Outbreak science: a social study of wastewater evidence, viruses and drugs

该项目旨在在紧急和不确定的情况下，对如何获得证据以及如何将“充分证据”转化为政策有新的认识。疫情科学表明，如何以不同的方式进行证据收集，以改善应对措施。通过创新性地借鉴社会学方法，该项目期望推动疫情科学的理论和实践，并通过及时研究一项新兴的疫情科学技术，即废水分析，追踪其在非法药物政策和病毒感染控制中的用途，严格审查其潜力。预期的好处包括优化在新事件、紧急情况和不确定情况下如何将证据用于政策制定，从而实现更好的反应。

This project aims to develop new understandings of how evidence is made, and how ‘evidence-enough’ is translated for policy, in situations of urgency and uncertainty. Outbreak science indicates how evidence-making might be done differently to improve responses. By innovatively drawing on sociological approaches, this project expects to advance the theory and practice of outbreak science, and examine critically its potential, through a timely study of one emerging technology of outbreak science, wastewater analysis, tracing its use in illicit drugs policy and infection control of viruses. Expected benefits include optimising how evidence is used for policy in situations of novel event, emergency and uncertainty, enabling better responses.