent-based models currently in use and their limitations. It also expresses what the social simulation community wants and can mean in the scientific process to contribute now.
• Coronavirus-simulation model shows effects
  Virginia Dignum and Amineh Ghorbani are part of a team of researchers involved in the development of a coronavirus simulation model. This tool can support decision makers to experiment and evaluate possible interventions and their combined effects in a simulated controlled world. The project is led by Umeå University.
• Research into preferences of Dutch people about phasing out COVID-19 measures
  TPM researchers will use a number of choice experiments to measure the preferences of the Dutch for easing corona measures (exit strategies). This offers RIVM (the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and Environment) and the government insight into the opinion of society. This approach is more structured, more detailed, and provides more reliable information than polls. The experiments are set up in collaboration with RIVM, the Ministry of VWS and scientists from the science vs corona platform. Niek Mouter, Caspar Chorus, Shannon Spruit and Anatol Itten are involved from the Faculty of TPM. The project is financed by the TU Delft Covid-19 response fund.
• Value Design Challenges at the time of COVID-19
  Delft Design for Values institute is making an inventory of how the current work of their researchers intersects with challenges of the pandemic from a value design point of view.
• Corona app
  Seda Gürses is part of a research group that is developing a privacy friendly app to trace corona contacts. More information in this article.