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Maple Report - May 2021 Edition

May 2021 Welcome to our second edition of The Maple Report. This quarterly newsletter is designed to keep Canadian technology executives updated on the latest trends, market research, events and valuable resources from IDC Canada's expert analysts. In this edition, we want to show you how IDC can help Canadian executives like yourself make important technology decisions. We also want to invite you to our upcoming events and give you a sample of some of our thought leadership through our IDC blog. We hope you find these insights practical to help propel your business into a more resilient digital enterprise. Trust IDC to be your research partner in 2021. We welcome your thoughts about this newsletter. Please send them to askIDC@idccanada.com. HOW CAN IDC HELP YOU? IDC PeerScapes – Helping You Find Technology Best Practices An IDC PeerScape minimizes your missteps by identifying peer business practices worthy of emulating or avoiding, increasing the likelihood of positive impacts from a technology initiative. To assist your organization finding technology best practices, IDC publishes dozens of IDC PeerScape reports. Similar to IDC MarketScapes that we explored in the last edition of The Maple Report, IDC PeerScapes sit on the Engage part of our IDC DecisionScape framework , and include reports to help you launch, evaluate and optimize new technology initiatives. The report outlines key challenges your peers encountered when implementing a specific technology initiative, as well as key insights your peers learned along the way. IDC PeerScapes help you to increase the likelihood of a tech initiative’s success by giving you insight into best practices (and practices to avoid) through specific use case examples implemented by your peers who have already led a similar technology initiative. These documents can help your organization recreate successful implementations of technology and help you mitigate risk. To help you understand the value of these reports, we have included here our IDC PeerScape: Practices for Including Cloud Services into Outsourcing Contracts in Canada report. In it, you'll find Best practices from three areas of cloud adoption are discussed in the document: security, cost management, and skills gap. Companies created security checklists to mitigate security risks and retain control of security when working with external vendors. They also filled the skills gap and minimized cost unpredictability by collaborating with their outsourcing service providers. VIRTUAL EVENTS FOR IT EXECUTIVES IDC Fireside Chat | Content Cloud as a Critical Component of Virtual Work May 19, 2021 | 2:00 pm ET Does your organization have a holistic view of your customers when they contact you for assistance? Are your security protocols on your content systems up to snuff with your virtual workforce? Is your content customized for the different employee roles? If any of these content challenges sound familiar to your organization, then you need to attend this webinar to provide a seamless content experience for your customers and your employees. On our next webinar for Canadian technology executives on May 19th at 2pm ET, we'll hear how ATB Financial's Barry Hensch conquered multiple content management challenges to provide seamless experiences in its virtual workplace during a fireside chat with IDC's Megha Kumar. Walk away with a better understanding of what Cloud Content Management entails, why it's important to manage your content effectively and how you can leverage it to prosper in the digital future. Confirmed Speakers: Megha Kumar: Director, Software & Cloud Services, IDC Canada Barry Hensch: SVP & Head of Technology Enablement, ATB Financial Varun Parmar: SVP & Chief Product Officer, Box IDC CIO Panel Series | Accelerate & Simplify Your Canadian Digital Transformation Journey June 16, 2021 | 2:00pm ET Our IDC Canada research indicates that many Canadian organizations are not where they need to be yet to thrive in the digital economy. If you think your organization could benefit from simplifying and accelerating your digital transformation efforts, then you need to attend this upcoming webinar on June 16 at 2pm ET. Join this virtual webinar to understand where Canadian organizations are on their respective digital transformation journeys, what types of projects were accelerated as a result of the pandemic and what impact it had on Canadian industries. Then hear from our all-Canadian CIO panel on how they've stickhandled the impact of the pandemic at their organizations to set themselves up for future success in the digital economy. Learn what you need from your peers to get your organization moving in the right direction. Confirmed Speakers: Tony Olvet: Group VP, Research, IDC Canada Nigel Wallis: Research VP, IoT & Industries, IDC Canada Catherine Chick: SVP, IT, Canada Goose Pamela Pelletier: Canada Country Manager, Dell Technologies IDC THOUGHT LEADERSHIP HIGHLIGHTS DID YOU KNOW? You Can Get Actionable Research, KPIs, Benchmarks & Best Practices with IDC IDC Canada's IT Executive Programs (IEP) make it easy to access the relevant technology research and advice you need to make data-driven decisions as you lead your organization into the digital future. Get in touch today to learn more or visit our IT Executive Portal to learn more. IT EXECUTIVE RESOURCES Set Your Future IT Roadmap with IDC IT leaders need to rethink what is critical and evaluate where the organization stands as they manage complex changes. For strategies on transforming your organization's IT, read the new eBook from IDC: Future IT: Operating System of the Future Enterprise.

