ABSTRACT
This work addresses the territorial organization, its interdependencies and urban development in a country faced with the lack of land and town planning, as is the case of the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe. It is based on studies to unfold the potential of new mobile communication technologies and how they can be used to gain knowledge and approaches to different development challenges, mobility issues in particular. This work is backed by an understanding that territory is a resource and a strategic tool for tackling and providing responses to sustainability issues, and as the study shows, to better understand the outbreak of COVID-19 in a territory without planning and one eager to have information on which to base more rationale containing efforts. São Tomé and Príncipe has failed to design and implement sound development plans;public transportation remains one of the issues that suffers from the lack of synergy between urban growth and population needs. This contribution focuses on the feasibility of mining, visualizing and spatializing available 2G/3G geo-tagged data traffic minute-by-minute as a strategic tool to inform decision making towards implementing an interinstitutional approach to minimize the impact of COVID-19. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.
ABSTRACT
Background The way we deliver undergraduate education has changed during the pandemic. Great Ormond Street Hospital Summer School (GSS) is an annual conference that aims to encourage medical students to consider a career in Paediatrics. Since 2020, the GSS has been delivered virtually, becoming accessible for students from the UK and abroad. Aims We analysed the impact of changing the GSS from fully in person to online and hybrid formats on participation, comparing the data from the last four conferences. Results (See figure 1). Discussion The Covid-19 pandemic encouraged us to think creatively on how we can still provide a high-quality educational experience using online technology. Students from different areas of the UK and abroad joined the GSS without incurring travel and accommodation costs. A significant increase in the percentage of international students was observed in 2021, which demonstrates the interest from those outside the UK. With the development of online fatigue and the slow return of clinical placements, we observed a decrease in the number of registrations in 2021 and 2022 compared to 2020. However, the percentage of international students remained above 20%. The conference gave us the opportunity to inspire, educate and share the innovative work we do at GOSH with a much wider audience. Students described their experiences as insightful and inspiring. With the easing of restrictions in 2022, we designed a hybrid conference, involving 2 online days and 1 day with in person workshops. Our challenge now is to continue engaging with students from inside and outside the UK and bring innovative ways to deliver our online conference.
ABSTRACT
Local governments were on the front line in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. They also had to rethink their action mode and carry out a swift digital transition. These changes affected the performance of local democracy, in particular, the nature of Local Executive-Opposition Institutional Relations (LEOIR). Using new survey data on the perceptions of local elected representatives, we run an ordered probit regression model to understand the perceived effect of exceptional measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic on LEOIR in the Portuguese context. The results show, through the lenses of local key informants, that the Executive's capacity to explain to its constituents the exceptional measures adopted and its formal duty to communicate these decisions to the Municipal Assembly have aggravated the conflictual nature of LEOIR. This study contributes to local governance research by elucidating how accountability and communication practices can soothe or aggravate Executive-Opposition institutional tensions in extraordinary times. © 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
ABSTRACT
Introduction Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) Summer School aims to inspire medical students and junior doctors to follow a career in Paediatrics, especially given the low competition ratio in Paediatrics training applications in the last three years. This year we had to move the conference to a virtual environment due to the outbreak of COVID-19. Issues We needed to modify the program to be deliverable as a series of webinars. The Summer School's capacity was increased to 500 participants (Virtually) from 75 (face to face). We explored ways to maintain interactivity, keep engagement, and fulfill our aim to inspire with a much larger group within the virtual environment. Furthermore, we refined our program to reflect the current pandemic. Interventions To reduce digital fatigue, we changed the length of the conference from 2.5 long days to 4 short days. Each day consisted of 3 or 4 webinars and a career panel session. The career panel sessions focus on sharing the individual journey, which was met with great enthusiasm from the participants. We utilized multiple tools to facilitate the interaction with the participants and speakers: Slido (Q and A, poll and quiz), a conference App, social media, and the 'Raise Hand' tool within Zoom. Measurements The conference was well attended with zoom data showed 390, 282,305, and 324 along the four days. Slido showed a high level of engagement with a total of 1005 questions posted and 434 active participants. 344 completed the post-conference survey, 80% voted the conference being excellent, and 100% voted for the continuation of delivering the conference online next year. Lessons Learnt COVID-19 compelled us to run our conference digitally, however we have gained a great deal of experience in management, leadership, and education. We learned the necessity of making rapid decisions and flexible leadership to enable ourselves to deliver quality education during the pandemic.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: The aim of this article is to explore the barriers imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic to Participatory Budgeting (PB), considering the perspective of Brazilian and Portuguese Local Public Administration. Theoretical framework: Recent literature points out that the barriers imposed on PB processes arising from the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic are justified by many leaders due to social distancing measures and the expansion of financial constraints. Design/methodology/approach: An online questionnaire was applied using a Likert-type scale to assess the perception of public officials, in Paraná and Portugal, about the barriers imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic to PB. Through a quantitative approach, data were presented and analyzed using descriptive statistics and the Chi-square test of adherence. Findings: The survey contributors from the Portuguese municipalities indicated that the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the conduct of PB processes. The possible restrictive consequences caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on the realization of PB in the future are not clear, according to the responses obtained in the two contexts analyzed. Research, Practical & Social implications: Future studies may include the perspective of the participants in the process and the possible reduction in the amounts available for the execution of the PB due to the pandemic of COVID-19. Originality/value: COVID-19 alone cannot bring citizens to the periphery of public policy decisions. Difficulties prior to the pandemic, such as the absence of an online platform contributed to limiting the participatory space. © The Author(s), 2022.
