‘Healthy Campus’ Hubs Proposal

This project won the "Build a thing" prize on our Pandemics (Sept 2024) course. The text below is an excerpt from the final project.

Universities across the UK act as a geographical ‘hub’ bringing students together from across the country and globally as well. Bringing people together from different geographical locations to live and study in close proximity provides incredible opportunities to young people, from both a developmental and career perspective. However, universities (especially at the start of each academic year) are also the perfect place for exchange of pathogens at alarmingly high transmission rates, especially viral and bacterial respiratory infections. In the past, this has been taken for granted; something to joke about, a shared experience that unites university students. But the COVID-19 pandemic has called into light the risks that unchecked transmission at universities can pose to both students and institutions.

With the outbreak of a more serious infection that rivals or surpasses COVID-19 in terms of virulence and/or transmissibility, universities with their current levels of health screening and infrastructure would be put on lockdown. This threatens the mental health and productivity of students, as well as posing a significant financial burden and closure risk to institutions. Closure of universities during a novel pandemic could really hurt academic progress.

Full project

You can view the full project here.