Research Reveals Uptick in Hostility toward Black Americans during Tough Economic Times

Goizueta Experts Encourage Business Leaders to Double Down on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Efforts. Do recessions stoke racial tension? When there’s an economic downturn, are White Americans more likely to feel distrust or even animosity towards their Black peers? Researchers have long wondered about the broader societal impact of financial recessions, but until recently their effects on race relations have been unclear. In a recent paper, Emily Bianchi, associate professor of organization and management, Erika Hall, assistant professor of organization and management, and Sarah Lee 19PhD, assistant professor of management, Dominican University of California and visiting professor of organizational behavior, Pepperdine University, find that there is indeed a subtle uptick in hostility towards Black Americans during bad economic times. Their paper, Reexamining the Link Between Economic Downturns and Racial Antipathy, examines publicly available data on attitudes, political trends, and behavioral patterns in the U.S. Sarah Lee 19PhD While businesses tend to cut diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts during economic downturns, Bianchi and Hall underscore that these efforts may be even more critical during these times. To study this phenomenon, the researchers analyzed more than 20 years of data from the American National Election Survey (ANES), a biannual survey capturing political affiliations and perceptions of political candidates from 1964 until 2012. They analyzed how White Americans’ attitudes towards Blacks changed depending on the state of the economy and found that in worse economic times, Whites felt more negatively about Blacks. As Bianchi notes: “we were able to analyze the responses of more than 30,000 individuals who identified as White. And we do find that for decades – between the 1960s and the first part of the 21 century – White Americans feel less warmly about Black Americans during times of financial hardship.” Emily Bianchi, associate professor of organization and management In a second study, Bianchi, Hall, and Lee examined data from Project Implicit, a popular website that allows people to test their own implicit bias and also gauges racial attitudes. Again, the authors found that in worse economic times, White Americans held more negative implicit and explicit attitudes about race. In particular, during the Great Recession, they found that White’s attitudes towards Blacks became substantially more negative in states that were hard hit by the economic crisis compared to states in which the economic downturn was less severe. Having established that economic conditions affected fluctuations in attitudes towards race, the authors then examined whether these emotional shifts translated into actual behavioral outcomes. In other words, if Whites felt more negatively towards Blacks during recessions would this mean that Black professionals were less likely to be successful when the economy floundered? They tested this possibility by looking at two domains of public activity: record sales and voting patterns. First, they examined data from the Billboard Top 10 American songs between 1980 and 2014 and recorded the race of each musician who secured a Billboard hit. They found that in bad economic years, Black musicians were 90% less likely to have a top 10 hit, presumably because White consumers (by far the biggest consumer group during this period) were less likely to support them. Next, they examined the results of more than 8000 elections to the U.S. House of Representatives over the same period. They found that in bad economic times, Black politicians were 21% less likely to win elections. Interestingly, the converse also appears to be true. In good times, Black musicians and politicians fared much better in the polls and the charts – pointing to a certain fluidity in attitudes, says Bianchi. “Across these very different domains, studies, and sample sizes, we find the same consistent pattern: when times are tough, White Americans feel more animosity towards Black Americans and are less likely to support Black musicians or politicians. When things pick up, White Americans have more positive attitudes towards Black Americans and are more likely to endorse Black musicians and Black candidates.” The authors attribute these effects to innate human feelings of fear in the face of threat. Economic threats or shocks tend to evoke uncertainty and fear about what is to come. This translates into greater distrust of others, particularly those perceived as different in some way. And it’s an effect, they argue, that should be very much on the radar of businesses and decision-makers. Erika Hall, assistant professor of organization and management The research cites, “Anecdotally, we know that when times are good, organizations will tend to prioritize their efforts in the area of diversity and inclusion. But while this is critically important at all times, our research suggest that these efforts are probably even more important when times are tough.” All of this points to a need to attend to these issues more acutely when there’s a downturn, says Bianchi. And she cautions that this is likely to be counterintuitive to most leaders, who are likely more inclined to sideline diversity efforts when the economy slides. In terms of the current debate around race relations in the US, however, Bianchi stresses that the economic dimension is just one piece of a “very complicated puzzle.” “What we have seen and are seeing in 2020 and 2021 is a confluence of many major factors: a pandemic that has put a lot of people out of work, and that has put everyone on edge, punctuated by some horrific and well documented instances of violence against Black citizens,” Bianchi says. “So many of these things are in the mixing pot, that it’s hard to pinpoint one specific cause behind the current race crisis in the U.S. So many things coming together at once that have put us in this moment.” Only time will tell how this might play out compared to what we saw in the 80s and 90s, which were economic fluctuations rather than a complete drop off a cliff, she says. It will be more difficult to tease apart the effect of the economy versus the effect of the pandemic versus the effect of police violence on America’s race relations – a situation that Bianchi describes as a “cauldron of mess.” That said, she stresses that for business leaders, now is a good time to double down on efforts to drive diversity and inclusion. “I’d suggest leaders be especially mindful that at times of economic stress such as we are currently experiencing, there is a very real danger of heightened racial animosity.” We’ve attached a full article with even more advice and helpful information from our experts – but if you are looking to learn more or cover this topic, we can help. All of our faculty are available to speak with media, simply click on either expert’s icon now – to book an interview today.

