PROTECT COVID-19 Conference on transmission and environment

On 17-18 November 2021, around 100 researchers from across the PROTECT COVID-19 National Core Study on transmission and environment came together in person for the programme’s first conference.

They were joined at the University of Manchester by a number of government policymakers and industry stakeholders to shape and engage with the latest science on how the COVID-19 virus transmits, and how to stop it.

Day one provided an important opportunity for PROTECT researchers to exchange knowledge and ideas with colleagues from other projects, explore opportunities for inter-disciplinary collaboration, and discuss innovative research responses to the ongoing challenge of understanding and controlling transmission of the COVID-19 virus as the UK unlocks.

On day two, researchers benefited from the opportunity to present to and engage directly with policymakers and stakeholders to further develop their understanding of the challenges of managing virus transmission in current real-world scenarios, helping to ensure their research remains relevant, useful and impactful. Meanwhile, those stakeholders gained a greater understanding of how to apply the science to their own policy and operational challenges.

The day two plenary sessions were also livestreamed free and online for the benefit of all interested parties, including researchers, policymakers, businesses, and the broader public.  Catch-up by watching all the recorded sessions on our YouTube channel.

Recordings and slide sets from the plenary sessions can also be accessed below:

  • Opening plenary: Evidence needs for controlling virus transmission, from this pandemic to the next – video
  • Plenary 2: Understanding the role of virus characteristics in transmission – video, slides
  • Plenary 3: Understanding the role of environmental factors in virus transmission – video, slides
  • Plenary 4: Understanding the role of human behaviour in virus transmission – video, slides

Conference programme

Day 1: PROTECT researchers

In-person attendance for PROTECT internal/research colleagues only (no livestream).

12:00-13:00 Registration and lunch
Cold boxed lunch; soft drinks; tea and coffee; biscuits
Interactive science fair exhibits/demonstrations

13:00-13:30 PROTECT all-colleague meeting
Welcome address and objectives for the day
Professor Andrew Curran, Chief Scientific Adviser, Health and Safety Executive

Research theme lead introductions
Dr Yiqun Chen and Dr Derek Morgan, Health and Safety Executive
Professor Cath Noakes, University of Leeds
Professor Martie Van-Tongeren, University of Manchester
Allan Bennett, UK Health Security Agency

Icebreaker: perceptions of transmission risk (phone required for this activity)
Professor Martie Van-Tongeren, University of Manchester

13:30-15:00 Parallel theme-based workshops: evaluating and looking forwards
Work package/project introductions/lightning talks
Cross-project group work: facilitated by their respective theme leads, researchers from PROTECT’s five research themes will workshop responses to a number of key programme evaluation questions:

  • To what extent have we answered the key questions we set out to address?
  • What evidence statements can we make about transmission of the COVID-19 virus, and
    at what level of confidence, based on PROTECT research?
  • What evidence gaps remain and how should they be prioritised?
  • What interdisciplinary methods and collaborations are needed to fill the gaps?

Responses will be captured visually and fed back for open discussion during the wrap-up session at the start of day 2.

Workshop leads:
Theme 1: Dr Yiqun Chen and Dr Derek Morgan, Health and Safety Executive
Theme 2: Professor Cath Noakes, University of Leeds
Theme 3: Professor Martie Van-Tongeren, University of Manchester
Themes 4 & 5: Allan Bennett, UK Health Security Agency

15:00-15:30 Tea break and cross-theme networking
Tea and coffee; biscuits
Interactive science fair exhibits/demonstrations

15:30-17:00 Cross-theme knowledge café
Attendees will be split into small cross-theme groups, which will rotate around five or six tables hosted by researchers from different projects in 18-minute intervals to learn about their work and relate it to their own. Groups will be allocated to one of three circuits:

CIRCUIT 1

  • Outbreak investigations (Chris Keen & Gillian Frost, T1)
  • QMRA modelling (Simon Parker & Mark Cherrie, T2)
  • Developing directed acyclic graphs for epidemiological analysis (Jack Wilkinson &
  • Sarah Rhodes, T3)
  • Environmental surface sampling (Barry Atkinson & Iain Nichols, T4)
  • Surfaces and transmission (Richard Thomas, T4)
  • IMADGENN – aerosol and droplet sampling (Ginny Moore & Nicola Yaxley, T4)

