Five years on: How COVID-19 research shaped policy and practice

Five years ago, on 11 March 2020, the World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 a pandemic, marking the start of a global crisis. The impact was felt across the world, and although different people had different experiences, the one constant was that everyone faced disruption and uncertainty.  

Lockdowns and social distancing measures isolated individuals and businesses, yet the response from researchers was one of collaboration.  

At Leeds University Business School, academics worked across disciplines and with external partners to understand the economic, organisational, and societal effects of the pandemic, providing insights that informed policy, supported businesses, and helped navigate an uncertain future. 

Here’s a look at some of our projects and insights from our researchers on their work related to COVID-19:

Professor Nick Williams  

 

“During the COVID-19 crisis, I worked on a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)-funded project entitled 'Entrepreneurial resiliency, innovation, and change during the COVID-19 Crisis’, in collaboration with Edinburgh University, Lancaster University, Strathclyde University, Cardiff University and Oxford Brookes University. The project felt urgent and important as we were interviewing entrepreneurs who were having to react on a daily basis to the crisis, changing their strategies and the way in which they managed staff.  

“As well as a number of policy reports, we published a paper entitled 'Managing through a crisis: Emotional leadership strategies of high-growth entrepreneurs during the COVID-19 pandemic’ in the Entrepreneurship and Regional Development journal which examined how entrepreneurs use well-being and emotional labour in a crisis, showing how the emotional labour they employ serves as part of their crisis leadership strategy.  

“Given that we are living in what has been described as an era of the poly-crisis, where critical aspects such as climate change, conflict, geopolitics or natural disasters, appear to be increasing in magnitude and frequency, this research will remain relevant for years to come. It provides insights on how entrepreneurs survive through a crisis, managing their own mental health and that of their employees, while at the same time keeping the business afloat.”

Professor Lynda Song   

 

“Working with my colleagues, Professor Ahmed Mostafa, Dr Aleksandra Irnazarow and Professor Andy Charlwood, our research focuses on using evidence-based findings to improve Human Resource Management (HRM) practices in NHS organisations, specifically targeting the wellbeing, mental health, and occupational outcomes of minority ethnic employees.  
 
“The original work, funded by UKRI, was driven by the urgent need to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on ethnic minority workers in the NHS and to embed their welfare at the forefront of the NHS workforce agenda.  

“A critical part of this work has been devising and implementing specific interventions, translating our research findings into practical applications. Our team has developed a set of recommendations aimed at transforming the support given to ethnic minority employees, ensuring that HRM policies are not just reactive but proactive in fostering an inclusive workplace.  

“While our work within the NHS is still developing, we have already delivered cultural competence training to city council employees, providing a strong foundation for expanding these initiatives into NHS settings. These collaborations have strengthened our ability to embed research-informed HRM practices into organisations, ensuring that ethnic minority employees receive meaningful and lasting support." 

“Looking ahead, the insights gained from this research remain highly relevant. The pandemic underscored the need for HRM strategies that go beyond administrative policies to include emotional and psychological support. (Beyond this project, I also explored other aspects of workplace psychology during COVID-19, including studies on mask-wearing and gratitude expression. One key finding from my research - published in the Journal of Business and Psychology - was that gratitude within teams played a critical role in helping organisations navigate the challenges of the pandemic.) Encouraging gratitude as an integral part of team culture can continue to play a key role in organisational resilience, employee engagement, and workplace wellbeing.  

“By continuing to build on this work, we hope to contribute to more inclusive and supportive workplace cultures across different sectors, including the NHS.” 

Dr Gaston Yalonetzky 

 

"During the pandemic, I worked with Dr Lina Anaya, Dr Muhammad Waqas (University of Bradford), and Professor Peter Howley (University of Leeds), on a UKRI-funded project aimed at measuring the impact of the pandemic’s first wave on mental health in the UK.  

“In addition to producing reports and hosting a workshop, we wrote a paper that was published in Economic Inquiry, titled “Locked down in distress: A quasi-experimental estimation of the mental-health fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic”.  

“From our research, we expected to see evidence of mental health deterioration in the data, but I was surprised by just how severe it was, finding it comparable to the impact of major life shocks such as unemployment. 

“Looking back, one striking aspect of the pandemic was the sheer scale and speed of the academic response. At the time, the urgency of the topic was matched by the urgency of academics to publish on it. Pandemic research websites appeared rapidly, and impressive papers were already being published by summer 2020. Fast forward a few years later, and many of these websites now seem like ghost towns.  