Kelley School expert who studies causes and effects of recalls available to discuss Peloton

Peloton Interactive Inc. on May 5 announced that it is recalling its treadmills in a statement from CEO John Foley who also apologized for the company’s initial refusal to comply with federal safety regulators’ prior request for this action. George Ball, assistant professor of operations and decision technologies and Weimer Faculty Fellow at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, studies the causes and effects of product recalls. Below are comments from Ball. He can be reached at gpball@indiana.edu. “Recall decisions like this are very difficult for managers to make, especially the ones that are high profile and associated with consumer injury. Managers have to balance the firm financial health with consumer safety. Thus, this is a rich area of research. The research that my colleagues and I undertake in this field deal both with the regulator and the firm. My comments will attempt to address both perspectives. “I will start with the regulator. I am currently involved in a research project with two colleagues that is specifically critiquing the Consumer Product Safety Commission for situations very similar to this Peloton recall. There are three main regulators in the US that oversee product quality and in particular recalls: the FDA, NHTSA and the CPSC. “Of those, CPSC is the least proactive and in my view, least successful in properly managing product recalls and their timeliness. This is because there are two main ways in which a firm can push firms to recall; they can force them to, or they can work with the firm management to help encourage them, or nudge them, to recall. The FDA is very good at influencing firms while NHTSA is quite good at mandating recalls. CPSC does neither well. “In particular, the FDA frequently chooses to use their relationships with senior quality executives at firms to nudge them to recall when FDA feels it may be necessary and the firm has not yet acted upon the quality problem. Conversely, NHTSA mandates approximately 20 to 30 percent of auto recalls, such that they choose to force instead of nudge. However, in both cases, while neither industry (medical products and autos) are perfect when it comes to recall timeliness, and both have suffered unfortunate well-known examples of firms dragging their feet in the recall decision, both have a well-developed approach. “CPSC mandates practically no recalls and they do not, from my research, have strong relationships with firm executives that can help them nudge firms to make the quick recall decision. Thus, this Peloton example is one of many in which consumer product firms may take too long to recall. “From the firm perspective. There are several potential red flags that may indicate the firm took too long. The longer a consumer product industry CEO has been in their role, the slower they are to make recall decisions. This is because the longer a CEO is in the role, the less open they are to taking responsibility for such high-profile mistakes. Interestingly, a new CEO, such as one who has been in their role for two to three years, is much more likely to recall a faulty product. “The CEO of Peloton definitely falls into the category of a fairly long-tenured CEO who has his reputation tied closely to the firm’s success. Secondly, the more stock a CEO owns in their firm, the slower they are to make the recall decision, because they are trying to protect their financial welfare. The CEO of Peloton appears to have a significant fortune at stake in Peloton stock, which would be consistent with our research. The more stock a CEO owns, the slower the firm take to recall defective products.”