CIRCUIT 2

  • Outbreak data analysis (Joseph Januszewski & Anne Clayson, T1)
  • Analysing behaviour from CCTV (Phil James and Jennine Jonczyk, T2)
  • Measuring ventilation in real buildings (Abigail Hathway & Cristina Rodriguez-Rivero, T2)
  • Risk ranking work and social contact scenarios (Nicola Gartland & Anna Coleman, T3)
  • Animal transmission models (Jie Zhou, T5)

CIRCUIT 3

  • Outbreak heat map and risk model (Timothy Aldridge, T1)
  • Using CFD modelling to understand transmission (Tim Foat & Matt Ivings, T2)
  • Areas of enduring prevalence: underlying causes and hypotheses (Cath Lewis & Sheena Johnson, T3)
  • Sampling infectious cases (Chris O’Callaghan & Susan Gould, T4)
  • Survival and transmission on skin (Alex Byrne, T5)

 

Other points:

  • Second presentation in plenary 2 – replace Ginny Moore with Nicola Yaxley, UK Heath Security Agency
  • First presentation, plenary 4 – remove Joseph Januszewski, Anne will present solo
  • Third presentation, plenary 4  – remove Angelique Hartwig, it will just be Cath and Sheena

17:00-18:00 Researcher reception and networking
Soft drinks; tea and coffee; biscuits

18:00-20:00 Dinner
Hot fork buffet (bowl food); welcome drink; cash bar

Day 2: All delegates

In-person attendance for PROTECT research colleagues and invited external stakeholders; plenary sessions livestreamed for online external attendees.

9:00-10:30 Filling the blank page: wrap-up session for PROTECT internal/research colleagues
Chair: Dr Derek Morgan, Health and Safety Executive

Presenting back of evaluation workshop responses from day 1
Town hall discussion of identified themes and next steps

10:15-10:45 Registration for in-person external attendees
Tea and coffee; biscuits

10:45-11:45 Opening plenary: Evidence needs for controlling virus transmission, from this pandemic to the next
Chair: Professor Andrew Curran, Chief Scientific Adviser, Health and Safety Executive

COVID-19 has thrown into relief the research and analytical capacity needed to respond effectively to fast-moving global pandemics, with scientists thrust into the public spotlight as never before. However, there has also been a need to ensure research is generating useful insights that can be translated into advice for policy and practice and applied to real-world challenges by end users, including government, industry, and the general public.

In this session, a select panel of such evidence users will discuss how research on the dynamics of virus transmission did (or didn’t) inform their COVID-19 responses, and what we can learn from this for future pandemics.

Opening remarks:
Sarah Albon, Chief Executive, Health and Safety Executive (pre-recorded)

Panel members:
Professor Paul Monks, Chief Scientific Adviser, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Fliss Bennee, Deputy Director for Technology, Digital and Innovation for Health and Social Services, Welsh Government
Emer O’Connell, Senior Public Health Advisor, COVID-19 Public Health Advice, Guidance and Expertise (PHAGE), UK Health Security Agency

11:45-12:00 Tea break and networking
Tea and coffee; biscuits
Interactive science fair exhibits/demonstrations

12:00-12:45 Plenary 2: Understanding the role of virus characteristics in transmission
Chair: Professor Wendy Barclay, Head of Department of Infectious Disease and Chair in Influenza Virology, Imperial College London

The rate of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) is largely determined by the interaction of three sets of factors: the characteristics of the virus itself, the physical environment it is in, and the behaviour of people in that environment.

This session will examine the first set of factors, relating to the characteristics of the COVID19 virus itself. Drawing on PROTECT research, the speakers will present and discuss what we know about how SARS-CoV-2 behaves, from its incubation period and infectivity to its ability to survive on and transfer between surfaces. The impact of different variants will be considered, as will the methods developed to study the virus and how they may be deployed in the face of future pandemics.

