We are an international research group focusing on generating new data and analysis to inform complex decisions regarding the adoption and lifting of cross-border measures to control pandemics.
We aim to support global coordination in the use of cross-border measures, including the role of the WHO International Health Regulations (2005), as the basis for strengthening future global outbreak response and pandemic preparedness.
Restricting movements across borders during outbreaks is a longstanding practice to control communicable disease transmission. However, evidence of measures such as travel advisories, border closures and trade restrictions effectively protecting public health remains decidedly mixed. Studies of past outbreaks have found that travel restrictions have limited impact on the trajectory of an outbreak, except within specific contexts, and may even prove to be counterproductive to public health efforts.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, virtually all countries have now adopted international travel restrictions, with some beginning to lift them. Where cases of infection are rising again, prompting fears of a second or third wave of coronavirus cases, countries are considering re-introducing border restrictions.
Our research focuses on generating new data and analysis to inform complex decisions regarding the adoption and lifting of cross-border measures to control pandemics. Read more about our projects and case studies.
Worsnop, Catherine Z. "International Border Restrictions During COVID-19 as Global Health Security Theatre." British Journal of Political Science 55, no.e48 (2025): 1-29. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123424000784.
Lee, Kelley, and Julianne Piper. "Latest revisions to the International Health Regulations will fail to prevent future travel chaos." BMJ Global Health 10, no. 1 (2025): e017077. DOI: 10.1136/bmjgh-2024-017077.
Grépin, Karen A., Mingqi Song, Julianne Piper, Catherine Z. Worsnop, and Kelley Lee. "The adoption of international travel measures during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic: a descriptive analysis." Globalization and Health 20, no. 72 (2024): 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-024-01071-7.