Starter vape packs to be handed out in hospitals

A new trial from the University of East Anglia will see smokers attending hospital emergency departments given e-cigarette starter packs to help them quit. The initiative comes as a Cochrane Review - the international gold standard for high quality, trusted health information – about vaping is updated today. The review, led by the University of Oxford and involving the UEA team, shows how nicotine electronic cigarettes could increase the number of people who stop smoking compared to nicotine replacement therapy – such as chewing gum and patches – and compared to electronic cigarettes that do not contain nicotine. The new trial will offer stop smoking advice and an e-cigarette ‘starter pack’ to patients attending hospital emergency departments for any reason, to try to encourage and support them to quit smoking – even for those who might not have considered it before. The new trial is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and will be run by the Norwich Clinical Trials Unit at UEA. Prof Caitlin Notley, from UEA’s Norwich Medical School, said; “Many people who smoke want to quit, but find it difficult to succeed in the long term. “Electronic cigarettes mimic the experience of cigarette smoking because they are hand-held and generate a smoke-like vapour when used. They can be an attractive option for helping people switch from smoking, even if they have tried and failed in the past. “We know that they are much less harmful than smoking tobacco, and that they have been shown to help smokers quit. Trial co-lead Dr Ian Pope, also from UEA’s Norwich Medical School and an emergency physician, said: “Emergency Departments in England see over 24 million people each year of whom around a quarter are current smokers. “Attending the Emergency Department offers a valuable opportunity for people to be supported to quit smoking, which will improve their chances of recovery from whatever has brought them to hospital, and also prevent future illness.” The study will run over 30 months across five hospitals in England and Scotland – at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, the Royal London Hospital and Homerton University Hospital in London, Leicester Royal Infirmary and the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Smokers who agree to take part will be randomly assigned to receive either smoking advice during their emergency department wait, an e-cigarette starter pack and referral to local stop smoking services, or just written information about locally available stop smoking services. Both groups of patients will be asked if they are still smoking one, three and six months after they attended hospital. The research team hope to eventually recruit around 1,000 smokers to the trial. Prof Notley said: “We’ll be looking at the number of people who successfully quit smoking across both groups, to see which intervention works best. We’ll also work out how much it would cost to roll the scheme out nationally,” she added. ‘Electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation (Review)’ is published by the Cochrane Library on April 29, 2021.

Thousands of men to trial prostate cancer home testing kit

Thousands of men worldwide are to receive a home test kit for prostate cancer – thanks to pioneering research from the University of East Anglia and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH). The research team are trialling a new home-testing ‘Prostate Screening Box’ to collect men’s urine samples at-home. The urine samples will be used to analyse the health of the prostate in 2,000 men in the UK, Europe and Canada. This simple urine test is intended to diagnose aggressive prostate cancer and in a pilot study predicted which patients required treatment up to five years earlier than standard clinical methods. Lead researcher Dr Jeremy Clark from the University of East Anglia 'unboxes' the new home testing kit live on Sky News. The Prostate Screening Box has been developed in collaboration with REAL Digital International Limited to create a kit that fits through a standard letterbox. It means that men can provide a urine sample in the comfort of their own home, instead of going into a clinic or having to undergo an uncomfortable rectal examination. The research team hope that it could revolutionise diagnosis of the disease. Lead researcher Dr Jeremy Clark, from UEA’s Norwich Medical School, said: “Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK. However it usually develops slowly and the majority of cancers will not require treatment in a man’s lifetime. It is not a simple matter to predict which tumours will become aggressive, making it hard to decide on treatment for many men. “The most commonly used tests for prostate cancer include blood tests, a physical examination known as a digital rectal examination (DRE), an MRI scan or a biopsy. “We have developed the PUR (Prostate Urine Risk) test, which looks at gene expression in urine samples and provides vital information about whether a cancer is aggressive or ‘low risk’. “The Prostate Screening Box part sounds like quite a small innovation, but it means that in future the monitoring of cancer in men could be so much less stressful for them and reduce the number of expensive trips to the hospital. “The prostate lies just below the bladder. It constantly produces secretions which naturally flow into the urethra - the tube through which urine passes from the bladder. The prostatic secretions carry cells and molecules from all over the prostate which are flushed out of the body on urination. We collect these and examine them. It’s a way of sampling the whole prostate in one go. “As the prostate is constantly secreting, the levels of biomarkers in the urethra will build up with time. Collecting from the first wee of the day means that overnight secretions can be collected which makes the analysis more sensitive.” The team have previously trialled the kit with a small group of participants, but in the next phase of the research study are rolling it out to thousands. Men taking part in the trial will receive a home urine-sampling kit and will be asked to provide two urine samples – one to be taken first thing in the morning and the second an hour later. The samples will then be sent back to the lab for analysis. Dr Clark said: “Feedback from early participants showed that the at-home collection was much preferred over sample collection in a hospital. “We hope that using our Prostate Screening Box could in future revolutionise how those on ‘active surveillance’ are monitored for disease progression, with men only having to visit the clinic after a positive urine result. “This is in contrast to the current situation where men are recalled to the clinic every six to 12 months for a range of tests including DRE, PSA tests, painful and expensive biopsies and MRI. We are working to develop the test to help patients in three years’ time. “A negative test could enable men to only be retested every two to three years, relieving stress to the patient and reducing hospital workload,” he added. Robert Mills, Consultant Clinical Director in Urology at NNUH, said: “This simple, non-invasive urine test has the potential to significantly change how we diagnose and manage early prostate cancer for the benefit of patients and health care systems. It may enable us to avoid unnecessary diagnosis of low risk disease as well as managing patients more appropriately with surveillance for those with low risk of progression and early curative treatment for those at high risk of progression.” Paul Villanti, executive director of programs at Movember, said: “The PUR test has great potential to transform the way prostate cancer is managed. Not only can it accurately predict when a man’s disease will become aggressive and require treatment, but it has the added advantage of allowing men to complete it at home. “We are proud to have supported the development of the PUR test from its early stages as part of our Global Action Plan on Biomarkers, through to this trial involving thousands of men across the world. “Through our Global Action Plan on active surveillance, we have been able to identify hundreds of men from the UK, Germany, Italy and Canada who are suitable to take part in this trial. “We hope it will speed up the trial’s progress and get this test included as part of clinical care for men as quickly as possible.” The research has been funded by a Movember and Prostate Cancer UK Innovation award, the Masonic Charitable Foundation, the Bob Champion Cancer Trust, the King family, the Andy Ripley Memorial Fund, the Hargrave Foundation, Norfolk Freemasons and the Tesco Centenary Grant.