Professor Chris O’Callaghan, Professor of Respiratory and Paediatric Medicine, UCL – Recovering viable virus from environmental samples

Dr Susan Gould, HCID Clinical Fellow, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and Ginny Moore, Senior Project Team Leader for Indoor Built Environment and Transmission of Infection, UK Health Security Agency – IMADGENN: sampling aerosols and droplets for the COVID-19 virus

Professor Wendy Barclay, Head of Department of Infectious Disease and Chair in Influenza Virology, Imperial College London – COVID-19 Human Challenge Studies

Q&A and panel discussion

12:45-14:00 Lunch
Cold boxed lunch; soft drinks; tea and coffee; biscuits
Interactive science fair exhibits/demonstrations

14:00-14:45 Plenary 3: Understanding the role of environmental factors in virus transmission
Chair: Professor Cath Noakes, Professor of Environmental Engineering for Buildings, University of Leeds

Following on from the theme of the previous plenary, this session examines the second set of factors affecting transmission of the COVID-19 virus: the physical environment it takes place in. Using PROTECT research, the speakers will present and discuss what we know about how these environmental factors affect transmission, and what we can change to create more ‘infection resilient’ environments – now and in preparation for future pandemics.

Chris Keen, Occupational Hygienist, Health and Safety Executive – COVID-OUT: outbreak investigations to understand workplace transmission in the UK

Dr Simon Coldrick, Senior Scientist, Health and Safety Executive – Modelling the physics of aerosol and droplet dispersion

Sarah Beale, PhD researcher, UCL – Occupational risk of COVID-19 virus transmission

Q&A and panel discussion

14:45-15:00 Tea break and networking
Tea and coffee; biscuits
Interactive science fair exhibits/demonstrations

15:00-15:45 Plenary 4: Understanding the role of human behaviour in virus transmission
Chair: Dr David Fishwick, Chief Medical Adviser, Health and Safety Executive

The third of three connected plenaries, this session will examine the third set of factors affecting transmission of the COVID-19 virus: human behaviour. Drawing on PROTECT research, the speakers will present and discuss how the way we act in different settings and with different people can influence the spread of the virus, the role of public perceptions, and how behaviour can be effectively influenced in ways that will help us control both this pandemic and the next one.

Joseph Januszewski, Data Science Team Lead, Health and Safety Executive, and Anne Clayson, Senior Lecturer in Occupational Hygiene, University of Manchester – Analyses of COVID-19 outbreak data in the UK

Dr Miranda Loh, Head of Environment and Public Health, Institute of Occupational Medicine – How much do I touch my face? Modelers want to know – Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment for COVID-19

Professor Sheena Johnson, Professor of Work Psychology and Wellbeing, Cath Lewis, Researcher, and Angelique Hartwig, Lecturer in Organisational Psychology, University of Manchester – Contributing factors and mitigation strategies for areas of enduring COVID-19 prevalence: a qualitative study with Directors of Public Health.

Q&A and panel discussion

15:45-16:00 Closing remarks
Wrap-up and reflections
Professor Andrew Curran, Chief Scientific Adviser, Health and Safety Executive

Science fair

Throughout the breaks in this programme, you will see time set aside for attendees to visit interactive ‘science fair’ exhibits and demonstrations. These will be located in the reception and networking spaces of the conference venue, and will give delegates the chance to engage directly with research methods and equipment being employed by researchers from different elements of the PROTECT programme, gaining a greater understanding of where our data comes from. Exhibits will range from instruments used to measure viral emissions and surface transfer, through computer models that predict the spread of airborne particles, to facial recognition and finger tracking technology.

Attendees will also have the chance to participate in ‘citizen science’ activities throughout the day, such as responding to snap qualitative polls on perception of transmission risk, and to visit poster presentations on PROTECT research.

Speakers and panellists

Opening plenary

Round headshot of Professor Andrew CurranChair: Professor Andrew Curran, Chief Scientific Adviser, Health and Safety Executive

Professor Andrew Curran is the Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA) and Director of Research at the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). During his 29-year career with HSE he has been a bench scientist, has led a number of teams, and has a significant publication record in the field of occupational health and safety. He has responsibility for ensuring that HSE has access to the evidence it needs to underpin policy and regulatory decision making. He is also Head of Profession for HSE’s scientists, engineers and physicians, and sits on the Government’s GSE Professions Board, where he is also Deputy Head of the Profession under Sir Patrick Vallance.

