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One Society Network

Background:

The One Society Network was funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) under their Emerging Infectious Disease Modeling (EIDM) Initiative (https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/FundingDecisions ).

Background

The Network connected researchers across Canada, working to understand the broad impacts of infectious diseases, like COVID-19, and related public health policies.   It operated between 2021 and 2024. It is one of five (5) new, interconnected research networks announced by PHAC and NSERC on April 9th, 2021, in order to build Canada’s capacity to understand and manage pandemic threats, inform public health measures and complement PHAC’s existing modelling initiatives, by allowing for vital information sharing in a timely manner. 

While other networks focus on building Canada’s epidemiological modeling capacity, the One Society Network complements their efforts by providing connections with leading academic researchers in other sectors, including those specializing in economics, education, the environment, Indigenous populations, marginalized communities, and other areas of health.

Leadership: The Network was led by Vic Adamowitz, Ph.D. (University of Alberta) and Chris Cotton, Ph.D. (John Deutsch Institute for the Study of Economic Policy, Queen’s University), and Chris McCabe, Ph.D, former CEO of the Institute of Health Economics and managed by Ellen Rafferty, Ph.D. (Institute of Health Economics). The Network grew out of previous cross-sectoral collaborations among network members to assess COVID-19 policy, including the Royal Society of Canada’s COVID-19 working group on economic recovery, Global Canada’s COVID Strategic Choices Group, and Canada’s Digital Technology Supercluster Looking Glass project.

Scientific committee and partners: The One Society Network brings together researchers with expertise in health, macroeconomics, the environment, education, agriculture, transportation, marginalized communities and labour markets, as well as epidemiologists, mathematicians and health policy experts from universities and organizations across the country. Our core team includes researchers from: Institute of Health Economics; Queen’s University; University of Victoria; Simon Fraser University;University of Alberta; Alberta Health Services;University of Saskatchewan; University of Manitoba; York University; University of Ottawa; Limestone Analytics

The three (3) main goals of the One Society Network were:

  1. To develop methods and modelling products to allow for the comprehensive evaluation of alternative policy responses during pandemics for all sectors of the economy and all aspects of society, including marginalized groups. This will be achieved  by capturing the dynamic feedback loops between policies, individual behaviours, social and economic impacts and the long-term effectiveness of those policies.
  2. To create multi-disciplinary training programmes in collaboration with mathematical modelers, epidemiologists, health economic modelers, and micro and macro-economic modelers. These training programmes will support the development of a cohort of Highly Qualified Personnel who can provide One Society analyses to support public policy making in future pandemics.
  3. To establish a One Society community of practice that shares knowledge, methods and outcomes across disciplines, enhancing Canada’s ability to respond to future pandemics by building capacity in interdisciplinary research.

Presentations:

Publications:

  1. Lewis, Mark A; Brown, Patrick; Colijn, Caroline; Cowen, Laura; Cotton, Christopher; Day, Troy; Deardon, Rob; Earn, David; Haskell, Deirdre; Heffernan, Jane; Leighton, Patrick; Murty, Kumar; Otto, Sarah; Rafferty, Ellen; Tuohy Hughes, Carolyn; Wu, Jianhong; Zhu, Huaiping; Charting a future for emerging infectious disease modelling in Canada; UVicSpace, Apr 2023
  2. C. Cotton, B. Crowley, B. Kashi, H. Lloyd-Ellis, and F. Tremblay, Quantifying the economic impacts of COVID-19 policy responses in (almost) real time, Canadian Journal of Economics, accepted 2021.
  3. Agnew, M., Ayinde, T., Beaulieu, A., Colijn, C., Cotton, C., Crowe, M., Dhalla, I., Ferbey, J., Greenhill, R., Haggart, B., House, B., Imgrund, R., Jebwab, J., Khangura, J., Kwong, J., McCabe, C., Morris, A., Soucy, J.P. R., and Tuite. A. (2020). Building the Canadian Shield: A New Strategy to Protect Canadians from COVID and from the Fight Against COVID. Global Canada, COVID Strategy Choices Group.
  4. Crowley, B., and Tremblay, F. (2021). Optimizing COVID-19 Stimulus Spending in Malawi. Limestone Analytics and JDI Policy Paper 21-0301.
  5. C. Cotton, B. Crowley, B. Kashi, H. Lloyd-Ellis, and F. Tremblay, New Variants of COVID-19: What are the Economic Costs? Limestone Analytics and JDI Policy Paper 21-0201, Feb 2021.
  6. Brady, C., Cotton, C., Crowley, B., Davis, S., Farquharson, C., Kashi, B., Lloyd-Ellis, H., and Tremblay, F. (2020). Emerging from Crisis: Applying Scenario Planning in Malawi. Limestone Analytics and JDI Policy Paper 20-1201.
  7. Cotton, C., B. Crowley, B. Kashi, H. Lloyd-Ellis, and F. Tremblay (2022), “Quantifying the Economic Impacts of COVID-19 Policy Responses on Canada’s Provinces in (Almost) Real Time,” Canadian Journal of Economics, vol. 55 Issue S1: Special Issue on COVID Economics, February, pp. 406-445.
  8. Cotton, C., B. Crowley, and H. Lloyd-Ellis (2021), “The Economic Costs of Delayed Policy and Delayed Vaccines in the Fight Against COVID-19” Limestone Analytics and JDI Policy Paper 21-0302, March.
  9. Cotton, C., B. Crowley, and H. Lloyd-Ellis (2021), “The economic costs of a late-year lockdown: The importance of following through on COVID-19 vaccinations and testing,” Limestone Analytics and JDI Policy Paper 21-0601, June
  10. Cotton, C., B. Crowley, B. Kashi, H. Lloyd-Ellis, and F. Tremblay (2021), “Modeling COVID-19 Policy Options: Will a Canadian Shield Lockdown Save Jobs in Ontario?” Limestone Analytics and JDI Policy Paper 21-0101, January.
  11. Cotton, C., B. Crowley, B. Kashi, H. Lloyd-Ellis, and F. Tremblay (2021), “New Variants of COVID-19: What are the Economic Costs?” Limestone Analytics and JDI Policy Paper 21-0201, February
  12. Cotton, C., B. Crowley, B. Kashi, H. Lloyd-Ellis, and F. Tremblay (2020), “COVID-19 Planning for 2021: Comparing the Economic Impact of Alternative Recovery Scenarios,” Limestone Analytics and JDI Policy Paper 20-1202, December
  13. H. Lloyd-Ellis, B. Chen, and F. Tremblay (2023), “FOLIO Economic Model” – An expanded dynamic input-output framework for policy analysis
  14. Tsegaye Ginbo, Viktor Adamowicz, and Patrick Lloyd-Smith (2023), Valuing Mortality Risk Reductions in Canada: An Updated Meta-Analysis and Policy Guidance, Canadian Public Policy 2023 49:3, 233-251, https://www.utpjournals.press/doi/full/10.3138/cpp.2022-052
  15. Bryce Morsky, Felicia Magpantay, Troy Day, Erol Akçay (2023), The impact of threshold decision mechanisms of collective behavior on disease spread, PNAS, 120 (19) e2221479120, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2221479120

For information:   Marie (Betsy) Varughese, Senior Principal Modeller, [email protected]