A Message from Dean Sarah Gehlert on the Derek Chauvin Verdict

When I heard the verdict read at the trial of Derek Chauvin, I was relieved that a change had been made in how excessive violence by police officers has been viewed and treated in courts. This gave me some hope that a door had finally been opened to create change. A single verdict does not even begin to erase all the lives lost over decades of police violence based on prejudice and discrimination. It does however signal that change is happening, or is at least possible, if we are vigilant. It can be a step taken toward ending systemic discrimination by race in how our judicial system considers the actions of police. The wisdom of George Floyd’s seven-year-old daughter, who stated that her dad “changed the world,” has been validated. We also recognize the wisdom and courage of Darnella Frazier, the Minnesota teenager who filmed the event, knowing that what she was witnessing was wrong. When the verdict came in, I was with a group of community activists from three California counties around Los Angeles. While group members expressed some elation for an episode of justice realized, some cautioned that this victory does not mean that all is well. Racism, and the discrimination that it engenders, continues to run rampant through our judicial system. Within the last week we have added the names of Daunte Wright and Adam Toledo to our protests and vigils. We hope this verdict is a turning point, but we will need to work to assure it. It is worth reading a publication from 2018 to understand the role that social work needs to play in ensuring effective and lasting change to our judicial system. In their paper entitled “The Futile Fourth Amendment,” Professor Osagie Obasogie and Postdoctoral Researcher Zachary Newman examine the Supreme Court case that established the standard for court adjudication of excessive force by police, and how this has perpetuated excessive use of force in many communities of color. Protesting alone will not create the change we want to see. It will require change in policy and practices to establish equal protection for all under the law. This is a moment for us as social workers to seize. We must not wait to act until there is another incident of police brutality or an unfair trial. We should use this moment to move forward with renewed conviction in our beliefs, using our training in policy, community organizing, management and planning, and clinical practice. We should always be the voices demanding equality under the law, saying that an end to systemic racism is possible. The world is ready for change and social work should be leading it, with those whom we serve. We should be the champions of social justice for the well-being of individuals, families and communities through innovative teaching of evidence-informed and practice-based skills, and pioneering transformative research. If not us, then who? Sarah Gehlert Dean

