More Direct Interventions in Society

The gap between Industry and academia has always been challenging for the business world. While appreciating the efforts from the academic world, their connection with the business world and even society is often not on a real-time basis. However, over the past few years, several leading educational institutions worldwide have successfully adapted to the trends and created global citizens majorly owing to technological advancements and connectivity. This has resulted in the world’s top institutes setting an example of more interventions in society by finding solutions to societal problems faster.

For instance, the University of Oxford administered a new vaccine against the tick-borne virus Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) to volunteers for the first time. CCHF is primarily transmitted to people from ticks and livestock animals, while human-to-human transmission results from close contact with infected persons' blood, secretions, organs, or other bodily fluids. With a case fatality rate of up to 40 percent, the virus CCHF is endemic in Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East, and Asia. The study was guided by Professor Teresa Lambe, Principal Investigator at the Oxford Vaccine Group (OVG) and Pandemic Sciences Institute (PSI) at the University of Oxford. Professor Lambe’s team has been developing a vaccine against CCHF for the last five years.

With shreds of evidence of teaching as early as 1096, the University of Oxford is regarded as the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in continuous operation. From Roger Bacon to Anthony Eden, Robert Mugabe, and Erwin Schrödinger, Oxford is home to the GOATs in all walks of life. We dedicate this issue to the prestigious alumni of Oxford. Do let us know your thoughts.