COVID-19
![Medieval painting of young ladies and men in a church](https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/image/0014/111047/varieties/375w.webp)
Arts & Culture
The Decameron: Medieval lockdown project or ‘wine-soaked sex romp’?
Boccaccio’s fourteenth-century masterpiece, now a Netflix series, shows the universality of human responses to a pandemic (along with some sex)
![How a simulation is informing COVID-19 vaccine policy after our ‘return to normal’ thumbnail image](https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/image/0026/109709/varieties/375w.webp)
Health & Medicine
How a simulation is informing COVID-19 vaccine policy after our ‘return to normal’
A new model can simulate thousands of ‘individuals’ – each with their own vaccination and infection histories – tailoring vaccine schedules as new COVID-19 variants emerge
![Black Summer showed we’re good in an emergency but bad in a crisis thumbnail image](https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/image/0027/73890/varieties/375w.jpg)
Environment
Book extract
Black Summer showed we’re good in an emergency but bad in a crisis
Australia’s emergency response to bushfire is “exemplary” but we repeatedly fail to deal with the climate crises that cause disasters
![The rise and fall in Australia’s life expectancy during the pandemic thumbnail image](https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/image/0028/74782/varieties/375w.jpg)
Health & Medicine
The rise and fall in Australia’s life expectancy during the pandemic
Australia is a valuable international case study into life expectancy trends during the COVID-19 pandemic
![Peer support groups connect people living with a brain injury thumbnail image](https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/image/0021/75126/varieties/375w.jpg)
Health & Medicine
Peer support groups connect people living with a brain injury
A collaboration between the University of Melbourne and Brain Injury Matters is learning from adults with a brain injury what peer support groups mean to them
![The COVID cost for Asia’s informal workers thumbnail image](https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/image/0019/75700/varieties/375w.jpg)
Politics & Society
Book extract
The COVID cost for Asia’s informal workers
A new book investigates the ravages of the COVID-19 impact on people in the informal economy across Southeast and South Asia
![Lockdown at sea a lesson in sustainable shipping thumbnail image](https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/image/0021/76071/varieties/375w.jpg)
Environment
Lockdown at sea a lesson in sustainable shipping
To combat climate change we need to decarbonise international shipping. Powering cargo ships with wind should be part of the solution
![More resilient than we thought during lockdown thumbnail image](https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/image/0028/76492/varieties/375w.jpg)
Health & Medicine
More resilient than we thought during lockdown
New research finds that many people coped relatively well emotionally during Melbourne’s long COVID-19 lockdowns – but with caveats.
![The unexpected drop in intimate partner violence thumbnail image](https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/image/0030/76755/varieties/375w.jpg)
Health & Medicine
The unexpected drop in intimate partner violence
It should be exciting to say that cases of violence against women dropped during COVID, but we need to understand the big picture
![The older Asian Australians boosting health literacy thumbnail image](https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/image/0032/76775/varieties/375w.jpg)
Arts & Culture
The older Asian Australians boosting health literacy
COVID-19 exposed the shortcomings of Australia’s public health communication to older culturally and linguistically diverse communities