Summary
The CAVE project (Community Engagement and Vulnerabilities in Coping with Epidemics) is an interdisciplinary research project on applied pandemic research in Austria.
Social sciences (medical anthropology and psychology), geosciences (geoinformatics) and representatives of social aid organizations prepare social findings during the Covid-19 pandemic for technology companies, which use them to develop communication-technological solutions for future epidemiological threats.
The aim of the CAVE project is to identify vulnerable groups in Austria who are particularly at risk from epidemics quickly and precisely in order to reach them better with new communication technologies and to integrate them effectively into health measures.
Social and geoscientific research focuses on the exact determination and location of vulnerable groups as well as the collection and analysis of experiences and needs of these groups in terms of communication and accessibility.
The social science approach is based on the concept of "community engagement", which enables the greatest possible involvement and active participation of vulnerable people and their caregivers.
In the CAVE project, we specifically want:
1. Develop more specific and complete models of community engagement, as well as establish a better connection between models of community engagement and models of vulnerability.
2. Being able to quickly and reliably define and locate vulnerable groups so that effective public health measures can be taken more quickly.
3. Integrate vulnerable groups that are usually difficult to reach more effectively and reach them better with technological solutions.
Together with our partners, we will develop scenarios of how community engagement and vulnerability to a future epidemic can be recorded and mapped and used in concrete and applicable models.