Digital technologies resilience framework for pandemics: Lessons learned from COVID-19

The unexpected onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and its devastating impact on society raised questions about the preparedness of nations for pandemics. Although the G7 is composed of the wealthiest nations in the world, their economies were the hardest hit by COVID-19. Despite the huge investment made by G7 nations in digital technology interventions during the pandemic, the levels of success in the adoption and use of digital technologies were very low, raising questions about the resilience of the technologies and the resilience of the citizens in times of pandemics. Currently, there is no digital resilience framework for the diffusion of digital technologies during pandemics. The study would use a mixed methods design to evaluate and compare the lived experiences of citizens from the G7 countries with digital technology interventions during the pandemic to develop a catalogue of lessons learned and a technology resilience framework for future pandemics.

Research team: Dr Michael Dzandu (University of Westminster), Professor Sergio De Cesare (University of Westminster), Professor Yinshan Tang (University of Reading) and Professor Richard Evans (Dalhousie University)