Staff Volunteers
UNCOVER is an interdisciplinary community, with staff and students working together on public health evidence syntheses related to COVID-19 and its consequences. We welcome staff from all disciplines and at all career stages, from postdocs to experienced academics.
Staff within the University of Edinburgh are warmly invited to join or collaborate with UNCOVER at any time. We have various different models of working together: Some staff have joined UNCOVER as general volunteers, willing to get stuck in with whatever review needs them at the time. Sometimes we have approached staff to join us as advisers on specific reviews, especially where those reviews require skills or subject matter knowledge we don't already have in UNCOVER. We have also had staff approach us with a specific review question in mind, and we have put together an UNCOVER team to support that review.
The nature of the pandemic, which touches every part of our lives, means that our work is interdisciplinary by default. We have worked together with fluid engineers on reviews of COVID-19 transmission, and with architects on questions of neighbourhood design. We welcome the opportunity to do meaningful work across a broad range of different issues, and are happy to discuss any potential review question with staff.
Staff Student Working Model
UNCOVER has a collaborative approach, with staff and students working alongside each other on systematic reviews. We ask that staff volunteers who join us share our commitment to student development. For staff who are review leads, this will involve ensuring your review team have clear direction, that you are available to answer questions and provide guidance, and that expectations are discussed and agreed at the outset of a project and honoured, where possible, or revised targets and timescales agreed where changes cannot be avoided.
For staff who volunteer with UNCOVER, but who are not leading a review, there may be a variety of other opportunities to support student development, from supervising student projects to leading workshops related to your area of expertise. If you are interested in getting involved with any of this, please let us know when you join UNCOVER, or at any time during your involvement with us.
Observing UNCOVER
Staff who want to learn more about UNCOVER's work, but who may not feel able to commit to joining us at present, are always welcome to attend UNCOVER's fortnightly open meetings, on a Thursday morning from 11-12 (online), or to sign up for UNCOVER's mailing list. For more information about UNCOVER, please contact us on usher.uncover@ed.ac.uk.