Social Work is Advancing Addiction Science Research

Tens of thousands of Americans die from drug use and addiction every year, with overdoses killing over 63,000 people in America in 2016, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Add in deaths linked to alcohol overuse and tobacco, and the number climbs above half a million Americans. The collective work of several researchers at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, in collaboration with other USC faculty and outside organizations, is advancing knowledge of substance use disorders. Social work has become a hub where researchers and practitioners drive understanding and improve treatment for this disease that impacts millions of families each year. “Either as a cause or consequence, addiction relates to every problem we deal with in social work,” said John Clapp, professor and associate dean for research and faculty development at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. Addiction’s complexity The social work field is uniquely poised to help effect change because of its holistic approach to individual well-being and the public good. According to Clapp, substance use disorder problems are inherently ecological, impacting and being impacted by individuals, families, peers, neighborhoods, communities and public policy in complex and dynamic ways. Untangling those causes and effects and interdependencies is one part of the solution. The other part is understanding that simple solutions may stay out of reach. “We will not find a one-size-fits-all answer,” said Clapp. Looking at addiction as a genetic, psychological or sociological issue only shows one piece of the overall cause. A comprehensive approach is essential, he said, especially when statistics from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) show alcohol use disorders alone as the third leading cause of preventable death in the world. A hub for addiction science The need for a transdisciplinary response to this worldwide crisis was behind the 2018 creation of the USC Institute on Addiction Science (IAS), a joint venture between social work and the Keck School of Medicine of USC, with membership from 10 different schools, colleges and hospitals. Its vision is to strengthen the discipline of addiction science and improve the lives of those touched by the disease. Clapp is co-director of the institute and one of its founding architects. IAS is quickly becoming the foremost place for a broad effort focused on addiction that brings together researchers from the fields of public health, social work, law, public policy, mathematicians, computer engineers and others in recognition of the promise of new approaches to longstanding problems. The USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work has eight faculty making substantial contributions to the prevention of addiction-related disorders as members of the IAS: Professor Avalardo Valdez, associate professors Julie Cederbaum and Alice Cepeda, and assistant professors Jordan Davis, Shannon Dunn, Jungeun Olivia Lee, Danielle Madden, and Hans Oh. “Social work brings one of the broadest perspectives on the underpinnings and solutions to the addiction crisis,” said Adam Leventhal, director of IAS and professor of preventive medicine and psychology at Keck. “By approaching addiction as a health condition and a social justice issue, social work brings to the table the opportunity for high-impact, multi-modal intervention and social policy approaches, which are needed to address the addiction epidemic.” A holistic approach Social work faculty are raising the bar in addiction science research, developing new and novel approaches to improving outcomes for those affected by addiction. In a study recently published in Addiction, a multidisciplinary team lead by Davis and Clapp found gender differences in the risk factors for relapse following treatment for opioid use disorder. The study was the first in this field to use machine learning techniques to process large data sets and identify risk factors for relapse, said Davis, who also serves as associate director of the USC Center for Artificial Intelligence in Society (CAIS). The findings may result in more personalized treatment for opioid use disorder with lasting results. This dovetails with additional research Davis is conducting with computer science engineers at CAIS to collect and input neighborhood and census data into their models in an effort to better understand how these macro variables affect relapse. “We are finding that data points such as crime statistics, population density and concentrated poverty tend to be some of the most important predictors of relapse, over and above individual-level predictors such as impulsivity, motivation or gender,” Davis said. These findings echo Clapp’s description of addiction as ecological and point to the need for holistic solutions. “These machine learning techniques are helping us gain an apparent picture of what the most important factors are surrounding someone’s recovery,” Davis said. “Environment matters greatly.” Davis is also collaborating closely with Eric Pedersen, associate professor at Keck School of Medicine at USC, on several research efforts examining substance use among veterans. Most recently, they have assembled a survey group of approximately 1,200 veterans whom they survey quarterly about their well-being. A recently conducted survey of the group found that veterans with PTSD prior to the COVID-19 pandemic were now managing their symptoms with more frequent alcohol and cannabis use. Another joint research endeavor between the two is examining the use of mindfulness smart phone apps to help reduce substance use in Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans with PTSD and alcohol use disorder. Where well-being and inequalities intersect Jungeun Olivia Lee also seeks to decode the network of relationships between socioeconomic status, adverse childhood experiences and drug use. Her experience as a social work practitioner working directly with clients drives her motivation to demonstrate to policymakers what she sees as a linkage between unemployment, economic stress and substance use disorders. She is lead author on a paper published in Nicotine & Tobacco Research that found unemployment may advance nicotine addiction among young adults, rather than the idea that nicotine addiction may lead to unemployment. Lee’s research interests lie at the intersection of substance use and co-occurring mental health, social inequalities (such as poverty and low socioeconomic status), and adverse childhood experiences. She is interested in combining these three areas of inquiry to explore their influence on addictive behavior that can persist over generations of at-risk families, such as adolescent mothers and their children. Her memories of working directly with clients struggling with the impact of addiction remain clear in her mind. When Lee hears policymakers and others suggest that individual willpower will solve substance use disorder problems, she has a straightforward response: “People are not born with addiction.” In her view, many factors contribute to the triggered distress, including socioeconomic status and adverse childhood experiences. Lee is exploring an idea with other IAS researchers to investigate the relationship between financial strain and employment uncertainty and addiction. “Individual circumstances, such as losing a job, certainly influence substance use, but policy-level decisions, such as the generosity of unemployment insurance, can mitigate the impact,” she said. Transdisciplinary collaboration with social scientists, psychologists and medical researchers at IAS and across the USC campus enriches and amplifies her work. “We are breaking down discipline-specific silos and bringing new and valuable perspectives to this work,” she said. “The synergy is both useful and inspiring.” Looking ahead Researchers also hope to spark interest in the field among the next generation. A new minor for undergraduate students in addiction science was introduced at USC in Fall 2020. The minor is an interdisciplinary collaboration of the Keck School of Medicine, the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, the USC School of Pharmacy and the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences. It is designed to provide students with a transdisciplinary approach to understanding and treatment of the broad spectrum of addiction-related problems. The goal of addiction science research and education is to improve the long-term effect of addiction treatment and save lives. As society’s understanding of the cause of addiction grows, researchers like those in the school of social work and the IAS strive to bridge the gap between science, practice and policy to positively impact outcomes for those affected by addiction.