Andrew is part of the Government CSA network, and during the COVID-19 pandemic has been an active participant in the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), as well as leading the PROTECT National Core Study. He has oversight of HSE’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Workplace Health, is the Chair of the Sheffield Group (the global network of national health and safety research organisations), a member of the Steering Group of PEROSH (the Partnership for European Research in Occupational Safety and Health), and supports HSE’s role as a Collaborating Centre in Occupational Safety and Health. Andrew is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and the Chartered Management Institute, an Honorary Fellow of the UK Faculty of Occupational Medicine, and an Honorary Professor at the universities of Sheffield and Manchester, where he co-Directs the Centre for Workplace Health and the Thomas Ashton Institute for Risk and Regulatory Research respectively.

Opening remarks: Sarah Albon, Chief Executive, Health and Safety ExecutiveRound headshot of Sarah Albon

A career civil servant with a strong commitment to the delivery of effective and accountable public services, Sarah took up post as Chief Executive of the Health and Safety Executive in September 2019. Prior to this, she was Chief Executive of the Insolvency Service from February 2015, guiding the agency through a period of major transformative change and leading the response to a number of high-profile corporate failures, including the liquidations of Carillion and British Steel.

Before undertaking these Chief Executive roles, Sarah spent much of her career working in the Ministry of Justice and its predecessor departments, including most recently as Director of Strategy and Change for Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service; her wider work in those departments spanned a number of areas including policy, strategy, finance and operational delivery.

Sarah also acts as Mediation Champion for the Civil Service, working with colleagues across Whitehall to publicise the benefits of mediation in the workplace as an alternative method of dispute resolution.

Panellist: Professor Paul Monks, Chief Scientific Adviser, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)

Paul MonksPrior to joining BEIS, Paul was Pro-Vice Chancellor and Head of College of Science and Engineering at the University of Leicester, where he remains a Professor in Atmospheric Chemistry and Earth Observation Science.

His research experience covers the broad areas of air quality, atmospheric composition and climate change that has provided a platform for translation into diverse areas including forensic science, CBRN, microbiology and food safety, natural resource management and breathomics (breath analysis as a medical diagnostic).

Paul Chaired the Defra Air Quality Expert Group for 10 years and was Deputy Chair of the Defra Science Advisory Council, alongside roles in the UKRI-NERC advice structures. He has worked internationally as the European representative on the Environmental Pollution and Atmospheric Chemistry Scientific Steering Committee of the World Meteorological Organisation and the International Commission on Atmospheric Chemistry and Global Pollution.

Panellist: Fliss Bennee, Deputy Director for Technology, Digital and Innovation for Health and Social Services, Welsh GovernmentHeadshot of Fliss Bennee

Fliss Bennee is the Co-Chair of the Welsh Technical Advisory Group, and has jointly led the emergency science advice response for COVID-19 in Wales.

Having spent most of her career in the civil service, her passion is for clear communication and understanding of science, technology and data as enablers of public policy. Before joining the Welsh Government, Fliss has held roles at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Cabinet Office, Government Digital Service, Home Office and Charity Commission. Whether investigating social capital, charity legislation, IT portfolio outcomes or data policy, she finds it all comes down to finding out what the true user needs are before designing a project.

In her current role, Fliss is responsible for providing high quality, impartial scientific and technical advice to Welsh Government Ministers and Officials, and contributing to the wider UK effort to minimise harms arising from COVID-19 and the pandemic response. She has found the National Core Studies programmes immensely useful in supporting these objectives.

Panellist: Emer O’Connell, Senior Public Health Advisor, COVID-19 Public Health Advice, Guidance and Expertise (PHAGE), UK Health Security AgencyHeadshot of Emer O Connel

Emer O’Connell is a Consultant in Public Health working as a Senior Public Health Advisor in the COVID-19 Public Health Advice Guidance and Expertise (PHAGE) function of the UK Health Security Agency. During the pandemic, she has led on a number of key policy topics for PHAGE, including deaths management and community face coverings.

