Science4Pandemics presents two Citizen Science projects

The digital platform Science4Pandemics, coordinated by the IRSJD, has launched two new citizen science projects for adolescents between 12 and 17 years old, as well as their parents, to collaborate with the project and provide real data for participatory research on vaccines and clinical trials.

Science4Pandemics aims to foster citizen education among the adolescent population and feed real data into collaborative research on pandemics.

Vaccine hesitancy in adolescents

Vaccines are one of the most effective public health tools available and have enabled the development of the world as we know it today. Every year, they prevent 3.5 to 5 million deaths from diseases such as measles, tetanus, whooping cough, influenza, and diphtheria. Despite this, there is a lot of misinformation around them, especially on social media, which can affect how young people perceive vaccines.

To better understand this issue and to be able to combat it with real data, the citizen science platform Science4Pandemics has launched a questionnaire aimed at children aged 12 - 17, as well as their parents, to find out how young people perceive vaccines.

Digitisation of clinical trials

Clinical trials are a key step in the discovery of new drugs and treatments, and are of great help to advance medicine. They usually involve evaluating new health interventions by assessing their effects on human health outcomes. Both adults and children can participate in clinical trials. However, recruitment and retention of patients, especially children, appears to be one of the main challenges that scientists face.

In order to make the most of clinical trials and help bring forward new and effect health interventions, we have created a questionnaire for adolescents aged 12-17 and their parents. This questionnaire aims to identify preferences for the use of digital technologies in clinical trial participation among young people.

Take part by answering the questionnaires that you will find in the web from the November or helping to spread the word! Register and participate!

MULTIDISCIPLINARY CONSORTIUM

Science4Pandemics (S4P) is a multidisciplinary consortium coordinated by the IRSJD/Sant Joan de Déu Research Foundation that comprises various institutions from Spain, Portugal and Italy, including the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), the University of Barcelona (UB), the University of Coimbra (UC), the Borja Institute of Bioethics (IBB), the Pedro Nunes Institute, the Fondazione Penta Onlus and its paediatric research network, the company Exheus and the pharmaceutical manufacturers Sanofi and GSK. In addition, this Europe-wide project will enjoy the active collaboration of UNICEF and the "la Caixa" Foundation on educational and outreach activities.