COVID-19 Pandemic Increasing Substance Use Among Veterans with PTSD

Nine months into the pandemic, everyone has been affected by COVID-19 in some way. However, one group that needs special attention and support is U.S. veterans who were already struggling with symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A recently conducted survey by Jordan Davis, assistant professor at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, and Eric Pedersen, associate professor at Keck School of Medicine of USC, found evidence that veterans with PTSD prior to the pandemic were now managing their symptoms with more frequent alcohol and cannabis use. “The pandemic has not been easy on folks, especially for those that have PTSD or an alcohol use disorder (AUD),” said Davis, who also is associate director of the USC Center for Artificial Intelligence in Society (CAIS). “Some of the stories I’ve heard [from study participants] have been heart-wrenching.” An extraordinary resource of veterans not affiliated with VA services Davis and Pedersen lead several efforts examining substance use among veterans. They have assembled a survey group of about 1,200 military veterans, a percentage of whom struggle with PTSD symptoms but have not yet sought professional help via the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to improve their wellbeing. “We’ve decided to focus on the population of veterans who, for one reason or another, say they don’t need mental health care,” Davis said. Attitudes about care, transportation barriers or perceived stigma from others may deter them from seeking care for PTSD symptoms, and some self-medicate with alcohol, cannabis, cigarettes, or more rarely, methamphetamine or cocaine. Davis cited larger studies 1,2 that found only about half of the veterans who need some sort of mental health care receive it. Many studies of veterans recruit subjects from the VA who are likely already receiving care. The unique sample group that Davis and Pedersen have created may offer fresh insights into how to motivate these veterans outside the VA system to seek care and how best to deliver it. Tracking pandemic effects on mental health It all began with a one-time survey of young adult veterans to measure drinking habits and willingness to seek help. Pedersen and others had developed a brief intervention that had yielded some success reducing drinking in the short-term, but he knew that sustaining those reductions would be difficult unless the veterans agreed to more formal care. The one-off survey, conducted in February 2020, would set a baseline that could be used to inform the brief intervention content. Then COVID-19 cases began multiplying. Affected cities and states began to impose restrictions on public gatherings and more. Pedersen and Davis soon obtained additional funding from the Keck School of Medicine of USC COVID-19 Funding Program and the National Institute of Alcohol and Abuse to follow up with their sample group and see how these veterans were coping with the unprecedented health crisis. “The result is that we can follow up with these veterans from a pre-COVID-19 time period for the next several years, tracking their depression, anxiety and PTSD symptoms and substance use,” Pedersen said. The researchers aim to understand how the veterans are sleeping, what their stress levels are like, and how things have changed as the pandemic wears on. They hope to gain new insights about what motivates some to seek care and how that can be replicated. So far, the results point to some unfortunate, but not unexpected, news. “We’re finding that those veterans who were struggling with PTSD prior to the pandemic are actually doing worse in terms of their substance use behaviors, drinking and cannabis use, as well as their stressful reactions to the pandemic,” Pedersen said. Pedersen and Davis will continue to follow up with these veterans through at least February 2022, surveying them every three months to see how they are progressing. In addition to the survey, they also conduct in-depth qualitative interviews with a subset of the group to enrich their understanding of what their lives are like now and how things have changed for them. The interviews last about an hour, sometimes more. “We talk about the positive and negative things that have happened and what their expectations are for the future,” Davis said. The details are confidential, of course, but it is clear that the pandemic has upended people’s lives and livelihoods across the United States. The toll on those who were already experiencing mental health issues and addiction has been heavy, but Davis and Pedersen are hopeful that their insights and findings will lead to better treatment and outreach in the future. Reducing barriers to care One bright spot over the past nine months has been the quick embrace of telehealth. The VA was already leading the way to telehealth as a way to improve access to its services, and following the stay-at-home orders of the pandemic, telehealth has grown in acceptance and use. Now, online counseling sessions, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and medical visits are commonplace. Pedersen and Davis don’t see that changing even when face-to-face gatherings become the norm once again. It has been a promising start to the research, and Pedersen and Davis are even more excited about what the future may hold. They plan on submitting for more grants to continue to track the mental health and substance use of this group of hundreds of veterans with the goal of understanding what factors lead individuals to seek care. Down the road, they hope to use this longitudinal data to help identify profiles of people more or less likely to seek care. “Then we can tailor interventions to increase their willingness to seek care for a problem like a substance use disorder or PTSD,” Davis said. Recognizing patterns in substance use and when to seek care is very important in helping that part of the veteran population that is trying to deal with symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD, or substance abuse on their own. “We know that things are bad now and we can expect that there will be lingering effects for years to come,” said Pedersen. “What we hope is that these findings and our future work will help the VA and others create more effective programs and outreach to address the unique needs of veterans.” 1 Veterans Health Administration Office of Patient Care Services, Analysis of VA Health Care Utilization Among Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation New Dawn Veterans. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2017. www.publichealth.va.gov/epidemiology/reports/oefoifond/health-care-utilization/. 2 Tanielian, Terri and Lisa H. Jaycox, eds., Invisible Wounds of War: Psychological and Cognitive Injuries, Their Consequences, and Services to Assist Recovery. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2008. www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG720.html.