Prior to COVID-19, the focus of her work was the interface between health and the environment. She was Head of the Extreme Events and Health Protection team at Public Health England, leading on flooding, heatwave, and climate adaptation. Before that, she worked for Transport for London on a range of issues including their policies to reduce air pollution in the capital.

She has a Master’s in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a Master’s in Environmental Technology from Imperial College London. For her PhD, she conducted an assessment of the Environmental Burden of Disease in the Republic of Ireland.

 

Plenary 2

Round headshot of Professor Wendy BarclayChair: Professor Wendy Barclay, Head of Department of Infectious Disease and Chair in Influenza Virology, Imperial College London

Professor Wendy Barclay is the Action Medical Research Chair in Virology and Head of the Department of Infectious Disease at Imperial College London. Wendy’s expertise is in the field of respiratory viruses, in particular influenza virus but now also SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that caused COVID-19), and the mechanisms by which viruses can cross from animal sources into humans to cause new pandemics. After graduating from Cambridge University, Wendy’s postgraduate study at the Common Cold Unit in Salisbury involved infecting human volunteers with cold viruses to understand why people keep getting colds year after year. In her two postdoctoral appointments, at the University of Reading and then Mount Sinai Medical Centre in New York, Wendy learned the molecular virology skills that would form the technological basis of her research career. Upon returning to Reading in 1995 to a junior lectureship, she set up her research group to study influenza viruses. In May 2007 she moved to Imperial College London. Wendy’s expert advice is sought by several advisory boards about respiratory virus outbreaks, and she has also worked extensively with the Science Media Centre, whose aim is to improve the relationship between scientists and the media. She leads Theme 5 of the PROTECT study.

Speaker: Professor Chris O’Callaghan, Professor of Respiratory and Paediatric Medicine, UCL

Biography to follow.

Speaker: Dr Susan Gould, HCID Clinical Fellow, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

Biography to follow.

Speaker: Nicola Yaxley, UK Health Security Agency

Biography to follow.

 

Plenary 3

Chair: Professor Cath Noakes, Professor of Environmental Engineering for Buildings, University of Leedsround headshot of Professor Cath Noakes

Professor Cath Noakes OBE is a chartered mechanical engineer, with a background in fluid dynamics. She leads research into ventilation, indoor air quality and infection control in the built environment. Her research focuses on experimental and modelling based studies, to explore the transport of airborne pathogens, the influence of indoor airflows, and the effectiveness of engineering approaches to controlling airborne disease transmission, including within healthcare settings.

Cath is currently Deputy Director of Leeds Institute for Fluid Dynamics, and Co-Director of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Fluid Dynamics. Since April 2020 she has been involved in the UK’s COVID-19 response, leading the Environment and Modelling sub-group of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), focusing on the science underpinning environmental transmission of COVID-19. Cath leads Theme 2 of the PROTECT study.

Speaker: Chris Keen, Occupational Hygienist, Health and Safety ExecutiveRound headshot of Chris Ken

Chris Keen is a chartered occupational hygienist with 35 years of experience in assessing hazardous substance exposure and risk control strategies. She has worked across a broad range of industries, from the major hazards sector to manufacturing, construction and agriculture. She is technical lead for occupational hygiene at the Health and Safety Executive’s Science and Research Centre in Buxton and is currently president-elect of the British Occupational Hygiene Society.

Speaker: Dr Simon Coldrick, Senior Scientist, Health and Safety ExecutiveHeadshot of Simon Coldric

Simon is a Senior Scientist within the Fluid Dynamics Team working at the HSE Science and Research Centre in Buxton. He is a chartered mechanical engineer and his main areas of activity are in applying a range of modelling techniques to gas dispersion, evaporating liquid flows and building infiltration. As well as model application, Simon is also active in consequence model evaluation and has been involved in two European collaborative projects developing evaluation methods. Since May 2020, Simon has been part of the modelling team contributing to Theme 2 of the PROTECT study.

