What are the novel findings of this work? Preterm delivery occurred in a higher proportion of women with SARS-CoV-2 infection in the PAN-COVID and AAP-SONPM registries compared to contemporaneous and historical national data from uninfected women in the UK and USA. The majority of preterm deliveries occurred between 32 + 0 and 36 + 6 weeks' gestation. SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnancy did not appear to be associated with a clinically significant effect on fetal growth, adverse neonatal outcome or the rate of stillbirth. Although maternal death was uncommon, the rate was higher than expected based on UK and USA population data, which is likely explained by underascertainment of women affected by milder or asymptomatic infection in pregnancy in the PAN-COVID study, although not in the AAP-SONPM study. What are the clinical implications of this work? Pregnant women should be counseled that SARS-CoV-2 infection increases the risk of preterm delivery but not stillbirth, early neonatal death or a small baby. Healthcare providers should recommend SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in pregnant women and women planning pregnancy, alongside enhanced social distancing.

Manufacturing has been the key factor limiting rollout of vaccination during the COVID-19 pandemic, requiring rapid development and large-scale implementation of novel manufacturing technologies. ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AZD1222, Vaxzevria) is an efficacious vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, based upon an adenovirus vector. We describe the development of a process for the production of this vaccine and others based upon the same platform, including novel features to facilitate very large-scale production. We discuss the process economics and the "distributed manufacturing"

RHD remains a significant cause of premature mortality for Aboriginal people in the Kimberley, with mortality rates unmatched in the general Australian population since the first half of the 20th century. Efforts to reduce progression of this disease through RHD Register and Control Programs are crucial alongside action to address underlying socioeconomic and environmental inequities.

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The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) experienced the worst air quality in the world for several consecutive days following the 2019–2020 Australian bushfires. With a focus on asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), this retrospective study examined the neighborhood-level risk factors for these diseases from 2011 to 2013, including household distance to hospital emergency departments (ED) and general practices (GP) and area-level socioeconomic disadvantage and demographic characteristics at a high spatial resolution. Poisson and Geographically Weighted Poisson Regression (GWR) were compared to examine the need for spatially explicit models. GWR performed significantly better, with rates of both respiratory diseases positively associated with area-level socioeconomic disadvantage. Asthma rates were positively associated with increasing distance from a hospital. Increasing distance to GP was not associated with asthma or COPD rates. These results suggest that respiratory health improvements could be made by prioritizing areas of socioeconomic disadvantage. The ACT has a relatively high density of GP that is geographically well spaced. This distribution of GP could be leveraged to improve emergency response planning in the future.

The Leicester Institute for Advanced Studies (LIAS) was established in 2017 to provide a stimulating and collaborative environment for interdisciplinary research at the University of Leicester, and beyond. The programme of activity in LIAS has been designed to encourage and support researchers from across all academic disciplines to explore new ways of working together, and we have celebrated some amazing successes with interdisciplinary teams over the past three years. With the LIAS vision and values firmly embedded in the university’s research culture, we are always looking for new ways to support interdisciplinary excellence – and 2020 presented a new challenge and opportunity for LIAS in the form of the global COVID-19 pandemic.The COVID-19 crisis is a global challenge that highlights why interdisciplinary research is so important, and it provides LIAS with an exciting opportunity to launch our first thematic programme of activity. The aim of this approach is to catalyse and galvanise an ambitious, challenge-led interdisciplinary research programme focused on pandemics (including, but not exclusive to, COVID-19). LIAS’ goal is to provide a platform for colleagues from all three faculties to build a thematic research community who will, together, develop and deliver transformative research.Our first step was to convene an ‘Advanced Study Group’ (ASG). An ASG comprises research leaders across a range of disciplines, and provides an opportunity to work on ideas or interlinked research problems in order to set the landscape, priorities and potential sub-themes for the future programme. The ASG is intended to provide its members with the opportunity to think in new interdisciplinary ways, discuss and test ideas, and align the pandemics theme with University of Leicester research strengths. In order to support this goal, and provide independent and external feedback, we invited Dr Laura Meagher (Edinburgh) to be the ASG ‘Critical Friend’ and facilitator.This Working Paper is the product of the ASG conversations, held in July 2020. It is evidence of the University of Leicester’s exceptionally collegiate and inclusive research environment, and the extraordinarily creative, confident thinkers who operate across our Colleges. It also speaks to the three values that underpin the pandemics thematic programme, and LIAS’s mission within Leicester more widely: interdisciplinarity, inclusivity, and integrity.As we navigate our way through the pandemic as a university – and indeed as a city – the ASG has shown that by providing structures and processes by which we can work together, we can achieve more collectively than we can individually. I am excited to see what the pandemics programme will deliver in the coming months. We are, in this moment, Citizens of Change.

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