Autonomous cars expert: Dr Siddartha Khastgir

For stories on autonomous vehicles, Dr Siddartha Khastgir from WMG at the University of Warwick is one of the leading experts in the UK, and is available for comment.  His recent notable research includes developing the world’s largest public database for testing driverless cars: If you would like to interview him, contact press@warwick.ac.uk or L.Walton.1@warwick.ac.uk

Faculty-student collaborations showcase professional growth, creativity at Georgia Southern's Spring 2021 Honors Research Symposium April 26-30

Ambitious student research collaborations with faculty members often lead to much more than good grades. The mentorships encourage professional growth, confidence and creativity, even in the midst of a pandemic. Georgia Southern University’s Spring 2021 Honors Research Symposium, which is being held virtually April 26 through April 30, will showcase faculty-student partnerships through a broad range of scholarly and creative research projects produced by more than 100 honors students across multiple disciplines on the Statesboro and Armstrong campuses. A few of the presenters include: Chelsea Riley, a triple major in international studies, political science and Spanish, worked with political science and international studies professor Srobana Bhattacharya, Ph.D., on her thesis, “The Culture Gap: The Role of Culture in Successful Refugee Settlement.” History and English major Jacey Thomas, mentored by associate professor of history Alan Downs, Ph.D., will present, “Irish Rock Music amid a Time of Troubles: Thin Lizzy and U2 as a Bridge During a Time of Division.” Biology major Susan Ihejirika’s presentation, “A Forward Genetic Screen to Identify Human Genes of Interest and Their Roles in Ovarian Cancer,” was guided by biology assistant professor Dongyu Jia, Ph.D. The Honors College, as the university-wide center for excellence in undergraduate education, plays a crucial role with undergraduate research at Georgia Southern. Since the beginning of the College, students have been required to complete honors theses or capstone projects. The faculty-mentored projects have spanned traditional research models, applied research and creative activities in all academic colleges and majors. “Through faculty-mentored research and scholarly activities, honors students create new knowledge and the Honors Research Symposium is the venue where we share it with the broader scholarly community,” said Honors College Dean Steven Engel, Ph.D. “ I am proud of the fact that they have been able to complete these projects despite the challenges of the past year.” Presentations will be posted on YouTube and the comments section will be open for audience engagement with presenters. If you're a journalist looking to learn more about this year’s Honors Research Symposium — simply reach out to Georgia Southern Director of Communications Jennifer Wise at jwise@georgiasouthern.edu.