During these testing times it’s reassuring to hear about all of the hard work being done by the Churchill Community to both manage and inform about the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as other work and achievements that have taken place. Here’s what has been happening in the last few days.

COVID-19

Statistician Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter co-wrote an article for The Guardian called “Coronavirus statistics: what can we trust and what should we ignore?”, and has been speaking about the suggestion that the UK could have the worst death toll in Europe.

Head of the Institute of Manufacturing, Professor Tim Minshall, has spoken about how the IfM has been helping out to coordinate local manufacturing activities in response to the changing needs of the local healthcare system. He has also spoken about how Cambridge engineers have been supporting colleagues at Addenbrooke’s to plan their response to the anticipated ‘surge’ of activity.

Social psychologist Dr Sander van der Linden has been speaking about how we can persuade people to stay at home through looking at the history of human behaviour.

Postgraduate student and Churchill Scholar Anita Qualls (G19) has set up an organisation called Feed the Frontlines GA, to raise money for meals for doctors, nurses, and support staff in her native Georgia.

Senior Research Fellow and Computer Scientist, Professor Ross Anderson, discussed a new Covid-19 tracking app and the problems with contact tracing in the real world.

The Møller Institute is providing much needed accommodation for key workers from Addenbrooke’s Hospital to support their strategy in planning for the escalation of COVID-19.

IN OTHER NEWS

Junior Research Fellow Dr Leor Zmigrod has been awarded the prestigious 2020 Glushko Prize in Cognitive Science by the Cognitive Science Society. The prize seeks to “honour young researchers conducting ground-breaking research in cognitive science”.

Churchill Scholar and computational biologist Gabriella Heller (G14) has been named a 2020 Schmidt Science Fellow. The program will support her for one year as a postdoctoral researcher to explore new experimental techniques. They also provide incredible training for scientists in leadership, policy, and communication.

We will continue to keep you informed of all of the work being done by the Churchill College Community. If you have any news you would like to share, please get in touch by emailing comms.manager@chu.cam.ac.uk.