Speaker: Sarah Beale, PhD researcher, UCLSarah Beale

Sarah Beale is a researcher on the Medical Research Council and National Institute for Health Research-funded Virus Watch study, and a doctoral candidate in epidemiology at University College London, focusing on how occupational exposure shapes acute respiratory infection risk.

 

Plenary 4

Chair: Dr David Fishwick, Chief Medical Adviser, Health and Safety Executive

David is a Consultant Respiratory Physician in the NHS in Sheffield and the Chief Medical Adviser to the Health and Safety Executive. He holds honorary Professorships in Respiratory Medicine at the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester. He is a Co-Director of the Centre for Workplace Health and a member of the UK Independent Scientific Advisory Committee. David is the outgoing Chair of the European Respiratory Society Occupational and Environmental Group. He works actively within the PROTECT study, particularly within Theme 3. He also sat on the HSE-based Decision Making Group for PPE clearance during the COVID-19 pandemic, and actively contributes to much of the work of the Thomas Ashton Institute for Risk and Regulatory Research with The University of Manchester.

Speaker: Anne Clayson, Senior Lecturer in Occupational Hygiene, University of ManchesterHeadshot of Anne Clayson

Anne’s background is in occupational and environmental health, having qualified in Manchester in 1995, and going on to specialise in microbiological risk assessment, management and control in food and the built environment. She represented the Food Standards Agency on the Expert Committee for Pesticide Residues in Food and is currently the UK representative on the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meetings on Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA). Her recent work includes examining Legionella trends in buildings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anne has also held various roles in developing and delivering MSc courses in occupational and environmental health for UK universities and professional bodies. Currently, she is Postgraduate Teaching Lead for the Division of Population Health in the School of Health Sciences at the University of Manchester, and the Programme Director for MSc Occupational Hygiene. She has been involved in several areas of work within the PROTECT study, specifically leading the thematic analysis of HSE outbreak investigation reports.

Speaker: Dr Miranda Loh, Head of Environment and Public Health, Institute of Occupational Medicine

Miranda LohMiranda Loh is Head of Environment and Public Health at the Institute of Occupational Medicine, with expertise in methods for exposure assessment in epidemiology and health risk studies. She has experience with both environmental and biological monitoring and exposure modelling in various UK Research and Innovation and European Commission funded projects. Her areas of research include personal level exposures to indoor and outdoor air pollution, and effectiveness of facemasks and other interventions in protecting against exposure to particles and other pollutants, as well as measuring the COVID-19 virus in the environment and the risk of its environmental transmission in the workplace. She has worked on projects all over the world including China, India, Thailand, and Kenya.

Speaker: Professor Sheena Johnson, Professor of Work Psychology and Wellbeing, University of Manchester

Sheena Johnson is an Occupational and Chartered Psychologist registered with the Health and Care Professions Council, and Professor of Work Psychology and Wellbeing at Alliance Manchester Business School. She is an active researcher into the topics of stress and health and the ageing workforce. Sheena is the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters, regularly presents her work at national and international conferences and sits on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Stress Management, an American Psychological Association journal, and the official journal of the International Stress Management Association.

Sheena is the University of Manchester lead on Social Change and Inequalities at the Thomas Ashton Institute for Risk and Regulatory Research, and sits on the management board of MICRA (Manchester Institute for Collaborative Research on Ageing). She is also a member of both Alliance Manchester Business School’s Work and Equalities Research Institute where she is academic lead for theme 2 ‘Fair Treatment at Work’, and the Division of Occupational Psychology’s Health and Well-Being Working Group.

Speaker: Cath Lewis, Researcher, University of ManchesterHeadshot of Dr Cath Lewis

Cath is a Research Associate at the Thomas Ashton Institute for Risk and Regulatory Research. She is one of the lead researchers on a PROTECT project looking at enduring prevalence of COVID-19, and contributes to several other projects within PROTECT, including a systematic review of risk factors for workplace transmission. She has a background in nursing and has previously worked on a wide range of research projects including a qualitative evaluation of health care provision within secure settings, a review of the health impacts of COVID-19 and a qualitative evaluation of a regional contact tracing system.