“However, the experience was a huge learning opportunity, demonstrating how the research community can mobilise quickly in response to a crisis. The ability to channel so much time, effort, and resources to generate valuable research at short notice will be crucial in tackling future global challenges.” 

Dr Gülbanu Kaptan 

 

“During the COVID-19 crisis, I led a UKRI Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) “Rapid Response to COVID-19” project titled “Capitalising on COVID-19 as a trigger for positive change in food waste behaviour”, in collaboration with two co-investigators from the University of Leeds (Professors Kerrie Unsworth and Sally Russell) and in partnership with leading food waste organisations Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and Zero Waste Scotland.  

“Our results confirmed that the significant reduction in food waste levels across the UK resulted from people staying at home during the pandemic, meaning they had more time to cook and to eat together.  

“Our project led to some very interesting findings, such as the positive effect of responsibility-related goals and environmental messages on intentions and behaviours to reduce household food waste. We published three journal articles and two blog posts, and gave numerous invited talks at conferences, events, and seminars.  

“Due to my involvement in this project and my research on food waste, I was selected for the European Commission’s Food Waste Forum, as the only academic member from the UK. We identified promising intervention types to reduce consumer food waste and developed concrete recommendations for policymakers and other key players. Our results were published in two technical reports by the EU Publication Office. Additionally, I wrote an article for The Conversation, where I translated these findings into simple recommendations for consumers.” 

Dr Matthew Davis

 

“During the pandemic, I worked with colleagues (Dr Helen Hughes, Dr Emma Gritt, Professor Chiahuei Wu, Professor Simon Rees, Hannah Collis and Dr Linhao Fang) on a UKRI-funded project, to understand how office workers were rapidly adapting to home and/or hybrid working, what this meant for the design of the future workplace, and how organisations could use socio-technical systems thinking to adapt offices to this changing world.  

“We collaborated with public and private sector organisations to understand the experiences of industry, individual managers, and workers. We used cross-industry surveys, workshops, interviews, diaries, network analysis, and stakeholder events to build up a rich picture of what was really happening. 

“We developed a nuanced understanding of what hybrid working “is”, the varied experiences of staff, the inherent tensions that exist, and the associated trade-offs when attempting to design spaces, technologies and ways of working for these groups.  

“I am proud of the different ways that we shared our findings as we were working on the project. We did this in a much more open and real-time way because we wanted to help guide businesses’ response to the return to the office. We ran webinars, produced podcasts, blogs, infographics, interactive reports, produced an animation, and held hybrid and in-person events. You can read more about our findings and guidance for managing hybrid workplaces on our project webpage.   

“In many ways, I can’t believe it’s been five years. Some things feel so normal now – everyone knows and uses the term “hybrid working” - it’s become unremarkable - but at the time there were real concerns about whether we would ever return to the office in significant numbers.  

“While many people now have firmly established hybrid work patterns that provide the flexibility they value and are effective for their employer, the wider debate about “return to the office” continues and is increasingly polarised. Our research demonstrates the benefit to employees and employers of both working from home and the office. As ever, there is no one size fits all and striking the right balance varies depending very much on both the individual’s preferences and situation, together with the business context.”  

Examples of our COVID-19 related research 

Projects 

Adapting offices for the future of work - the impact of remote and hybrid working on office design and work practices, focusing on how to optimize office space and social collaboration post-COVID-19. Through a socio-technical approach, the project aimed to identify effective office designs, assess the impact on employee performance and social networks, and provide recommendations to guide the transition back to office work. 

Childcare during COVID-19 - the challenges faced by Early Years (EY) childcare, focusing on the disruption to services and the sustainability of provision during and after the COVID-19 crisis. It aimed to ensure safe environments for workers, children, and families while highlighting the importance of childcare in supporting parental employment and reducing inequalities. 

Capitalising on COVID-19 as a Trigger for Positive Change in Food Waste Behaviour – how to harness the positive changes in food waste behaviour as a result of COVID-19, and investigate opportunities to sustain this change long-term. 

COVID-19 and Migration Systems in Transition - how existing migration policy and regulation in countries is being affected by COVID-19 and explore the effects on migrant workers in China, the UK and Australia.   

COVID-19 and the Spatial Distribution of Business Closures: Evidence from West Yorkshire – how COVID-19 disrupted customer behaviour and led to business closures in West Yorkshire. This project provided insights into the spatial distribution of these closures to inform policy decisions on the future of towns and cities. 

Designing human resource management practices to improve the wellbeing of healthcare workers from BAME backgrounds in the context of COVID-19 - this research investigated the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) NHS staff, and co-produced HRM practices with NHS partners to improve wellbeing, career progression, and workforce retention, ensuring a more equitable and sustainable healthcare system post-pandemic. 

