Annual Review 2020

Coronavirus illustration

Credit: Shutterstock

Meeting the pandemic challenge

This year’s annual review tells the story of how the University responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. The sections that follow give an overview of the breadth and depth of Oxford’s contribution to the world’s response as COVID-19 took hold, from developing a new vaccine to testing existing therapeutics, from advising policy-makers to interpreting the pandemic through the Humanities. As the first dose of the Oxford vaccine was administered on January 4, 2021, the global impact of the University’s research was arguably greater than at any time in its history, while the critical contribution of research universities to the health and wealth of society had been strongly reaffirmed.

Download the Oxford 2020 PDF to find out more about the following topics:

Sarah Gilbert, Andrew Pollard and Teresa Lambe

The Oxford Vaccine

The development of vaccines is a complex and intensive process, usually taking decades to move from laboratory to clinic. Oxford succeeded in producing a vaccine in just 10 months.

The RECOVERY Trial

Could existing drugs usually used for other conditions have benefits as potential treatments for COVID-19? Oxford researchers set out to answer this question with the world’s largest clinical trial of COVID-19 treatments.

The PRINCIPLE Trial

A major trial launched in 2020 focuses on a range of potential treatments for COVID-19 suitable for use in the community, to help people recover more quickly and prevent the need for hospital admission.

Interpreting a pandemic

Oxford’s humanities researchers gathered context for the current pandemic from historical and literary sources, as well as providing critical policy insights into misinformation surrounding the spread of COVID-19 and then the safety of vaccination.

Adapting the university

Mirroring the rest of society, the University faced an immense shock to the system as the pandemic struck. A huge number of changes took place to make sure that teaching and research continued as much as possible throughout the rest of the year.

Supporting the policy makers

Policy trackers and later supertrackers helped governments keep abreast of COVID-19 policies around the world.

David Eyre, Andrew Soltan and David Clifton

Innovation and entrepreneurship

Oxford has been a hotbed of innovation for centuries, but the pandemic acted as an immediate spur to creativity.

The spotlight falls on Long COVID

Recovering from COVID-19 could be a long process, as three different Oxford studies had made plain by late 2020.

The importance of genome sequencing

The true value of this area of UK and Oxford expertise became increasingly evident throughout 2020.

A green recovery

Making the case for a green route out of the crisis.

Oxford skyline

Credit: John Cairns

Pandemic timeline

The University has also developed an imaginative digital timeline sequencing the major events of 2020

ox.ac.uk/pandemic-review

Download the Annual Review PDF to read more about these topics.

See past Annual Reviews.