ABSTRACT
This contribution, based on the European research Project C3Places, focuses on co-creation of public open spaces and addresses placemaking from the perspective of adolescents. It analyses their spatial practices and needs and the co-produced ideas for a teenagers-sensitive public space. The Project results must be seen in the context of the pandemic SARS-CoV-2 which is challenging the urban fabric, placemaking and research continuity. More than ever, it is crucial to develop strategies for inclusive and responsive public spaces. This paper aims to: 1) introduce the dynamics and insights acquired in a case-study with teenage students in Lisbon;2) review the literature related to urban planning, especially in the public space production and consumption, in the context of the global pandemic;and 3) reflect on the ontological and methodological challenges that placemaking faces as a response to call for collaborative approaches. 2021 (Smaniotto Costa, C., Batista, J.S., Menezes, M.)
ABSTRACT
Background Social Media is an accompanying staple to conferences but also allows attendees who are attending virtually to interact with the day. GOSH Summer School (GSS) is normally run as a face to face event but had to be moved to a virtual set up this year due to the impact of Covid-19. This forced our attendees to change the way they networked and interacted with the day and how we dispersed education to the attendees. Methods Two main accounts were used to document the day;Twitter: @GOSHPGME and Instagram: @pgme.education. Positive feedback, attendees 'set ups' and screenshots (in replace of taking photos) of the talks were shared. Attendees were encouraged to use the hashtag #GoshSummerSchool or send photos to GOSH PGME Instagram. Results The PGME Twitter account gained 155 followers and was mentioned 196 times. This resulted in 2351 profile visits to the account and overall, 56.1K impressions were made throughout GSS. On Instagram, 24 posts were made and gained 77 new followers. There was an average of 30.5 likes, 0.5 comments, 3.9 post sends, 5.9 post saves, 26.6 profile visits and 436 views per post. 50 posts per day were added to the story feature of Instagram mainly featuring attendee set ups and opinions of the talks given. During the GSS, a survey about which additional resources students use to gain knowledge in medicine, social medial received 48% votes. Discussion The engagement statistics and broad use of social media to compliment the GSS shows how it can be used to increase engagement on virtual conferences. The uptake of social media interaction shows the potential of the platform to enable increased engagement and sharing of medical education. This also enables the increase of long-distance attendees allowing GOSH to open medical education beyond London schools and even worldwide.
ABSTRACT
Background GOSH Summer School (GSS) is a conference for medical students and early career trainees. It has been run as a face-to-face event in the previous two years. COVID-19 outbreak challenged us to reformat the conference digitally. Methods The GSS was run over four days, and the programme had main themes on each day: General Paediatric, Surgery and Innovation, Global health and COVID, and Paediatric Sub-specialties. The conference was hosted as webinar/ Q&A sessions;questions were submitted via a digital platform with anonymous options. Participants were encouraged to interact via conference App. Results 60% of the registrations were medical students from year 4 and 5. 630 different users logged in to the conference, with an average of 300 participants per session compared to 50-75, in the previous two years. According to the daily polls, GSS was the first virtual conference for 59% of the participants since the pandemic;58% preferred to ask questions using an online written platform, 4% preferred to speak directly, and 38% chose both. About the most productive method to deliver education, 36% chose face-to-face sessions, 34% Webinars, and 22% felt these two methods were considered equal. 78% voted that our format of 30 minutes presentation with 15 minutes Q &A was 'about right.' 69% felt our current format of 4-5 hours per day of webinar time was considered the best option. About 227 participants joined the conference App. 346 participants completed the post-conference survey, and 100% voted to continue the online format for next year's conference. Discussion The online GSS was as successful as the previous face-to-face events. We have learned that digital platforms can efficiently deliver high-quality education, promote interaction and engagement with the participants, and reach a larger number of students.