Global social challenges
There are multiple interlocking crises currently gripping the planet. Significant threats and dangers lie ahead of us, but so do opportunities, as new ways of being, thinking, and doing emerge.
This stream of Transforming Society is a space for exploring the complexities of the global social challenges across disciplines and fields. It seeks to build and share the knowledge needed to shape a fairer world, across and for the global south and north, hoping to foster dialogue between academics, practitioners, policy makers and the wider public.
In this episode, Richard Kemp speaks with Nigel Thrift, author of 'The Pursuit of Possibility: Redesigning Research Universities', about research universities and what makes them different.…Read more
Emre Eren Korkmaz, author of 'Smart Borders, Digital Identity and Big Data', considers the use of ‘smart border’ surveillance technology tested on Palestinians for many years and now used in the war on Gaza. …Read more
Britain’s current postracial perspectives are facile so we need to reconceptualise critical race theory from a British standpoint. In this episode, we talk about postracialism and colourblind narratives with Paul Warmington.…Read more
Heidi J Larson and Alexander H Toledo look at how declining public trust in institutions and in each other is affecting vaccination take-up and organ donation. …Read more
On Davos day 5 as the government hinted at tax cuts to come, Gerry Mitchell, co-author of 'Uncomfortably Off', reveals they are way out of step with the public and suggests that there is a clear public preference for a wealth tax over other types of taxation, even among Tory voters and the wealthy themselves.…Read more
Richard Joy seeks lessons from the COVID-19 Inquiry for climate change policy making. Let’s not let anyone say in 20 years’ time that they should have twigged much earlier. …Read more
Megan Crossley shines a light on conditions for women in immigration detention centres, who are often erased from the immigration narrative.…Read more
Listen to authors and editors talking about the key social challenges of the moment in our top ten Transforming Society podcast episodes from 2023.…Read more
Kelli Kennedy and Carolyn Snell investigate whether alliances between supermarkets and food charities are working to eliminate food insecurity. …Read more
Ann-Marie Bathmaker speaks about the changing nature of the graduate labour market, the promise of upper mobility that universities and governments failed to deliver on and the changes needed to allow future graduates from all backgrounds to benefit equally from the university experience.…Read more