Entrepreneurship in the Adult Entertainment Industry: Insights from OnlyFans Content Creators - how the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact led to a surge in digital adult content creation, with individuals turning to platforms like OnlyFans for financial stability—either as a necessity-driven response to job losses or as an entrepreneurial opportunity—while examining the business dynamics and challenges within this stigmatized industry. 

Equity Finance Provision in the UK and Regions and the Impact of the Pandemic: An Analysis of Trends in Venture Capital Investments and a Survey of Equity Funded Firms - analysing trends in the provision of equity finance in the UK and regions, for new and early-stage ventures, up to and during the COVID crisis, and the performance, experiences and prospects of equity-funded firms during the pandemic. 

How COVID-19 has affected students on internships - the impact of remote and hybrid internships, which became more prevalent due to the COVID-19 pandemic, on students’ work readiness and competency development by analysing feedback from interns and their employers, offering insights to improve university employability initiatives and placement experiences. 

Impact of COVID-19 on management to eradicate modern slavery from global supply chains: A case study of Indian fashion supply chains - exploring the impact of the pandemic on modern slavery risks in Indian fashion supply chains from the perspective of UK fashion brands, multiple tiers of Indian fashion supply chains, and key industry stakeholders. 

Labour mobility in transition: a multi-actor study of the re-regulation of migrant work in 'low-skilled' sectors (LIMITS) - how the combined impacts of Brexit and COVID-19 have reshaped labour mobility in low-skilled sectors, exploring how employers, workers, and other stakeholders are adapting to new migration rules, engaging in dialogue, and developing strategies for workforce recruitment, training, and retention in a rapidly changing employment landscape. 

Plagiarism podcast - how a podcast can enhance students' understanding of academic integrity issues—an area of renewed focus following the rise of online exams during the COVID-19 pandemic—by providing clear guidance on common misconduct offences and assessing its impact on academic integrity literacy within a diverse student body. 

Protest of essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic – how essential workers, particularly in retail and healthcare, protested against unsafe working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic, creating the first global dataset on keyworker labor unrest to understand their motivations, methods, and representation. 

Responding to the COVID-19 jobs crisis and beyond: building an evidence base for public policy - analysing employers' use of the UK government's furlough scheme (CJRS) during COVID-19, providing vital evidence on its impact, employer experiences, and future workforce planning. 

Tackling vaccine hesitancy: the way forward? – developing a vaccine perception index using survey data from April 2020 to March 2021 to analyse vaccine hesitancy in the UK, examining how attitudes varied by income, gender, ethnicity, and employment status. 

The role of the neighbourhood environment in shaping the mental health consequences of COVID-19 - how neighbourhood environments influence the mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using data from “Understanding Society” (UKHLS), it tracked individuals’ mental health over time and linked this information to geographic and contextual data on local economic, social, and environmental factors. 

Tracking local public interest in COVID-19 topics using Natural Language Processing (NLP) -analysing how public health information about COVID-19 was interpreted by the public and key stakeholders in West Yorkshire using NLP, helping to assess the effectiveness of pandemic communication strategies. 

Transformational effects of COVID-19 on inequalities at work: An international analysis of job polarisation, occupational segregation and emerging policy responses – developed an international comparative analysis to examine the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on inequalities at work, exploring its disproportionate impacts on workers and occupations across different countries. 

Transformational Impact of Digital Platforms Ecosystems on Global Value Chains accelerated by COVID-19 - how digital platform ecosystems, including the Metaverse, are transforming global value chains (GVCs) post-COVID-19, and reshaping multinational enterprise (MNE) operations, supply chains, and competition. 

Understanding the COVID 19 misinformation flow using artificial Intelligence (AI) based tools and citizen panels - using AI-based classifiers and citizen engagement, this research investigated the spread of COVID-19 misinformation on social media, focusing on the socio-demographic and psychological factors influencing false content sharing. 

Understanding the view on data from the C-Suite before, during and after COVID-19 – exploring C-suite executives’ attitudes toward data and analytics, assessing their role in strategic decision-making and organisational resilience. Through a series of surveys, it examined how analytical maturity influenced businesses' ability to navigate the COVID-19 crisis and its aftermath, with a focus on recovery and future development. 

Journal articles 

To date, researchers at Leeds University Business School have collectively published over 100 journal articles related to the COVID-19 pandemic. To read any of these articles, visit the staff profile pages, or search the White Rose repository. 

Summaries of these projects were produced by Generative AI and then checked by the Research and Innovation Blog editor.